From the Lingerie Football League on one end to lesbian separatism on the other, some of us that are left stuck here in the middle get a bit annoyed with those on the ends
LESLIE ROBINSON | General Gayety
Ever heard of the Lingerie Football League? It’s a women’s football league where the women wear helmets, shoulder pads, bras, panties and garters. Billed as “true fantasy football,” the teams have names like the Los Angeles Temptation and the Dallas Desire.
If this league catered any more to men there would be cigars at halftime.
But I didn’t learn about the Lingerie Football League from a guy; I learned about it while visiting a lesbian website.
The site, TheSeattleLesbian.com, provided Lingerie League information and videos on its sports page.
That in turn provided me with a reminder of my age, a keen sense of where I am on the spectrum of lesbian thinking — and a headache.
I don’t react well when lesbians view women in the bootylicious way many men do. Maybe it’s because I’m 47 and remember how women fought to be viewed as more than tits and ass.
Now to see lesbians encourage the ogling of women, to watch them match men drool for drool — well, that feels like a step backwards.
However, as I’m 47 and not dead, I’m mindful of the sentiments of a younger lesbian generation, which might be expressed like this: “Hate to tell you Grandma, but you older folks fought so that we could be whoever we want to be. We can revel in pure sexiness like guys do. We can be as shallow as guys. So thanks!”
Um, you’re welcome?
When I looked further down The Seattle Lesbian’s sports page, I found stories about the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. As a huge Storm fan, I was pleased to see them. As a reader teed off over the highlighting of the Undressed Football League, I assumed the site and I could now be friends again.
Not. The stories concerned three players, and the site editor chose one action shot and two glamour shots. The two glamorized players had on more make-up than RuPaul.
So far on this lesbian site I’d seen sex and glamour — and that was just the sports section.
The experience made me feel old and on the curmudgeonly end of the lesbian spectrum. But another experience with media had me feeling youthful and wildly open-minded.
I received in the snail mail the latest issue of a magazine called Lesbian Connection. I began getting the bimonthly publication last year, and it’s now clear to me what an asset it is for dykes everywhere.
LC serves as a lesbian forum, enabling readers, who provide most of the content, to tell their stories. It offers a worldwide list of lesbians willing to share information about their regions. Subscriptions are on a sliding scale.
It’s also now clear to me that the average LC reader remembers Truman’s inauguration.
Okay, I exaggerate.
But the magazine, founded in 1974, is something of a relic. Birthed in the era of lesbian separatism, LC reflects its origins. Readers have names like “Artemis Passionfire” and “Flash Silvermoon” — and while I wish I made those up, I didn’t.
I’ve read a lot about “womyn’s land” and combed through oodles of irate letters when the cover art on LC wasn’t PC. The magazine says it defines lesbians as “women-born-women,” meaning transgender women don’t count.
I wouldn’t say LC is stuck in time, but it’s moving arthritically through it.
I’ll continue reading and enjoying it, and I’ll go back to TheSeattleLesbian.com. Both will keep me honest.
Now I know middle age is more than just a number. It’s when you feel connected to the generation behind you and the generation ahead of you — and when both generations annoy the crap out of you.
Leslie Robinson suspects that 35 years ago she would’ve called herself “Cheddar Morning-Glory.” E-mail Cheddar at lesarobinson@gmail.com, and read other cheesy columns at GeneralGayety.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 4, 2011.
Hi Leslie! We’ll always leave the front door open for you here at The Seattle Lesbian. We cover a wide-range of stories from political events and candidates to the modern family and changing diapers (and sexy basketball players in the sports section). We can’t please everyone, but we hope to at least be able to offer an outlet for different lifestyles and generations. Looking forward to seeing you back on the site. As always, we listen – send us an email: info@theseattlelesbian.com. Take Care….the EIC 🙂
I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a biased and inflamatory article. I’m even more surprised that The Dallas Voice would print such tripe. Snide comments such as “If this league catered any more to men there would be cigars at halftime.”, or “Now to see lesbians encourage the ogling of women, to watch them match men drool for drool — well, that feels like a step backwards”.The only backward step is your article which is peppered with innuendo and outright slams at the gay males in the world. Funny, I thought we were all the same or at least trying to be all the same. Thanks for driving a wedge between gay women and gay men. Couldn’t have done it without you.
Jim. The article is clearly meant to be satirical. Satire is biased; that’s one of its characteristics. Did you actually believe when you read the article that it was intended to be a factual news article?
LOL may i PLEASE use that last line as my signature?? i can SO relate!! i love it!!! lol btw, good article, no matter what Jim says. i don’t think it was divisive at all, just ‘as you see it’. um… maybe there’s a generation gap there? lol
To James Simmons and Gene T.: Do you really believe all you read just because someone printed it in the paper? It’s not “clearly meant to satrical”. There’s nothing in there but a lot of hateful, angry, divisive writing. Do you honestly believe that your average 20 year-old (average Dallas bar age) knows what satire is, let alone how to spell it? There are two groups: lesbians and gays. Yes, you can count them: one, two, separate groups that will never, no matter how hard we try, accept each other as the same so long as people believe her “satire”. It won’t happen and your “satirical” author doesn’t really help. By the way, have you read anything else by her? Same song only with angrier lyrics which are in no way or fashion “satrical:. Do your homework next time and don’t make a snap judgment on a single article. Read the author (several articles) before you jump on her bandwagon. And Gene T., I’m 31 so that generation gap is pretty small. Unless of course you were speaking of yourself….
No, Jim, I don’t believe that your average 20 year-old knows what satire is. But it’s pretty obvious from your comments that neither do you.
wow, Jim, did you check your sense of humor at the door? i believe that maybe SOME 20 year olds know what satire is, but i’m kind of disappointed that you, at 31, don’t. i’m only hopeful that as you mature, you’ll learn to laugh at yourself a bit more and not take things so personally…and so seriously. it really IS ok to laugh, even at satire, esp. when that satire is about YOURSELF or a group with which you consider yourself associated. even if it isn’t satire, it’s her perspectives, her experiences. just because it may conflict with yours doesn’t make it right or wrong… just different. i guess you haven’t gotten to that life lesson yet. if you’ll read what i wrote, i didn’t say anything about believing anything or that it was satire…nothing for which you chose to attack me. i simply said i could relate to the last line. when people choose to look at things negatively, they will find something negative. and, yes, i was speaking of myself. i don’t speak for others unless they request if of me, and then it’s to my discretion. so my request to use that line as a sig and what i said about relating are both about ME. i guess you think i’m promoting anger and hatred also?
Gene–you are dealing with a product of our failed public education system. As you (and I) continue to age we will unfortunately experience more of this. Many people take the written word literally, because they were either not taught, or else they were unable (or unwilling) to learn, any other means of interpretation. Direct, to-the-point communication is all these “kids” understand because that is all our public schools are teaching these days (except for the most advanced ones). It’s a sad commentary on the direction our nation is heading.
James,. you are so very right! i have a friend who is in her early 30’s and even she is so literal about things it makes it hard for us to communicate sometimes. i have to remember that she is a product of that very system of which you spoke. if nothing else, it’s taught me a bit more patience and how to communicate with her in ways that i would expect others to just ‘understand’. it also has brought awareness of myself that my thinking is based on many assumptions of what i had thought were topics or ideas of common understanding (sense). there can be NO assumptions, no expectations. it is tiring, but i choose to use it as a learning point for us both.
it IS, indeed, sad.
She seems to be writing about objectification, not about men vs. women. Isn’t this an opinion piece anyway? She’s offering one.