quietlife.net

lesbians in space

07 Dec 2007

So, I finally watched Battlestar Galactica: Razor. Minor spoilers and extreme nerdery below:

I thought it was awesome – and, I didn’t really see the big deal about the lesbians in space. (See here for discussion.) I didn’t see this particular instance of lesbianism as anything insidious. Katherine suggested that the portrayal of lesbians so far has always been conniving in some way, but I didn’t even get that here. I saw a relationship between Cain and Six/Gina developing that was supposed to be largely genuine – remember that at this point in the story these cylons were rarely self-aware until they were put into action in some way. It adds an awesome amount of depth to this particular plotline in elaborating on the trauma of the Gina/Six version, as well as expanding on Cain’s particular homicidal/suicidal bent. I liked it.

I think it’s important to scrutinize the influence of social norms on our art – for example to find and criticize portrayals of homosexuality that are blatantly biased, unfair, or representative of untrue stereotypes. However I think it’s equally important to realize that as portrayals of homosexuality become more commonplace and accepted, inevitably their homosexuality isn’t really going to be the defining attribute of the character. Sometimes there are conniving characters that happen to be gay – it doesn’t mean the show is making some grand statement that all gay people are conniving. As we move into a more sexually progressive era (are we there yet?), eventually we’ll get to a point where not every homosexual is a flaming stereotype to really drive home the point (a homoSEXUAL on TV why i NEVER!!). They’re just, you know. Gay.

This is why I really like the lassez-faire attitude towards Captain Jack’s sexuality in Doctor Who/Torchwood. It’s not a tremendously overbearing part of his character – he just happens to fuck everything that moves. No big deal.

Comments

newscoma — December 10, 2007 at 20:01 · reply

That’s the same reason I TIVO Doc Who and Torchwood. I haven’t seen Razor yet, but you are so right in this post I just about clapped.

Chester — December 28, 2007 at 19:29 · reply

I would agree that the Cain/Gina lesbian relationship wasn’t playing to prurient interest and added a lot of emotional sort of backdrop to the story. But I do think it was yet another example of how the sexuality of female characters is so often inextricably entwined with the nature of their character – that it was “a defining characteristic” for Cain and Gina.

To me, having Cain be lesbian just reinforces the whole “ball-busting dyke” stereotype. What would have been kind of novel would have been having an autocratic female character in a position of high authority who not only is not lesbian, but who also does not fall apart “behind the scenes,” revealing herself to be a vulnerable woman when not playing brave.

Also, while I agree that I think Razor insinuates that Gina was not necessarily self-aware until after “getting with” Cain, I do think there is an overarching insinuation that the Six model uses sexuality as a tactical tool. That Gina felt genuinely toward Cain, but that the Six model is going to naturally gravitate toward using sex/romance as leverage to “use” humans in power. There’s a reason why an Amazonian blond was chosen to play the Sixes.

Also, I think Razor pushes the idea that the “inhuman” treatment of Gina was a result of Cain’s heartbreak and sense of betrayal. Contrast that with the reactions of the “betrayed” males who had been with female Cylons – they all uniformly are forgiving and end up basically looking deeper within themselves and their relationships. I feel as if Cain’s vindictiveness is part and partial to the tearing down of an artificially “strengthened” female character. That is: Cais is built up as an alpha-female who completely upends the military hierarchy…but, it’s okay, because she’s actually fairly weak, and loses her grip in the end.

Sorry for the rambling. I guess this struck a chord.

[P.S. Came to this site searching for Wordverify stuff…]

Anonymous — July 17, 2009 at 18:42 · reply

I THINK EM A LESBIAN BECAUSE I WANT TO SUCK ON GIRLS VAGINAS AND GIRLS CAN GIVE ME SOMETHING THAT A GUY CANT……….

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