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Description
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ToC First Fashion Issue; Making it to Montreal by Kathy Belge (p24); She's One Sexy Lesbian Model by Jocelyn Voo (p28); On the Cover: Daryl Hannah Splashes Right Back into Our Hearts by Diane Anderson-Minshall (p50); You're Stylin'! - Lesbian Fashion & Home Design: The Lesbian Designers by Diane Anderson-Minshall, Ariane Resnick, Amy Silverman and Jocelyn Voo (p30); Web-Savvy Shopping by Jocelyn Voo (p38); That Naughty Secretary by Jocelyn Voo (p39); Tees as Fashion Icons by Aefa Mulholland and Ariane Resnick (p40); Doing it DIY by Margaret Coble (p43); Who Gives the L Word Style? by Karen Loftus (p42); The Lesbian Eco HOme by Malinda Lo (p46); Cover Photograph by Jeff Vespa/Contour Photos.
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issue
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3
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Date Issued
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April 2006
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Format
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PDF/A
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Publisher
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Frances Stevens
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Identifier
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Curve_Vol16_No3_April-2006_OCR_PDFa.pdf
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extracted text
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GAY GAMES®VII
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HUMAN
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FLEISHMAN.
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MEDIA
GROUP
Curve
FashionForward
San Francisco Office
1550 Bryant Street, Suite 510
San Francisco, California 94103
Phone (415) 863-6538 Facslmlle (415) 863-1609
Advertising Sales (415) 863-6538 or (212) 446-6700
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Editorial E-mall EDITOR@CURVEMAG.COM
Letter• to the Editor E-mail LETTERS@CURVEMAG.COM
Gay men have long been considered the
pinnacle of fashion and design, but today
with shows like The L Word and
America's Next Top Model spotlighting
the lesbian angle of style, we might be on
our way to equal billing as trendsetters in
the arena.
Often documenting
the cutting-edge
trends in hair, footwear and clothing,
CURVEhas always reported on fashion
changes within our community. Now, we
are taking it one step further in a special
section that takes a more in-depth look at
the role of lesbians in the fashion industry.
From the women behind the scenes to
those strutting down the runway, lesbians'
roles in the fashion industry are changing.
With openly queer designers like Parisa
Parnian of Rigged OUT/fitters (who
designed pieces for the third season of The
L Word), Aisha Pew and Breonna Cole of
Chocolate Baby Designs and a host of new
DIY-style fashion crafters like Jennifer
Perkins, our role in couture is definitely
changing.
One TV stylist offers an
insider's report on what
lesbians are wearing to
push the envelope on screen, at least.
The L Word's fashion-forward mantra has
spurred debates that the characters are not an accurate representation of the lesbian community at large. In our feature article "Shane's Sense of Style" (see page
42), we sit down with L Word stylist Cynthia Summers for an insider's report on
what the girls are wearing and why. Summers reveals that the show's motive is
to push the envelope, challenging viewers - lesbian or otherwise - to reevaluate the lesbian community and the characters in a different light.
Ten years ago, we interviewed Jenny Shimizu, the lesbian runway model with
boyish appeal and a motorcycle mechanic· edge. Back then, Shimizu was an
anomaly as lesbians were seen as anything but fashionable. She set the stage for
today, when Kim Stolz, one of the finalists from America's Next Top Model, is
the latest out lesbian to hit the runway. In "Out on the Catwalk" (see page 30),
Stolz tells us what it's like to defy the ultrafeminine expectations in the modeling
industry and what it was like to meet her role model, Shimizu.
As our community continues to garner visibility through television and other
traditional sources of media, we will undoubtedly continue to gain notoriety for
our contributions to the fashion industry. Today, lesbians are actually at the forefront of creating new styles, trends and designs. We don't want to say we aren't
wearing flannel anymore because, hell, some of us are, but we may just be cutting it up and turning it into flannel baby tees.
Publisher/Editor in Chief
Frances R. Stevens
Executive Editor
Associate Editor
Book Review Editor
Music Review Editor
Contributing Editors
Copy Chief
Proofreaders
Editorial Assistants
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Malinda Lo
Rachel Pepper
Margaret Coble
Julia Bloch, Victoria A. Brownworth,
Gretchen Lee, Sarah Warn
Laura K. Cucullu
Emmie Q. Lam, Jocelyn Yoo
Lauren Marie Fleming, Janel M. Lynch
Art Director
Photography Editor
Photo Assistant
Production Manager
Kas Neteler
Nathalie Peterson
Amy Silverman
Ondine Kilker
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Nikki Woelk
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Chris Alex, Wendy Armitage, Danielle
Ceribo, Autumn Congrove, Annie
Daniels, Susan Hinson, Ally Miller, Eliza
Rhee, Yolanda Sanchez
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Advertising
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(415) 863-6538
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Contributing Writers
Susan Ashman, Jaclyn Barcewski, Kathy
Beige, Gina Daggett, Michele Fisher, Zoe
Gernelli,Jodi Helmer, Kate Lacey, Karen
Loftus, Karlyn Lomey, Vanessa Marlin,
Aefa Mulholland, Ariane Resnick, Beth
Schwartzapfel, Andy Wright
Katherine Streeter
Contributing Illustrator
Contributing Photographers Matthew Carden, Phyllis Christopher,
Annabel Clark, Lydia Daniller, Jim
Dobson, Laura Gugliermetti, Callie
Lipkin, Greg Martin, David Morch,
Maggie Parker, Cory Pineda, Roberto
Portillo, Shae Rocco, Cory Ryan, Mike
Ruiz, Jef Seaver, Eva Serrabassa, Mark
Seliger, Tyler Stalman, Tony Tremblay,
Patricia Valery, Jeff Vespa, Jin Wang,
Kevin Weaver, Yam Studio
VOLUME 16 Issue 3 CURVE (ISSN
1087-867X)
IS PUBLISHEO MONTHLY
(EXCEPT FOR JANUARY ANO JULY) BY OUTSPOKEN ENTERPRISES, INC., 1550
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103.
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PERMISSIONFROM THE PUBLISHER. PUBLICATIONOF THE NAME OR PHOTOGRAPHOF
ANY PERSONS OR ORGANIZATIONSAPPEARING, ADVERTISINGOR LISTING IN CURVE
MAY NOT BE TAKEN AS AN INDICATION OF THE SEXUAL ORIENTATION OF THAT
INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP UNLESS SPECIFICALLYSTATED. CURVE WELCOMES LETTERS,
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American Airlines •
Is A Proud Sponsor Of
Curve Magazine.
To find out more about American,visit us at AA.com.
100%HUMAH
.......
IUGHT
AmericanAirlines®
April
2006
Volume
16#3
24 MAKINGIT TOMONTREAL
by Kathy Beige
The Outgames will have you singing
Montreal's praises.
28 SHE'SONESEXYLESBIAN
MODEL
by Jocelyn Voo
She pouts, she swaggers. She's Kim Stolz
from America's Next Top Model and we
pinned her down for a few questions.
50 DARYLHANNAH
SPLASHES
RIGHTBACK
INTOOURHEARTS
by Diane Anderson-Minshall
She has a solar-powered house and drives
a car that runs on french-fry oil for fuel.
How much cooler can this sexpot be?
Now she's also documenting sex trafficking and fighting for women's rights.
You're
Stylin'!
Lesbian
Fashion
& Home
Design
30 THELESBIAN
DESIGNERS
by Diane Anderson-Minshall, Ariane
Resnick, Amy Silverman and Jocelyn Voo
From Breonna Cole to Parisa Parnian,
queer girl designers are doing us proud.
38 WEB-SAWY
SHOPPING
by Jocelyn Voo
Hate braving the mall? Find dyke-friendly
gear online instead.
42 WHOGIVESTHEL WORDSTYLE?
by Karen Loftus
Stylist Cynthia Summers is responsible for
every sexy thing Carmen puts on.
i'
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46 THELESBIAN
ECOHOME
by Malinda Lo
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Make your home eco-friendly and get
more swag for your Sapphic sanctuary.
0
39 THATNAUGHTY
SECRETARY
by Jocelyn Voo
DIYer extraordinaire Jennifer Perkins.
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40 TEESASFASHION
ICONS
by Aef a Mulholland and Ariane Resnick
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These feminist ventures are doing more
than just silkscreening T-shirts.
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43 DOINGIT DIV
by Margaret Coble
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Who needs couture when you can stitch it
all by yourself?
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4 APRIL 2006
COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF VESPA/CONTOUR
PHOTOS
STOLICHNAYA®
PRESENTS
BE REAL A PROVOCATIVE
NEWDOCUMENTARY
SCREENED
AT SUNDANCE
See it at queer film festivals across the country
including the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival - Sunday, April 30th
~t. RE-4(
I
f
BE REAL produced by the TVgals, Inc Directed by Bobbie Birleffi with the participation of
Ross Hayduk, Mignon Moore, Oraia Reid, David Sexton, Red Tremmel, & Trae Williamson
Music by Smack Music and Sound Edited by Madeleine Gavin
Executive Producers, Pernod Ricard USA, Joanne Kletecka, Kellyann Maclean, Chris Monaco, Adam Rosen
Conceived by Double Platinum, LLC
~YAo
____
DRINKRESPONSIBLY.
100'!<Gla_Spril&._in.,o,lldb\lPemod_USA,
_l'lln.NY
llepar OLents________________________
8
CONTRIBUTORS
Where would we be without 'em?
18 OPENSTUDIO
Artist Gina ash makes
beauty out of garbage.
10 LETTERS
20 LIPSTICK
& DIPSTICK
They're still talking
about last year.
Help! My partner looks
like a man.
12 OUTIN FRONT
21 ASKFAIRYBUTCH
This activist doctor makes
us. want to play naughty
nurses.
Who am I? Where am I?
14 CURVATURES
The Nellie Olesons, lesbian
murder, vegan vibes and so
much more.
,,
6 APRIL 2006
22 LESBOFILE
What the hell is wrong
with Michelle Rodriguez?
22 SHESAID,SHESAID
Charlize, Melissa and
Felicity on our hit parade.
54 SAPPHIC
SCREEN
Why you must see Robin's
Hood. Plus: sexy African
American actress Skyler
Cooper talks back.
56 IN THESTACKS
_
60 DYKEDRAMA
Breaking up is hard to do.
62 BROWNWORTH
When will rape come out of
the closet?
Stacy D'Erasmo does it
again. And author Linda
Wagner does it all.
63 TECHGIRL
If you kill your TV, here are
some new models to try.
58 MUSICWATCH
72 TOPTENREASONS
WELOVE
One-on-one with Capital B,
plus albums
by Lady
Sovereign, Uppity Blues
Women and Mary J. Blige.
Comic Dana
Goldberg
makes us laugh with her,
not at her.
After a particularly rancorous breakup with
a she-devil who became the standard by
which all bad female behavior would be
judged thereafter, I found myself living with
her cat."
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MEANS MORE FUN
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contributors
CURVE CONTRIBUTOR
Karen Loftus first met L
Needto get away?
Wehavethe perfectplace.
Actually,we have9,000.
Ourguidesare packedwith
LGBTaccommodations,
bars,
bookstores,
cafes& more,
acrossthe US,Canada,
Europe& beyond.
Word stylist Cynthia
Summers, whom she interviews in this issue on page
42, at Los Angeles Fashion
Week last year. "Cynthia
and I got on like a storm,"
Loftus confides. "She then
invited me to the
Hollywood Style Awards
where she was being
awarded the Style Award
as TV's Best Stylist. It was
then that I met Capital B,"
the artist formerly known
as Bitch, whom Loftus also
interviews in this issue (see
page 59). "B's experiences
as a singer were so similar
to mine as a comedian. I
met another warrior on
the path." Loftus is a
comedian, a playwright, a
Tennessee Williams Fellow
and a journalist. She will
be at South by Southwest,
featured in Andy Dick's
directorial debut, Danny
Roan, First Time Director.
When not traveling the
world, she lives and plays
in Los Angeles. For more
info on Loftus or her tour,
go to karenloftus.net.
BEFORE SHE DECIDED
to write for a living, Rhode
Island-based freelance journalist Beth Schwartzapfel
worked at an HIV clinic in
Providence. So when she
heard about Dr. Husna
Baksh (see page 12),
Schwartzapfel jumped at.
the chance to get to know
her. "Even in a field like
8 APRIL 2006
HIV, where sexuality and
health are so closely linked,
there aren't a lot of out gay
doctors," says
Schwartzapfel, who also
writes for the Providence
Phoenix, Rhode Island
Monthly and other publications. She was awarded the
2004 Rhode Island for
Community and Justice
Metcalf Award for
Diversity in the Media, and
the 2004 third-place feature prize from the Rhode
Island Press Association for
her profile of Rhode
Island's Southeast Asian
community, which
appeared in the Phoenix in
September 2004.
"INTERVIEWING
CARLY
Miller of Clothing of the
American Mind really
drove home the true meaning of 'fashion statement,"'
says Aefa Mulholland, who
talked to the women
behind the political shirt
company responsible for the hip range of clever
protest wear (see page 40).
"Their determination to try
to change the world 'one
T-shirt at a time' made me
frown at my apathetic
wardrobe:" A relatively
recent immigrant to
Canada, Mulholland lives
in Vancouver, British
Columbia, with an elderly
Irish tabby and more
T-shirts than is strictly neeessary. In addition to contributing to CURVE,
Mulholland writes for the
Irish Times, PlanetOut.com
and a number of other
publications, makes short
films about donkeys and
llamas, and accumulates
air miles pinballing
between Vancouver and
her hometown of Glasgow,
Scotland. Mulholland is
currently working on a collection of humorous nnnfiction tales based on her
succession of short-lived
and unsuccessful careers.
CURVE EDITORIAL
assistants Janel M. Lynch
and Lauren Marie Fleming
were called upon to write
about a variety of unexpected topics during their
time at the magazine, from
murder to book reviews to
comics. "As a comic book
junkie, I was stoked to
write about Purgatori, a
famous lesbian comic character," says Fleming, who
pored over the new series
for this issue (see page 19).
"It sure beats factchecking," she quips. Her
cohort, Lynch, agrees, saying, "CURVEhas given me
the chance to pursue a lifelong dream of writing - as
well as sharpen up my
filing skills." Fleming's next
move is to the Cuayamaca
Mountains in Southern
California, where she plans
to live in a cabin and finish
her novel. Lynch, who has
worked as an EMT and a
sleep researcher, also
hopes to continue to write
professionally.
letters
Where Are They Now?
Just finished my umpteenth viewing of
Claire of the Moon and I am asking if you
know what has happened to Trisha Todd?
Karen Trumbo? Nicole Conn? Love your
publication!
- Dora Hollis, St. Paul, Minn.
Editor's note: Trisha Todd went back to
school - high school, that is. For nearly a
decade, the out lesbian Todd has been a high
school theater instructor in Portland, Ore.
She penned a book (a novel based on her
relationship with her former director), had a
kid and still has a career that makes headlines in the Northwest. Karen Trumbo
appeared in a number of television movies
(her latest was I998's Final Justice) before
she too returned to Portland's theater scene,
where, last year, she starred in Terrence
McNally's It's Only a Play, which garnered
New York Times raves. As for director
Nicole Conn, she recently produced and
directed the critically
acclaimed documentary
Little Man. The film
chronicles the difficult
first two years of her son's
life after he was born I00
days premature to Conn
and her partner, Gwen.
You Like Us, You Really
Like Us
My name is Michele, and
I'm 29 years old. I'm originally from Brazil, but I've
been living in Los Angeles
for about nine years on
and off. It's definitely easier for me to be
here and out instead of in Brazil. My parents
are not completely closed-minded, but at the
same time they don't want to accept the fact
that, yes, I am a lesbian and very proud of it!
I've been looking for a lesbian magazine for
the longest time ... for some reason I never
came across CURVE
until this weekend, when
I went to Virgin to buy the second season of
The L Word and noticed [it] on the stand. I
couldn't believe it, I was so happy! I got even
happier after reading all those amazing articles! I'm definitely an addict to the magazine
et
now . . . I've read some of the article
and over again. I can go on and on ab ut 4.
magazine but I'm sure you get loads 6f
e-mails a day ... so I'll just say that I'm
10 APRIL 2006
amazed at the magazine. It's definitely a
piece of art, information, knowledge and liberty in my eyes. Keep up the good work! I'm
definitely getting a subscription!
- Michele Costa, via e-mail
Gay Marriage Help
Four years ago, I moved to the United
Kingdom with my family and to be with my
partner. Since then I have gone back to university to allow myself to stay in the country,
even though my mom and relatives are British
citizens. Now I am about to graduate and I
would like to come back to the United States
with my partner. I think I have now found
that it is not possible for her to come back
with me? Is there anyone that you know of
whom I could contact to help with this?
- L.S., via e-mail
Editor's note: We share your frustration
since we also have friends who are prevented
from immigrating to be with their partners
because of restrictive marriage laws. Though the
laws may not be changing
in the near future, organizations like Immigration
Equality
(immigration
equality.org) are fighting
for LGBT couples' immigration rights today. The
National
Center
for
Lesbian Rights also offers
resources on immigration
for binational same-sex
couples; visit nclrights.orgl
projects/immigration.htm
for more information.
Teens Read
CURVE,
Too
Although I love your magazine, I feel that it
is geared toward women out of school. Since
I am at the young age of 16, I do not fit this.
So I feel less connected to most of your
issues. Many famous people referenced or
mentioned in your articles I cannot recognize; they are before my time. According to
a study released in the October issue of
Time, the average age for lesbian adolescents
to first feel an attraction to another girl has
gone from 17 in the 1960s to 12 in 1990.
Whereas articles focusing on moving in with
a woman and how to make it work are
great, why not also include one on gay students [in] high schools around the country?
Since more mature women have accessto more
groups, bars and the overall gay community,
they might not need to rely on a magazine for
the status of gay issues. But a less-informed
child might have only a few lesbian magazines
hidden in a box under her bed. To improve
your already wonderful magazine, I think you
should add two things. One is stories for or by
a lesbian teen. The other would be a slight
background story on the actresses and musicians that are mentioned. Thanks for taking the
time to hear from one of your readers.
- Jin Smith, Centerville,
Ohio
Send Us Your Requests
A while back in your annual music issue
(Vol. 15, #5) you did a brief note on a group
called Someone's Sister. Will you have more
on them in the future? I checked out their
stuff, and they are pretty amazing and they
sing for child abuse prevention. The reason I
was wondering is because a lot of women
are victims of abuse. Just curious and I hope
to see more of them.
- Leigh, via e-mail
Can you please do a cover story or feature
article on Janis Ian? Us 45-and-over lesbians
would particularly enjoy it. Janis will be producing her new CD in February, Folk Is the
New Black. This woman rocks and really
knows how to treat her fans. She is indeed a
special talent.
- Marilyn, Totowa, N.J.
I'm a long-time reader of your wonderful
mag. I enjoy everything about it, but I'm not
writing just to give you praise. I was watching a sports program this weekend that was
showcasing some of the competitions leading up to the Winter Olympics in Torino,
and I discovered the perfect athlete to feature somewhere in CURVE.Her name is
Courtney Yamada, and she races skeleton. I
was happy to see that Courtney proudly
races with an HRC sticker on her board. I
thought she might be worth checking out for
an article. Thanks for the great literature,
my sexy CuRVEladies!
- Jennifer Allen, Memphis, Tenn.
Have you ever thought about doing an article
on lesbians and mental health? I have been
slogging through the mental health system for
years, ever since I was 11. So much of my
mental illness has impacted my relationships
with girlfriends; hell, it even destroyed the last
one. Finding people who are willing and
capable to deal with and understand my
problems is fairly hard. Plus, living in a small,
very backward town with a limited gay community makes it even harder. Education is the
only way people are gonna learn about this
stuff and if it makes them even just a bit more
understanding then it's worth a couple of
pages in your spiffy magazine.
o.'s Lt>sf
--:rrr,
c.~~+i.leN
THE CUllft l!Xa.USIVE
Kristanna
Loken
Comes
- Meaghan O'Leary, Butte, Mont.
Blinded by Design
On page 16 of the February 2006 issue (Vol.
16, #1) you have white printing on mustard
yellow background. Help! My eyeballs are
out on my cheeks! Whoever planned this combination should be made to read an entire
page of the same print. Please ... no more!
- Linda Hansen, St. Paul, Minn.
Coming Out Christian
"missing" poster from actor Daniela Sea,
who lost her favorite jacket and puffy
vest combo at our January bash.
I was wondering if you would ever consider
writing or printing an article about being gay
and being a Christian. I am a gay Christian Secondly, I wanted to thank you from the
and I can tell you it's not an easy journey. bottom of my heart for including FTM and
However, there is one nugget of truth that transgender issues in your magazine. I have
had I been told in the beginning of my jour- been reading CURVEsince I came out at 17,
ney, would have saved me much stress and 11 years ago (it was still called that "other"
name), and I have been reading through my
heartache. That truth is as follows.
When you are a Christian and you realize gender and sexuality transitions, first and
you are gay it is such a difficult situation. for many years as a dyke and then through
The church has taught you that homosexu- my transition into a transguy over the last
ality and God don't go together, so you live couple years. The dyke/lesbian community
believing they aren't compatible. Truth is, a has always felt like home to me, and while I
person's homosexuality doesn't come as a have felt pressure at times to abandon the
surprise to God. Before they were even born, community or "find my own community,"
He knew the day would come when they CURVEhas never left me feeling alone or
would fall for someone of the same sex. If unwanted. It is hard in this world to be
someone had said this to me in the very accepted simply as a queer, and it is even
beginning when I realized I was gay, my harder when the dyke community turns its
whole journey would have been different. back on one of their own (and yes, I still do
Instead of running a hundred miles from • consider myself "one of your own"). So,
God I would have stayed with him or even thank you, thank you for being inclusive and
snuggled in more. I know what a brutal fair, never telling your readers they have to
struggle it can be [for gay Christians] and accept trans people but absolutely never saythat's why I want to share my nugget of ing they shouldn't. Good journalism is hard
is proof it
truth. I thought putting an article in your to come by these days, and CURVE
magazine might be a good idea. When I was is still out there.
- Alex, Olympia,
first coming out, it's the first place I looked
for answers.
- Cindy McCarron, Scotland
You're Welcome
First I want to congratulate you on an excellent February issue (Vol. 16, #1). Great job!
Got Something on Your Mind?
E-mail letters@curvemag.com; write to
CURVELetters, 1550 Bryant St., Ste. 510,
San Francisco, CA 94103; or fax to (415)
863-1609. Letters may be
curve
11
"I did not want to work with
teenagers," recalls physician Husna Baksh with a laugh. It
was the early 1990s, and Baksh was in the middle of her
medical residency at Washington Hospital Center in
Washington, D.C. She had "kicked and reamed" about the
requirement to spend a few weeks studying adolescent medicine, but all that changed when the physician who had been
assigned as Baksh's teacher and mentor got a phone call. The
distraught mother of a teenage boy who had just come out
had called the one person she knew who cared as much
about her son's health and well-being as she did - his doctor.
"She spoke to that boy's mom so skillfully and lovingly,"
Baksh recalls. Baksh had only recently come out as a lesbian
to her own parents, so this phone call struck a chord.
Baksh, 44, now takes care of her own patients, gay and
straight, teens and adults, at her Silver Spring, Md., practice.
Her work garnered her the GayHealth.com and Gay and
Lesbian Medical Association's Provider of the Year Award
for 2005. Though her practice is not aimed specifically at the
gay community, Baksh estimates that 40 percent of her
patients are LGBT. "By focusing on gay health, I've learned
to be a better provider to all people," she says. Her work
with gay patients has helped her learn how "to get a sense of
the whole person. I don't think there's a lot of providers out
there taking the time to say, 'How's your personal life?
What's your stress level right now?'" Baksh herself is a firm
believer in the power of movement to maintain "a healthy
emotional and physical balance," and named her private
practice Healthy Steps in honor of her love for dance and
athletics. In fact, she and her partner danced in the
International Latin competition at the 1998 Gay Games in
Amsterdam. One day Baksh hopes to integrate her two passions: both practicing medicine and teaching and studying
dance. In the meantime, she is growing Healthy Steps, taking
care of patients and demonstrating, by her actions, why this
award - and her work - is so important. She has heard
enough of her patients' horror stories to know that "homophobia is a health hazard." - Beth Schwartzapfel
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PROVINCETOWN
INTERNATIONAL
1 Annual Chef'sTable
10 HelpingOurWomen:By the Sea
Bike Trek
14-18ProvincetownInternationalFilm
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17 TennisFor Life Tournament
22 A ProvincetownTastingat The
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22-25 PortugueseFestival
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JULY
1-7 4th of July Week-parties/events
4 Fourthof July Paradeand
Fireworks
9 ProvincetownArt Associationand
Museum:Secret GardenTour
25 FamilySunsetCampfireand Singalong at Race Point Beach
7/29-8/5 11thAnnual FamilyPrideWeek
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Who the Hell Are the Nellie Olesons?
THERE
ARE FEW PEOPLE
WHO
COULD
LIVEN
UP A
dinner party like I imagine the Nellie Olesons could. By dessert, I'd
expect half the guests to have thrown their napkins down on their
tiramisu and left in a huff. Good thing I like my dinner parties saucy.
After performing together in the gay ew York comedy group
Planet Q, Nora Burns and Terrence Michael founded the Nellie
Olesons in 1993 looking to infuse the pre-South Park comedy circuit
with their own brand of edgy humor. After some initial member
shuffling, the original duo "put out an ad looking for a woman,"
says Michael, "and boy, did we get one." John Cantwell - probably most recognizable as the flamboyant "bend and snap" hairstylist alongside Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde - joined the
Nellies in 1996.
Almost immediately the no-holds-barred sketch comedy troupe
earned a reputation with the press for being "perverse," "campy"
and "tasteless," much to the Nellies' delight. Among their repertoire
are skits lampooning everyone from Ann Coulter to Terri Schiavo.
"We mime a knock-knock joke that makes The Aristocrats look
like Dr. Seuss," Burns says proudly, referring to the 2005 documentary revolving around comedians re-telling the legendary dirty joke
of the same name. Theirs is not the most sensitive act around, but
there's a reason both critics and audiences laugh their asses off:
There's a fine line between being prude and politically correct, and
neither you nor the ellies care to respect it.
Billed as a gay troupe even though Burns is now married with two
kids ("But so is Madonna, so go figure"), the Nellies have toured the
continent, most recently headlining Los Angeles' first-ever gay and
We WishYou a Merry
IF YOUR GAZE FELL UPON A PAIR of shoes hanging from a
balcony or a window last month, or dangling from an electrical wire
or strung onto a Pride flagpole, you might have celebrated SHOE Day.
To honor the third annual International SHOE Day, lesbians around
the world adorned their windows with shoes as a symbol of lesbian
solidarity. Zurich-based Fab Syz and Sunci
Nikolic co-founded the
Web site SHOE.org, an
online lesbian community, as a place for lesbians
to identify others in
their own communities
and feel less isolated.
SHOE started back in
1997 as a free local
mailing list for lesbians in the Zurich area. It
quickly grew into a meet-up and hook-up spot
for lesbians around the world, and it has since
swelled to over 110,000 members.
But a SHOE Day? The idea for a lesbian day
grew from a dream Syz has had since she came
14 APRIL 2006
lesbian comedy festival, Outlaugh!, and performing their latest
sketch act Older! Uglier! Meaner! from coast to coast. With bawdy
jokes and costumes that often involve far too much spandex, the
group has even earned groupies who follow them from high-brow
theaters to tiny basement clubs to behold what Cantwell calls the
underdogs of offensive humor.
"The guys always have people mooning around the stage
door," Burns adds. "People just think I'm a tranny." Catch the
Nellies (thenellieolesons.com) at the We're Funny that Way
Comedy Festival on Memorial Day weekend and at the Cavern
Club April 14-15 and 20-21. - Jocelyn Voo
I
I
I
SHOE Day?
out: For just one day, it would be possible to identify all of the lesbians in
the world. "It would be so great if just for one day all lesbians had green
hair," she thought. The green hair idea didn't bode well with other SHOE
members necessarily,but they agreed with the need for some way for lesbians to covertly identify themselvesto each other one day a year. They
opted for a dyke version of Italian housewiveshanging their bloomers out
for the world to see: hanging shoes (pun totally
intended) out for other lesbians to see.
"Let's have something to celebrate and
identify ourselves - not with rainbow flags or
anything like that - but as a fun event,"
explained Syz. Last year women from all over
Europe and North America (and from as far
away as Kazakhstan) participated. "We had a
lot of members saying, 'I live in a small town.
No one is going to see my shoes hanging out
there.' That's exactly why you should do it.
You never know who lives near you," she says.
SHOE's motto: "There are as many types of
women as there are shoes." Doc Martens,
Croes, pointed heels, loafers? What pair did
you hang out? - Zoe Gemelli
I'm OK, You're OK
ACTOR
LYNN
REDGRAVE
BEGAN
WRITING
IN
A
journal when she was five years old and never stopped. When she
was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, she and her daughter,
then a photography student, decided to combine their efforts and
record the experience in a photo journal. By adding daughter
Annabel Clark's photographs to Redgrave's words, Journal: A
Mother and Daughter's Recovery
From Breast Cancer (umbrage
books.com) presents a powerful and
moving record of Redgrave's internal
and external experience during her
fight
against
breast
cancer.
Demonstrating
great
courage,
Redgrave appears before the camera
both bald and shirtless, in various
stages of cancer treatment and recovery, and describes difficult, even devastating, days as well as her joy in life.
"My mother's will to live has been
empowering for me and, I hope, will be
for other women and their families
who are battling cancer," says Clark. For those of us equally inspired
to document life but intimidated when confronted by seemingly endless blank pages of most journals, there's a new breed of journals
emerging that seeks to diminish "blank page anxiety" and to more
effectivelyharness the healing potential of self-expression journals.
Together with Art with Heart (artwithheart.org), co-authors
Steffanie Lorig and Jeanean Jacobs have created a part-journal, partart therapy workbook called Chill & Spill that could help queer teens
(among others) cope with difficult life experiences. The book combines creative writing and art therapy exercises with blank pages to
help teens not only determine the origins of their suffering but also discover their individual strengths and power. Created with the support
of psychologists, art therapists and child life specialists, Chill is filled
with inspirational drawings by contemporary illustrators.
"Through writing, journaling and
drawing, this book holds their hand
through their journey," says Lorig of
the book's effect on teens, "bringing
clearer vision, which in turn, empowers them to recognize patterns of
behavior - good or bad - and helps
bring closure to whatever situation
they find themselves in."
With a similar all-ages concept, Self
Help and Wishful Thinking (caffeine
society.com) are journals that aim to
help women tap into their own creativity and potential by providing writing
exercises and inspirational pictures in a
decidedly hip and contemporary {rather than earthy) fashion. Creator
Jacqui Lumer was a respected art director who worked in advertising
before deciding to use her artistic vision to inspire others rather than to
sell products.
"I like to think I might be helping people to help themselves," she
says of her motivation. -Janel M. Lynch
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VEGANVIBES
Early to Bed, a feminist sex shop based out of Chicago (early2bed.com),
took the plight of the animal-lovingsex toy user to heart recently by creat-
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ing a vegan-friendly section of their Web site. Selling products such as
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casein-free condoms, leather-free harnesses and organic lubricants,
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they're paving the road to cruelty-free fun for all. - Ariane Resnick
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The J-Word Meets the F-Word
WHO
WANTS
TO
SPEND
HOURS
ambling around a museum when one can
view a vast array of progressive artwork with
only a few clicks of a mouse? The Jewish
Women's Archive, at jwa.org, has taken the
potential of the Internet to new heights with
their new virtual exhibit, Jewish Women and
the Feminist Revolution, and the results are
as fascinating and textured as any you could
find in person. With 74 contributors, and
works that span four decades, JWA offers an
online mecca of "artifacts, documents, video
clips, radio news reports, images, art, sounds
and fragments of memory that convey Jewish
women's roles as activists." Included in the
online exhibit are the first two American
women to be ordained as Rabbis, the first
Jewish Supreme Court Justice and the
founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist
Alliance. - AR
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GlobalGays
GAY PUBLICATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES,
from your local queer paper to CURVE,have long
been handy sources for traveling queers, pointing us
to small-town lesbian bars as well as giving us a
heads-up on what to expect in a given locale. It's no
different on the other side of the pond. Europe's
queer mags have done the same for years, and with
more publications popping up almost every month
in almost every European country, you can easily
discover what's what in the gay scene when you visit
the Continent.
France
boasts
Leshia
Magazine: Revue Mensuelle de
la Visihilite Leshienne (lesbia
mag.com), a monthly review of
lesbian culture. For more than
20 years, Leshia has been one
of the few cultural diaries of its
kind in France, tackling topics
as varied as gardening, the
defense of women and feminism. Tetu magazine (tetu.com)
is also a valuable resource for
fashion, culture and underground news, while Treize
Revue Leshienne tackles art,
culture and lesbian family
themes (revuetreize.org). In Germany, pick up Lespress-Das andere
Frauenmagazin (lespress.de), a glossy, 10-year-old queer culture
magazine that showcases the hottest gay happenings in Berlin. You
can also try Berlin's Lmag (I-mag.de) or the free Siegassaeule: Queer
in Berlin (siegessaeule.de).
In the United Kingdom you'll find the mag CURVEreads cover to
cover, Diva (www.divamag.co.uk). Europe's
premiere mainstream lesbian magazine since
1994, Diva offers a wide range of features
on travel, music, scenes, products and entertainment. A popular new addition is the
stylish Girls Like Us, a fashion-forward
power dyke mag.
If you make it to Amsterdam, one of the
most liberal cities in the world, check out
the decade-old Gay News Amsterdam
(www.gay-news.com)
for
its
extensive, free city agenda. It is so
inclusive that it has teamed up
with the Dutch official international tourist boards, KLM and
the NBT. You might also pick up
another Amsterdam-based newspaper, Gay Krant (gaykrant.nl) for
further information.
When in Scandinavia, browse
through QX (qx.se), the region's
largest gay and lesbian magazine
with information on about 300
clubs, stores and restaurants in
Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo
and Copenhagen. And despite
opposition from the Catholic Church, Poland now boasts the most gay
publications among former Communist bloc countries. You can peruse
the glossy Filo (write to: Box 733, PL-80-958, Gdansk 5, Poland),
which has covered cultural events, international news and AIDS-related stories since 1986. Or comb the bookstores for Gayzeta: Nie? Tak!
(Skrytka poczt 78, 03-370 Warsaw 9, Poland) and· Inaczej (48-61537655). - Jaclyn Barcewski
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When Gina Nash
climbs into a huge recycling
bin - which, incidentally, makes the folks who work at the Portland
Recycling Center pretty mad - she's searching for tin cans to transform into handmade lanterns. "I sell people back their own trash and
they love it;' she says. Around town, Nash has become known as the
tin can lady. Nine years
ago, she had just finished
her art degree after spending 10 years working as a
chef. Naturally, after she
graduated she got another
job in a restaurant and
couldn't help but notice
the large amount of "free
material" going out the
door every day. Curiosity
compelled her to take an
acetylene torch to some
cans, and she found that the metal practically melted under the
intense heat of the flame. Essentially, Nash paints with fire, and her
designs have grown to be more and more intricate over the years.
She is inspired by shapes she finds in the garden or under a microscope, and by Middle Eastern or Moroccan textiles, and can be
found selling her wares at the Portland Saturday Market each week.
She is also branching into other materials, with one-of-a-kind felt
bags her newest passion. She's taking another leap as well: She's
finally referring to herself as a designer, and we can't wait to see
what's next. - Amy Silverman
~mour Dangereux
THE
POSSIBILITY
OF A LESBIAN
love triangle being the motive behind double
murder is causing the French media to go
wild with speculation. The bodies of
Geraldine Giraud, daughter of well-known
French actor Roland Giraud, and her lover,
Katia Lherbier, were discovered Dec. 9,
2004, in a drainage well on the property of
Jean-Pierre Treiber, who has been the main
suspect in the case after police discovered he
had the victims' credit cards a month after
their disappearances.
The frenzy, though, was sparked by the
Nov. 25, 2005, arrest of Marie-Christine
Van Kempen, Giraud's aunt and Lherbier's
voice teacher and roommate. Two witnesses
came forward claiming to have seen Van
Kempen and Treiber having a heated discussion at a cafe a few days before the murders.
Van Kempen was previously questioned for
31 hours after police found chloroform,
which was used in the killings, in her cellar.
However, there was not enough evidence
to charge her with murder until her relationship with Treiber (which she denies) was substantiated by witnesses. The French media
are calling the murders a crime of passion,
motivated by Van Kempen's love for Lherbier
and the rivalry she felt with her niece for
Lherbier's affections. Van Kempen denies any
involvement in the murders, and The
Telegraph quoted her mother as saying, "She
adored Geraldine and would not have done
what is suspected of her." - Janel M. Lynch
BibliophilesRejoice!
FOR ANYONE WHO'S EVER DITCHED
her library card because there was a $20 late
charge for a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha that
was a month overdue, Booksfree.com is for
you. Established in 2000, Booksfree has since
become the world's largest e-library of paperback and audio books. Employing a flat fee,
no due date policy similar to Netflix's one for
movies, Booksfree does the same with paperbacks. For prices starting at $7.99 a month,
you can rent an unlimited number of books
from their library of over 63,000 paperback
titles and have them shipped to your residence
for free. This is great news not only for library-
goers who are now dodging overzealous
checkout jockeys, but also work-at-home
women and seniors as well as chicks with disabilities. You can also buy new books for up to
30 percent off the retail price at the Booksfree
retail store. Finally,total access to all the trashy
Harlequin romance novels you want but are
too embarrassed to buy in the flesh at your
neighborhood Barnes and Noble. Not that I
would know anything about that, though.
- Jocelyn Voo
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19
My Partner Looks Like a Man
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick:I am a 33-yearold mother of three and fell in love with
my own dipstick, Louise, a few months
ago. This is the first time I've been
involved with a woman on more than a
physical level. My oldest daughter (I'll call
her Katie) is 1O and has done a good job
adjusting to mommy's new lifestyle, but is
embarrassed about my partner being
around her friends because Louise is
ultrabutch. Katie loves Louise and is
happy to spend time with her, as long as
her friends aren't around. Louise thinks
Katie has self-esteem issues and we
should seek professional help. I believe
we're just transitioning and should back
off. What do you think? Is it time to call
the doctor? - Mother of Three
Lipstick: No, it's time to call the fashion police.
Your daughter definitely has issues, as we all
do (especially at that age), but I doubt they
warrant immediate psychological evaluation.
Thinking fashion-forward
might give her
sliced the heart of every dyke I know. If you
and Katie something to bond over. When
I was her age, my mom and I were bond-
line 10 lesbians up, I bet nine of them have
puffy scars from women who had no busi-
ing over lip gloss and mascara.
ness entering into relationships. It's not out
That's not to say that Lipstick doesn't condone therapy, but what Katie's dealing with is
Dipstick:Nice try Lip, but if Lou and Katie really
of malice, but innate defense. Hell, I even
want to bond, they should pursue one of
homophobia. Even grown women who've
Katie's interests. Skateboarding perhaps?
Or Tomb Raider on her Gameboy? Lou,
accidentally pulled a machete years ago
when I was coming out. Out of the closet,
been out for years struggle with this, so until
Katie sorts this out, tell Louise to cool her jets
and open a magazine to find out what's
trendy. Would it hurt to swap that flannel
pullover for a fitted butterfly collar every so
often? Or trade in those old 501 s for some
low-rise Lucky's?
Dipstick: Yes, Lipstick, if I know Louise, it will
hurt. A lot. Dipsticks don't wear butterfly
collars, whatever they are! And 501 s are
still the No. 1 fashion choice for butches, no
matter how hard you try to get us to
squeeze into those overpriced faggy jeans.
You should know better than to try and
change Louise. What kind of role model
would that be for little Katie? Cut the kid
some slack, Mama. For Christ's sake, she's
10 and adjusting to a new life. No matter
how much she loves Lou, imagine what
she's dealing with - we live in a hetero
world and she's getting all kinds of homophobic pressure from her friends and their
parents. Be there for her and remind Katie
of your unconditional love. This is a difficult
time for the whole family, and shipping her
off to therapy will make her think there
really is something wrong with her.
Lipstick: I'm not trying to change Louise.
20 APRIL 2006
then into a relationship!
show off your grind or make it to TR Level 15,
and Katie and all her little pals will be hang-
Dipstick: I'm not even gonna go there, DD, as
ing all over you. Drop the adult analysis and
think like a 10-year-old!
about my girls dating straight women.
Lipstick is right - you're about to have your
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick:What makes a
straight woman tick? I'm in a one-year relationship with Alice. This is her first relationship with a woman; she's been with men
until recently.For her birthday,I brought her
flowers at work along with a card. Nothing
mushy. She freaked out and told me I
shouldn't have brought them to her job.
Please tell me when givingflowers became
a crime? I'm totally confused. Help me!
- Dotingly Dumbfounded
Lipstick: I'll tell you what makes straight
women tick: the time bomb under their
skirts. I can smell a combustible cutie from
miles away and this firecracker is especially
you should already know how Dipstick feels
heart mangled. Better get heart insurance
before your pre-existing condition gets
worse. It's true: The problem wasn't the
flowers, it's that you, in all your butch glory,
delivered them yourself. That's what FTD is
for. Women love toget flowers at their workplace, but every dashing dyke knows you
don't show up at work with a bouquet like a
blushing schoolboy. Apologize and have
'em sent proper to make up for it.
Dear Lipstickand Dipstick:My sweetie suf-.
fers from outrageous flatulence at the
most embarrassing moments while we're
having sex. Is there a cure for that?
- Holding My Breath
pungent, so beware, Dotingly D~bfounded,
because Alice is gonna blow! The flowers
weren't the crime - it's that you opened the
closet door a little too wide when you slid
Lipstick: How shitty. Try Beano.
Dipstick: Can true love survive this noxious
them in. Get your heart good and ready for
the sharp blade of the closet, a razor that's
Ask us anything about sex, love or lesbians
at lipstickdipstick.com.
event? Who nose?
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Dear Fairy Butch: I have a problem. I am 24
and I know that I am bisexual; however, I
don't know what to label myself so far as
butch-femme. I don't really like labels.
Nonetheless, I feel like I have to have a
label to be a lesbian and I would like you
to label me. Here's my general description: I used to be a tomboy back in grammar school and high school. I used to wear
guys' clothes, but now I wear girls'
clothes. I can be tomboyish sometimes
when it comes to video games and sports,
but usually I do girl things like cook, clean,
get my nails done, etc. When it comes to
sex, I like doing everything. And as for
choosing a girlfriend, which one should I
go for after you've decided which label I
am? I need to know where I stand!
- Label-less in Los Angeles
some aspect of something or someone's
identity. Is "woman"
any different than
"butch" or "andro"? Not really, it just has a
better publicist. Is the word "woman" useful? Well, it'd be pretty tough to get through
the day without using it, especially if you
Dear Label-less: Definitely stone butch. Or
have to pee. It is liberating, then, in the
maybe stone femme. Andre switch? Sugar
sense that we don't have to carry around a
pie, I do believe you've missed the point.
cardboard cutout of a woman and point to it
First off, I can't confer a "label" upon you,
my dear. It's not like being knighted, for
every time we want to refer to one.
Is it also limiting? You bet. Once defined as a
Pete's sake. Secondly, you don't have to
"tablecloth," said item is far less likely to be
work within the butch-femme dynamic at all
seen as a headdress, maxi pad or work of
if you don't want to. You don't line up to get
art. And the words we have don't always
a "butch" or "femme" card along with your
suit us. Not everyone fits comfortably into
coming-out toaster oven, and you're not
the identity of "woman" or "man:' and even
going to get one from me. And regardless of
those who do will find the way gender is
how you define yourself, you have my official
labeled to limit their options for expression.
Fairy Butch permission to date anyone to
Similarly, "butch" and "femme" don't work
whom you're attracted.
Then what is this "label" thing about? Well, labels
But every word is a label. And where does that
for a lot of lesbians.
operate as approximate verbal signifiers of an
leave us with regard to butch-femme?
identity one has come to embody. When they
These words are just attempts to get closer
work well, they come to name inner feelings,
to the unnamable core identity in some
traits and attitudes around which that identity
folks, a place not fully encompassed by
coalesces. Why name them at all? Well, it
"woman;' "lesbian" or "dyke:' But here's the
helps those of us with identities outside the
real take-home point, hon: You don't have to
limited spectrum offered by Baywatch and
be intimidated or constrained by other folks'
The Bachelor to form a sense of coherence
attempts to nuance the verbal expression of
within ourselves. Just as importantly, labels
their identity. Butch-femme may not work for
help folks find one another and form relation-
you, and that's absolutely fine. If your inter-
ships and community.
But in the words of the inimitable Peggy Lee,
the butch-femme lexicon and you want to
nal core is not suitably expressed through
"Is that all there is?" Not by a long shot. A
use words to describe yourself, get creative
lot of people talk about labels as though
and find some that
they are endemic to the lesbian community,
but labels are everywhere and they're on
everything. "Woman" and "man" are labels,
as is "tomboy:' "Christian" or "lamp;' for that
matter. They're just words that describe
To submit your queries regarding the finer
points of lesbian /if e, sexuality, romance and
other matters of the heart, send a note to
fb@fairybutch. com.
carve
21
>> By
Jocelyn
Yoo
Straight: Just Another Word for Lesbian?
BETWEEN
TINSELTOWN
AND
THE
city that never sleeps, straight girls can't
seem to keep it straight, gay girls rumble
with the law, and more straight girls can't
keep it straight. And this time, nobody's
blaming the water.
The Rules of Celebrity
Apparently, when you're a B-list socialite
aspiring to hit the A-list, being a reality TV
celebrity - even on a show named after
yourself - isn't official until you've been
caught tonguing the same sex. ew York
media gossip blog Gawker.com reports that
Gastineau Girl No. 1 (that would be mom,
Lisa, co-star of the E! show Gastineau Girls
with daughter Brittny) was spotted on Jan.
6 at the West Village dyke bar Cubby Hole,
getting cozy with patrons. According to a
witness, Gastineau was "kissing one girl
and later getting felt up by another. Hell
hath frozen over." I disagree: Isn't girl-on-
girl action Chapter 2 of the Reality
Television Handbook?
Driving Miss Rodriguez
Cir/fight and Lost star Michelle Rodriguez
was arrested this past December for driving
under the influence with a 0.145 blood alcohol content - twice the legal limit - in
Hawaii, but not until she invoked
Braveheart while lashing out at her detainers: "Why don't you just put a gun to my
head and shoot me! You've already taken
my freedom! You might as well take my life
too," she was quoted as saying in a police
report. Rodriguez racked up three misdemeanors last year and is currently serving a
three-year probation term. If judges deem
her newest DUI as a probation violation,
Rodriguez could face prison time.
Mrs. and Mrs. Smith
A week before British tabloid The Sun
reported (erroneously, it was later found
out) that Jenny Shimizu was still sleeping
with the hotter half of Mr. and Mrs. Smith,
another starlet admitted a crush on the resident hottest pregnant woman in the world.
When Access Hollywood asked Lindsay
Lohan at VHl 's Big in '05 Awards whether
she had a crush on Brad Pitt, Lohan replied,
"Well, he's beautiful. But I've got more of a
crush on Angelina Jolie, though, than
Brad." I guess everyone wants a piece of
those "waterbed lips."
Channeling Georgia O'Keeffe
Scarlett Johansson, star of Match Point and
2003 sensation Lost in Translation, denies
that she's bisexual, following news of her
snogging designer friend Tara Subkoff in the
New York Hiro hotel bar in December.
Subkoff and the 19-year-old actor laughed the
reports off, Johansson told W magazine. "Of
course two nights later we had a dark, can-
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"When you talk to transg.ender men or women, they
for it;'>> Melissa
Etheridge to
say that the fact that there
Lavender magazine
are two genders and you
have to choose between
"The queer frontier
them is ridiculous. There
looks like middle
are many permutations of
school. People are
sexuality. And what's really
coming out younger
interesting is all the hor-
and younger, which
mone research I did. All
is great because it
those things I thought were
eliminates all those
particular to me as a
tortured, wasted
woman - it's just hor-
teenage years in the
mones;'>> Transamerica's
closet. It also
Felicity Huffman to Variety
decreases the likelihood that people will continue behaving like
"We came up with a new idea that we said that we would get married the
teenagers into their 20s, 30s and 40s, like my
day that gays and lesbians can get married - when that right is given to
generation did. Or is still doing;'>> Alison
them. We've decided that we're gonna use that in a positive way, so the
Bechdel, of Dykes to Watch Out For, to the
day that law gets passed, then we'll get married;'>> Charlize Theron, who
Dallas Voice
is dating actor Stuart Townsend, to Extra
22 APRIL 2006
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dlelit dinner and I was calling her 'my petal' all
night. . . . I was like 'Can I get you a glass of
wine, my rose, now that we're a couple?"'
Expose Exposed
She Gets What She Wants
There's never been a woman who better represented sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll than
Courtney Love. Once, following a night of
drinking at London's Groucho Club, British
journalist Janet Street Porter claims the
boozy rock star begged her for sex. After
declining, Porter thoughtfully introduced
Love to a famous pop guitarist, but that
wasn't good enough for the widow of
grunge legend Kurt Cobain. "I was getting
on famously with Sir Ben Kingsley when
the Crazed One lurched into view," Porter
says in Britain's Independent on Sunday
newspaper. "'Hi,' she announced to Sir Ben.
'I'm in love with Janet and she won't have
sex with me. I've even offered to go on a
ramble with the bitch, but she doesn't want
to know. And by the way, Janet, that bloke
you told me to fuck was useless."' Goo~ to
know that even in a haze of whiskey, the
Remember that 1988 hit "Seasons Change"
by girl group Expose? Well, former Expose
member Gioia Bruno recently told Q
Television's Brunch (hosted by Queer Eye
alum Honey Labrador and Scott Withers)
that her love interests have changed as well.
"I never wanted to put a label on myself,
but, yes, I have dated women," Bruno
admitted earlier this year. Since splitting
from Expose, Bruno has become something
of a dance diva, releasing a string of club
anthems that have landed her on gay club
playlists, as well as the Queer as Folk soundtrack. Though the pop star, who recently
released her first solo album, Expose This, is
currently dating a man, she's keeping her
girl-on-girl options open. "I can still look at
the girls," she said. "I think everybody's got
a little queer in them."
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23
Book now for a July jam-packed with fun in
Quebec. By Kathy Beige
IF YOU'VE EVER THOUGHT
OF GOING TO
Montreal, now that the First World Outgames and the
International Conference on LGBT Human Rights
will be held there this summer, you have no excuse not to
visit the most European city in North America. Whether
you're into activism, sports or even just Martina Navratilova
(who recently joined Outgames' Circle of Champions),
Montreal will have something for you this summer.
"Over the past three years, the Montreal organization
has built a new model for LGBT sport and cultural events,
one that honors the past, speaks to the present and stands
ready to embrace the future," Navratilova, an 18-time Grand
Slam champion, told reporters about joining the Circle, an
international group of prominent individuals supporting the
Outgames, which will take place July 29-Aug. 5.
Outgames organizers expect more than 16,000 athletes and 25,000 spectators and conference attendees
from around the world. And in Canada, a country where
gay marriage is legal, an impressive number of partners notably the government of Canada, the government of
Quebec, the city of Montreal and Tourism Montreal, along
with numerous corporate sponsors - are embracing the
24 APRIL 2006
games wholeheartedly.
The Outgames (montreal'.2006.org) will host 35 sports
from aerobics to wrestling, 31 of which are officially sanctioned. Montreal, host of the 1976 Summer Olympics, is
primed and up to the challenge of one of the world's biggest
sporting events. In fact, many Olympic venues will be used
for the Outgames, including the Olympic Stadium, which will
host opening and closing ceremonies.
This city will also play host to a slew of cultural programs,
including a choral festival, dance events, and activities for
bands and color guards. Viger Square, which will be
renamed Rendez-Vous Square for the week of the
Outgames, will provide a gathering place in the heart of the
city for thousands of visitors after the various sport competitions have wrapped up for the day.
And recognizing that gay and lesbian rights go hand in
hand with sports competition, the Right to Be Different
International Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Rights, held July 26-29, will focus on global
queer issues and is the first international gay and lesbian conference withgovernment sponsorship. An array of impressive
activists like March on Washington organizer Robin Tyler,
carve
2s
"If people don't come to Montreal this year, they are
going to miss out on a phenomenal experience!'
National Organization for Women executive vice president Olga Vives and
Wilde's is a great place to grab an outside seat, have a beer and watch
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission executive direc-
the crowds walk by. Oh, and eat at lesbian-owned La Paryse for the best
tor Paula Ettelbrick are all on the planning committee.
"While we [Americans] are fighting for basic human rights;' notes
burgers in Montreal.
Transportation won't be an issue with a subway system that is easy
Tyler, "the government of Canada is giving huge sums of money to sup-
to navigate. Or grab your bike and cruise around on more than 600 kilometers of cycling paths. You can also step back in time with a visit to
port this conference;'
Because both the Gay Games and Outgames are being held this
summer (and only a week apart), many athletes are put in the difficult
position of having to choose one event over the other. Catherine Meade,
a 41-year-old athlete from Nova Scotia who has attended every Gay
Games since 1990, says the decision to attend Outgames was not an
easy one to make: "My allegiance had always been
Old Montreal. With the narrow brick streets, stone front buildings and
francophones on each corner, you'll feel like you're in Europe. And a visit
to Montreal would not be complete without stepping inside Notre-Dame
Basilica, the ornate Gothic church where Celine Dion was married.
And whatever you do, do it Quebec style in July.
with the Gay Games. They had been behind so many
phenomenal experiences for me;'
But the more she learned about the planning for
Montreal 2006, especially its financial solvency, the
more impressed she became.
"I realized the Gay Games do not have a monopoly
on life-altering experiences;' she says. Meade is now
co-president of the Gay and Lesbian International
Sport Association, the governing body of the
Outgames. She encourages people ·to attend both
Gay Games and Outgames, but adds, "If people don't
come to Montreal [this] year, they are going to miss out
on a phenomenal experience;'
Julia Applegate, 35, is a swimmer from Columbus,
Ohio, who also made the difficult decision to attend
Montreal over Chicago's Gay Games. She says her
experience at Gay Games in Amsterdam in 1998
changed her life.
"I can't put into words how powerful it was to walk
into the opening ceremonies and hear thousands of
people cheering and affirming my identity as an athlete
and a lesbian;' she recalls.
Applegate spent a lot of time researching both
events and finally chose Montreal because of the
quality of the swimming venues and the mission of the Montreal Games.
"The Outgames has a three-pronged
mission;' she said. "To provide a space for
sport, culture and international human
rights. As a G LBT person living in America,
I must live with the denial of many basic
human rights every day. This denial of liberties heterosexual people take for granted is
not separate from my identity as an athlete;'
Regardless of why you go to Montreal,
you'll find it one of the most gay-friendly cities
in the world. Be sure to spend time on Rue St.
Catherine in the Village,Montreal's gay district,
where even the subway stop is decked out in
rainbow colors. Le Drugstore is Mortreal's lesbian bar and what a bar it is: eight floors of
dancing, food, pool and an outdoor terrace.
You may never leave. Next door, Oscar
26 APRIL 2006
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TOURISME
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COULD AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL BE ANY
GAYER? JUST ASK KIM. BY JOCELYN VOO
IT'S 'HARD NOT TO ADMIRE A GIRL WHO
unapologetically eats a Big Mac three times a week
despite its artery-clogging composition and questionable meat sources. It's nearly impossible when that girl
is also a model.
Kim Stolz is the latest lesbian to brave Tyra Banks'
reality television catwalk and emerge relatively
unscathed from the unforgiving lens. America's Next Top
Model, soon to be in its sixth season, has featured queer
girls before - out contestant Ebony in the premiere
cycle and bisexual wrestler Michelle in season four - but
perhaps unlike the previous girls, Stolz worked her masculine tendencies to her advantage from day one.
"My sexuality is definitely a source of confidence and
feeling different in a good way:' the 22-year-old says. "I
feel great about it:'
As an only child growing up in Manhattan, Stolz got
her first taste of the industry when she accompanied
her model mother to fashion shows. At 7 years old, she
watched a videotape of Anne Klein's 1972 runway
show of which her mother was a part.
"In the finale when all the models walk out together,
she was leading the pack:' Stolz remembers. "She
looked so confident and so beautiful, and I thought to
myself that maybe this would be something I'd really
enjoy doing'.'
But at her parents' insistence, it wasn't until Stolz
graduated from Wesleyan University that she seriously
turned an eye on modeling as a career. Earlier, she had
focused on athletics and academics, co-captaining her
varsity soccer, basketball and softball teams during her
senior year in high school, and on churning out 180
pages for her thesis on international government policy
in college. In fact, prior to her audition for Top Model,
Stolz had never had any formal runway training at all
(which might explain why no one ever tied her to a chair
to restrain her from frequent McDonald's runs). Yet
despite her lack of existing modeling credentials, her wit
and butchy kewpie doll-meets-Charlize Theron looks
still landed her one of the 13 spots on the show.
Almost immediately, you knew where reality TV producers wanted Stolz's subplot to go: Can Kim ever be
girlie enough to win? And the answer, proven by her
marked improvement with every challenge: Hell yeah.
Stolz's androgynous looks and ability to blend boyishness with feminine attributes prove that a girl rocking
a necktie and fauxhawk can stand her ground in the
high-fashion modeling industry. In one episode, the contestants met Jenny Shimizu, the butch lesbian icon
probably equally known for her bare-chested CK One
ads as for the 4-inch tattoo of a sexy pinup girl straddling a crescent wrench on her upper arm.
"All the challenges and photo shoots and teachers we'd had so far were very much geared toward
looking feminine or acting in a sort of girlish way,"
Stolz said. "To me, [meeting] Jenny Shimizu and
having her tell us about her boyish look, how it
helped her on the runway and in photo shoots and
her uniqueness - I mean, that was really exciting for
me because finally I saw someone as a potential
role model for the kind of model that I want to be'.'
Indeed, Stolz, who was axed in the ninth round
of competition, remained faithful to her sense of
self, rarely repressing her boyish tendencies outside of photo shoots and still conveying an undeniable beauty. It's not bravado; it's honesty. The
fact that it even shone through the warping properties of reality TV says something. After her elimination, Stolz returned to her New York stomping
grounds to develop a modeling and acting career.
However, at least for me, she'll always be that
masculine-feminine girl who left the Top Model
house wearing a striped rugby shirt, a double
string of pearls around her neck and a cigarette
tucked behind one ear.
Curve
29
The
Clothes
That
Make
theWo/Man
RIGGED OUT/FITTERS DIVA PARISA PARNIAN TAKES FASHION WAY PAST GENDER. By Jocelyn Yoo
Versace, Armani, C~lvin
Klein - you can't rummage through a Bergdorf
women's rack without flipping past a dozen frocks
making a post-snack trip to the bathroom.
But Parisa Parnian is one such fashion rebel
out to leave her mark on gender-divided cloth·
envisioned by a queer eye. The clothes are sen·
sual and evocative, but their aesthetic almost
always conforms perfectly to the mainstreamdef·
ing. While growing up in a traditional Iranian
family - where Islamic dress code requires a
inition of feminine attire: flowing couture gowns,
and a conservative Republican community in
Arizona, Parnian struggled with the idea of dis·
crete gender categories, which seemed
increasingly anachronistic as she matured.
"To me, it didn't seem weird to draw a fash·
delicate silk shirts, form-fitting tailored pants. And
while no one can claim there's a lack of gay
designers, for a gay designer to produce a
specifically queer-themed women's line that
defies traditional notions of femininity - well,
that's rarer in the fashion industry than a model
wolfing down a pint of Haagen·Dazs without
30 APRIL 2006
woman's head, neck and arms be covered -
ion sketch of a tall, lanky person with short
spiky hair, high cheekbones, eye liner, red lips,
plunging necklines, tight pants and a giant
bulge between his/her leg;' Parnian says. As a
result, her early college sketches were full of
first-generation Iranian American living in a
culturally unsophisticated suburban sprawl of
women dressed in boyish clothing and men's
attire with a typically feminine edge.
strip malls and bottle blonds."
But even a prodigal designer has to pay her
Parnian's fashion philosophy also closely
resembles her outlook on life. By the end of her
dues in the beginning. Though she is now known
for her innovative manipulation of color and
college years, the queer designer realized that
sexuality aside, living a straight-edge life was
not for her.
design, Parnian got her start at the king of plain
polos and khakis: The Gap. For two years she
designed Hawaiian camp shirts and tongue-in-
"Myqueerness moved beyond my label as
'gay' or 'lesbian,'" she says. "I found myself
constantly pushing the envelope and not fitting in with many aspects of my life - as a
cheek print boxer shorts for the Old Navy division.
Before that, she was a senior designer of young
devout Muslim, the prodigal eldest child, a
TheClothes...
menswear at Target,traveling to extremesporting
events to promote a surf-skate house brand.
continued
onpage61
carve
31
-:c
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u.
Get
Studded
THE LESBIAN FASHIONISTAS AT
CHOCOLATE BABY DESIGNS MAKE MEN'S
CLOTHES TAILORED FOR WOMEN - AND
CREATE POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE
WHILE THEY'RE AT IT. By Ariane Resnick
Six or seven years ago,
I stumbled across
a lingerie catalog called Apres Noir that featured everything from
frilly corsets to lacey panties - only instead of nubile, leggy
women wearing the garments, the models were fit, well-built men.
Yes, Apres Noir was a brand of women's lingerie designed
specifically to fit men. At last, men aren't the only ones who can
get clothes originally intended for the opposite sex tailor-made
for their own bodies: Women who wear masculine apparel can
now enjoy Studded, a menswear-for-women clothing line
founded by Chocolate· Baby Designs.
Co-owned by partners Aisha Pew and Breonna Cole,
Studded arose from Cole's need to feel more physically comfortable in the clothing she wore every day. Although she felt
more at home in men's clothes than women's, she couldn't get
them to fit correctly; necks were too roomy, sleeves were too
long, pants fit in the waist or the hip but never both at once.
Frustrated by Cole's attempts to look stylish in clothing
designed for men's bodies, Pew decided to design a line of
clothing for studs, butches and bois who want to wear men's
clothes that complement a woman's body: Studded.
The line, which is all about the basics, consists of tailored shirts
and pants made with American materialsby women-owned worker
cooperativesin the San FranciscoBay area.They are committed to
a "double bottom line;' insisting not only that workmanship be topnotch but also that prices be affordable for the average working
dyke. This summer, Studded (which is showcased on chocolate
babydesigns.com)will expand to in~lude sport coats, and suits are
scheduled to follow this winter. Currently, clothing is availablefor
purchaseat events hosted by Chocolate Baby Designs.
And it's not just about fashion, Cole says: "It's social change
on a whole new level:' Cole and Pew are erasing and redefining
the laws of gender with every stitch. And they don't stop at just
the clothing; Chocolate Baby Designs partners with a variety of
Bay area organizations, such as Sweat Equals Love Fitness,
where they take part in coordinating 90-day physical fitness and
personal training programs for butches, studs and tranny bois.
Cole remarks, "Our goal is to make sure that people feel good
about themselves on the outside - that's reflected in the
clothes they wear ... but it's also about finding ways to make
sure that we're all taking care of ourselves on the inside:'
If their first fashion show was any indication of how well
Cole and Pew are taking care of women, inside and out,
Studded has quite the promising future.
32 APRIL 2006
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY PHYLLIS
CHRISTOPHER
Funky
asShe
Wants
toBe
LESBIAN DESIGNER LALA
BRINGS GLAM TO THE GIRLS.
Lala Lowe, one half of the duo
behind Funky Lala Productions - with business partner Michelle
Alleyne - is one hot babe who describes herself as "a biz ultrafemme
fashion powerhouse L Word chick come to life but in New York City."
Phew. I'm excited already. Known as the fiercely independent and ultra·
cool Lala (like Cher, but without the baggage), this fashion-forward
funkstress spearheads multiple fashion lines (LaMa and In With La),
34 APRIL 2006
operates a fashion PR consulting division as well as the Funky Lala
boutique (funkylala.com), which features several up-and-coming
designers such as Rebecca Minkoff, Wendy Bassin and Bambina di
Cioccolato. Oh and, in her spare time, she teaches other women how
to start their own fashion companies. All that work, though, might eas·
ily make folks lose sight of how darn exciting her foxy lady dresses
are. Here's a sneak peek at two of her new designs.
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FROM AN ANTI-BUSH TEE SPRINGS A CAREER FOR
DESIGNER PERIEL ASCHENBRAND. By Amy Silverman
Periel Aschenbrand may have become a
designer by accident, but the T-shirts she has been churning out for her company, Body as Billboard, have attracted the attention of everyone from urban
teens to celebs like Betsey Johnson, Susan Sarandon and Gloria Steinem. It all
started during a summer philosophy course she taught to high school students.
After seeing more than her fair share of girls wearing T-shirts with blatantly antifeminist slogans on them, she decided to do something about it.
In an effort to kick-start some political consciousness among her students,
Aschenbrand started talking to them about people who have inspired her. Later,
when her class silk-screened shirts with a motto of their choice, Aschenbrand
settled on the now-famous motto, "the only bush I trust is my own:• ("Larry Kramer
for President" and "Foucault is Sexy" were others from that project.)
When Aschenbrand walked into a Los Angeles boutique wearing her tank
top, the owner placed an order on the spot. Only three years later,
Aschenbrand's company is getting ready to launch a new line of tees featuring
quotes by iconic women, and Aschenbrand is feeling more comfortable with the
label "fashion designer:'
The idea behind putting slightly sarcastic slogans on T-shirts is simple, says
28-year-old Aschenbrand: "This is about women. It's about our bodies. It's about
how our bodies are used, and it's about using our bodies and appropriating that
in order to do something more intelligent, more interesting:'
You can choose to wear a shirt that says "Mrs. Timberlake" or you can wear one
of Aschenbrand's shirts that says, "The show is upstairs:• Thus the slogan of the
company: Advertising for Shit That Matters. If anything makes her mad (and a lot
of things do), it's that women use their bodies to advertise for corporations or any
number of things that they don't even think about. If anything, she wants people to
read her designs and be forced to think about issues they would rather ignore.
On her way to becoming a designer, the postgender Aschenbrand was actually
working on being a writer, and her aptly titled first book, The Only Bush I Trust Is
My Own, was published in 2005. An irreverent series of anecdotes from her own
life, the book covers everything from her friendship with an ex-Mormon missionary
to her graphic efforts to shatter her mother's sweeping generalizations about people based on race and religion. Baudrillard, Foucault, Peter Singer and Monique
SPONSOREDBY:
Wittig are a few of the philosophers she cites along the way. When Aschenbrand
was a graduate student at the University of Arizona, a friend suggested she take a
class with Wittig, a French lesbian theorist known for, among other things, her statement that "lesbians are not women:' That class changed her life and took her questioning nature to a new level. Wittig challenged ideas that Aschenbrand had taken
for granted about our cultural institutions and the basic structure of society.
Although it may seem impossible to reconcile heady feminist theory with living life in our consumer-driven culture, Aschenbrand is pretty determined. While
T-shirt slogans may not exactly be direct action, her work doesn't stop there. Last
fall, the designer took part in a fashion show at New York University to raise
money for the organization Keep a Child Alive, which provides medicine to HIV-
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positive children in Africa. Not only was it a good cause, but women of all shapes
she says. Aschenbrand has succeeded in using fashion to promote awareness,
and we'll take that over seeing Britney in a "Future MILF" tee any
V-ISiO..
PRODUCEDBY:
and sizes got a chance to strut their stuff.
"I saw a bunch of 18-, 19- and 20-year-old girls get up on that runway and
kick such serious ass in really challen_gingand in-your-face and hardcore issues;'
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36 APRIL 2006
37
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Fashion
ALTERNATIVE OUTFITTERS AND CULTURE JUNKIE HAVE WHAT YOU NEED ONLINE. By Jocelyn Yoo
If spending an afternoon browsing
them barking in the background;' she says. "At first I was worried about
in a mall sounds only slightly more desirable than going to the gynecolo•
what people would think about us having dogs at the office, but actually,
gist, then online shopping is your answer. Online storefronts have come
most of them are jealous that we get to bring our dogs to work:'
a long way in providing unique wares created with a socially responsible
Another online fashion alternative is CultureJunkie.com, which sells
philosophy in mind. One such store is AlternativeOutfitters.com, which
eco-friendly goods ranging from political slogan panties to vegan lip
offers a range of high-quality, cruelty-free fashion and beauty products,
balm. Founder Nancy Gray Cowan was always a DIYer, but it wasn't until
including nonleather shoes, handbags, and hair and body products that
1997, when she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, that she became con-
aren't tested on animals and contain no animal byproducts. "You better
cerned with minimizing consumption and waste output. Two years later,
believe if it contains animal products, we will find an alternative;' founder
the Portland, Ore., resident founded Culture Junkie as an outlet for her
Jackie Herrick says. Her commitment was recognized by PETA, which
and her friends' handmade projects, the majority of which are made from
named the company best cruelty-free online vendor in 2005. Herrick, a
recycled products, and Cowan has big plans for expansion. "I [just]
strict vegan who hasn't worn leather since she was 16, is such an animal
bought a 1976 diesel Blue Bird bus and had it converted to run on
lover that she allows two dogs to run around her office in Pasadena, Calif.
biodiesel;' she says excitedly. "I'm planning on turning that into my mobile
"Sometimes when you call the Alternative Outfitters number, you can hear
store and driving around the country this spring and summer:'
38 APRIL 2006
Playing
Secretary
DIY MAFIOSO JENNIFER PERKINS. By Jocelyn Yoo
If achieving personal celebrity is the
goal, then Jennifer Perkins still has a way to go. "I definitely get the occa-
sional, 'Hey, you're the naughty secretary;" the 31-year-old founder of
DIY jewelry business Naughty Secretary Club.says. "I think a lot of people think that's my name:'
From an early age, the Texas native showed signs of entrepreneurship,
though not by selling lemonade or trying to pawn off her little sister like normal kids do. Instead, her family raised lop-eared rabbits, so she and her
younger sister Hope would load the babies into a wagon and set up shop
on the corner. Of course, not all her early business ventures went that
smoothly: "My best friend and I once decided to have a roadside manicure
stand in a tent in her front yard. Problem was, it was like 20 degrees and
snowing, so only her grandmother paid us not to do her nails:'
Luckily, Perkins' interest in cosmetology soon grew into a passion for
crafting. As a child she made earrings out of fishing lures, drawn to the
bright colors and sparkles. Perkins also won a blue ribbon at her school science fair for a pair of dangly earrings she designed. It was the epitome of
'80s jewelry: a tiny travel-sized toothbrush attached to one earring and a
travel-sized tube of toothpaste to the other. What this had to do with science is anyone's guess, but it did bolster Perkins' jewelry-making habits
beyond the sixth grade - a much more important fact in the long run.
Perkins' aesthetic taste eventually graduated from oral cleansers
and fishing bait. For a period her medium of choice was resin, and her
love for it was so intense that it - and the pungent chemical smell it
;
exuded when heated - literally took over her home. "When I first
Naughty Secretary Club is just the tip of Perkins' creative empire.
moved into my current house, the neighbors across the street did
Perkins is also the founder of Babes in Business and a founding member
come over to investigate;' she admits. "I can imagine what they must
of the Austin Craft Mafia, two collectives of creative, small business-owning
have been thinking: I was in the garage with the doors up wearing a
women. "Technically,I am the mouthy, tattoo-covered member of the Mafia;'
big Darth Vader-style ventilator mask, with the stinkiest smell ever
Perkins says. "I would say all of us are very strong, independent women:'
permeating the neighborhood. We were definitely the weirdos on the
As the DIY movement continued to grow, the Mafia took their projects to the
street:' Luckily, Perkins' palette has broadened so her house no longer
mainstream. In 2002, mafiosi Tina Sparkles, Jesse Kelly-Landes and Karly
smells like a meth lab.
Even when she took a desk job as a secretary ("executive adminis-
Craft Fair,a forum for fellow designers to exhibit their work. The annual Austin
trative assistant;' she jokingly corrects me) immediately after college, she
event is wildly successful, routinely selling out its 1,000-plus capacity to a
didn't let the 9-to-5 faxing and filing regime interfere with her creative
rabid DIY community.
Hand joined forces and founded the STITCH Fashion Show and Guerilla
side. "When I was still working with resin, I was joined at the hip to my
Crafting has raised such a fever pitch that even television networks are
Dremel tool;' she says. "I even would bring resin cubes and pliers when
throwing elbows for a piece of the action. This spring, Perkins is co-hosting
the front desk receptionist was going to be out and answer the phones
the weekly show Stylelicious on the DIY Network with seven other Mafia
and make jewelry all daY:' In fact, it was her day job that inspired the
members. "Sty/e/icious is about wearable arts, so you might catch an
name for her booming jewelry business.
Started in 2000, Naughty Secretary Club offers a line of tastefully
episode with me showing how to make a purse out of training panties, Tina
kitsch jewelry, handbags and other fashion accessories pretty enough to
out of plastic grocery bags;' she explains. Perkins' solo show, Craft Lab, is
be mainstream but retro enough to be truly hipster. The nostalgic line
set to air this fall. On each episode, a different DIY guru teaches Perkins a
recalls the toothpaste-and-toothbrush earrings that started it all: Bakelite
new project, such as metal etching or furry monster-head mask-making.
instructing you on making a guitar strap and Vickie [Howell] making an apron
beads, Lucite rings and big wooden pendant necklaces reminiscent of the
Over the past half-decade, crafting has been dramatically elevated to
ones that I'm convinced all aging, female elementary school teachers wear
hip status, and as one of the original godmothers of DIY, Perkins is only
as unofficial identification badges. Perkins' favorite piece is a Golden Girls
too thrilled. "There is power in numbers, and the more people that are
necklace, featuring the four ladies strung alongside vintage black glass
into DIY, the more other people on the fringes start to think things like:
beads. "The parody of the whole thing makes me laugh;' she says. "I like
'Hey I could knit, or I could sew, or I could make that necklace;" she says.
to wear it to fancy events with little black dresses. At first glance it looks
"I am sure other crafters love, as much as I do, to be wearing something
like a nice sophisticated necklace, but then people do a double take when
and have a stranger go, 'Hey, I really like your bracelet. Where did you
8 they see Bea Arthur staring back at them:'
get it?' And you get to proudly say, 'I made it:"
Curve
39
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Dressing
Down
A Q&A WITH CONSCIOUS CLOTHIER
CARLY MILLER. By Aefa Mulholland
en
C
IL
Born 1n 2004 amid discontent
spawned by the war in Iraq, Clothing of the American Mind
(cotam.org) has been outfitting the politically disgruntled around the
globe ever since. Specializing in clever protest wear, such as
"Peace" T-shirts for toddlers and organic, environmentally friendly
"Stop Wars" T-shirts, Carly Miller and founder Caitlin Blue also make
sure their company invests in organizations such as MoveOn,
Progressive Democrats of America, Peace Action and Amnesty
International, meaning their customers can really feel as righteous as
they look. We got Miller to tell us what it's like to dress down the war
machine.
What kind of reactions do your shirts get? Do they make
Republicans frown?
For the most part, people's reactions to our T-shirts are extremely
positive. It's great to be at events, exposing Clothing of the
American Mind to larger audiences and watching people inter·
act with the T-shirts. Most people laugh. There's a very distinct
tongue-in-cheek humor about most of the shirts that works to
Anne Ramsay (above) and Amber Valletta (below) wear their
hearts on their sleeves - or chests, as the case may be - with
Clothing of the American Mind's tees.
alleviate, I think, some of the severity of the issues they
address, such as "This Child Left Behind" or "Electoral
College Dropout." Even people who aren't that political under·
stand the message because of how it's conveyed: on a clever,
stylish T-shirt. In general, Republicans and other right-minded
people are not appreciative or understanding of our mission.
While some Republicans we encounter simply frown, as you
say, and ignore the shirts, others will engage us in dialogue,
which is really what the shirts are meant to do: start a dialogue.
We know we can't change everyone's mind, but introducing
issues into the conversation is a start. Exposing Republicans
to ideas not addressed in their Fox News telecasts is about
spreading truth.
How has the "Stop Wars" shirt been received?
Lots of people identify with the design because of its pop-culture
familiarity. If that gets more people to notice it, that only translates
into more shirt sales and more widespread awareness of the issue
of war and the opposition to it. I think one of the other reasons it's
been so well-received is because it's our first organic shirt. It's
made from certified 100-percent organic cotton grown with zero
pesticides; it's also sweatshop-free and made in America.
Are your wares lesbian-popular?
I think that Clothing of the American Mind wares are definitely popular
among lesbians.... We have slim-fitting shirts for smaller women
and roomier styles for larger women, so people can usually find
something that's just right for them. A very popular style among
most of our female customers, including lesbians, is our "My Bush
Is Pro-Choice" T-shirt, which was designed by Julianna Parr, an
amazing artist and a good friend. Also, from our 2004 team jersey
line, our "Family Devaluers" shirt has always been quite popular in
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the GLBT community.
What are you trying to achieve with your shirts?
We understand that not everyone has the ability to donate time or
money to political causes. Clothing of the American Mind is
encouraging activism as a way of life for anyone who gets
dressed in the morning: Being politically active can be as simple
as putting on a T-shirt.
Is COTAM a full-time concern for you?
For me, being a political activist and running Clothing of the
American Mind is more a way of life than it is a full-time job. I was
working at a newspaper on election night in 2000 when the election was stolen in Florida. At that point, I realized my vote just
wasn't going to be enough anymore. I was looking for a way to
get more politically involved, but between my full-time day job
and my freelancing, it was near impossible - until I landed the
gig with Clothing of the American Mind. Now, I get to try to
change the world, one T-shirt at a time.
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Shane's
Sense
ofStyle
TALKING FASHION, SEX AND POLITICS WITH THE L WORD'S RESIDENT STYLIST
CYNTHIA SUMMERS. By Karen Loftus
I met L Word stylist Cynthia
Summers during Los Angeles Fashion Week where you
check out the people as much as you do the fashion.
Summers had a definitive style with her vibrant red Bettie
Page bangs, vintage-look dresses arid incredible sense of
whimsy. In the la-la landscape, she was different - she was
my kind of gal. Months later, we finally caught up for a drink
and a giggle at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. She
arrived with Bettie bangs in place, in the perfect red summer sundress, and ordered a coffee
with a side of black Sambuca
before we settled in for a chat.
Lucky Cynthia
Summers (left)
gets to make
Carmen (Sarah
Shahi) wear whatever she wants
42 APRIL 2006
You've worked on a number of
TV shows, like The Dead Zone.
What were you doing before
styling for film and television?
I worked in dance and theater. It
was 1994, I was producing a dance
line at the time, and it just so happened a movie [Double Happiness]
needed a tutu built. It was a turning
point in my life. I was single. I had
three kids - I still have three kids - I
was self-taught, but I went to fashion school at the time, to find shortcuts to what I was doing.
How did you end up on the L?
I [had] worked with a producer,
Rose Lamb, in Vancouver, who
works with Showtime a lot. I wasn't
sure what they wanted, as this was
the first-ever lesbian drama. I'm not
~ure they knew what they wanted.
What look were they going for?
Initially it was a blend. Like Friends, they had a coffee
shop. Like Sex and the City, it was fashion-forward and
politically forward. The show's brazen, and it pushes
the envelope in all directions. If it's a lipstick lesbian, we
made her more lipstick, and then gave her an edge. We
wanted to create someone to aspire to.
What was your vision for the show?
My vision was to try to depict, as best I could, the lesbian
community within L.A., taking the typical fashion of said
ladies, pushing the envelope whether it be in a glam or
controversial direction, and challenging the "inside"
and "outside" worlds to see themselves in a different
light of fashion, diversity and acceptance. And to sprinkle a little fairy dust, to make it all TV magical or something of wonder.
Some people think The L Word's not a true
representation of the community.
We were really careful to make them characters, not caricatures. We wanted to tell a real story. We got a lot
of backlash that we were making characters attractive
to appeal to a straight audience. These characters
needed to be welcomed in a way that says, "Hey,
we're all people too. We're the same as the rest of the
world. We have the same problems in life." Also, what
people need to remember is that this is L.A.: People
look different in L.A.
Boy, do they! In the lesbian community, women can
escape male standards, but in L.A. they can't escape
L.A. standards. Is that why the show is so stylized?
Yes, absolutely. One thing that was very important from the
get-go was that we remain true to the L.A.scene and
style, but mix it up a bit to make it our own. We've made
a real effort to use a lot of smaller L.A.-based up-andcoming designers to keep it fresh and real and evoke
that L.A.-ness. We're representing a specific circl~ of
friends, but the request has been for more diverse
characters. People are asking for that. This season will
definitely represent that.
Tell me more about season three.
There will be some disturbing turns for a few of our characters. Season three is a very comfortable blend of the
first two, in that season one was a very full season to
establish characters and who they were; season two
was "let's push all the boundaries we can" to establish
where we can take this series - whether it will become
more political, whether we can broaden our audience
base, what is too shocking. [Now] we are not afraid to
tell a deeper story, create a few more fringe characters
that enter our original circle and leave their mark. This
season will be a little less frivolous in fashion.
Is your process collaborative with the cast?
Every look on every character is a complete collaboration.
So much thought goes into what they're wearing. I
always have options ... but in the end, I defer to the
actors. Then it gets QK'd by [show creator] Ilene
[Chaiken] and the current director.
Who was your favorite guest star to dress?
I was so nervous to meet Sandra Bernhard. I had never
met her and she's such a big personality. She was so
collaborative. She was wonderful to work with. She
was up for anything. I think my favorite was Kelly Lynch.
She worked on Ivan from the inside out. She was a
dreamboat. We built a whole costume off of an earring
she brought in. A lot of our actors do that. They have a
soul connection to a piece - a T-shirt or a ring - and
they will wear that ring scene-to-scene, episode-toepisode. It's almost superstitious. Not everyone will
know, but they will. If I am stuck, I will start a costume
on shoes. Everyone knows I'm obsessed with shoes. If
Manolo Blahnik was Sex and the City's shoe, then
Christian Louboutin is The L Word's shoe. Everyone
has a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes with a red sole,
even Kate [Moennig], who will never wear them.
Will Shane dress differently this season now that
she has a relationship?
Yes, but not because of the relationship.
Is a stylist like an interior designer, where it is all
about scale and balance?
Yes. There has to be balance. There may be seven actors
in a scene. They need to harmonize. We just had an
instance where Pam Grier and Alan Cumming were
both wearing hot pink in the same scene. We had to
take one out of hot pink. It's a tough decision. Pam
looks great, and Alan is wearing a T-shirt that says,
"Bad People Wear Fur'.'That's a clue as to where that
scene is going.
Who or what are your influences or icons as a
designer and a stylist?
Icon: Edith Head. She was [a] designer at the studio, in
the early days. Influences: nature. I wasn't in L.A. in season one. Season two I was. The sky is different. The
green here is different. In L.A., there's always a gentle
breeze blowing through your hair. Everyone looks sexy
and fabulous, and there's a flow to the skirt. In
Vancouver, your skirt would be over your head with the
wind. It's different.
Who are your favorite designers?
Balenciaga. I love Gaultier - the color, the embellishments
- Valentino, Mauret and U.K. designer Jenny Peckham.
Last season we did a lot of Stella McCartney suits.
Each one was subtly different, a real nod to the '40s.
My new favorite label that you will see a lot this season
is Elmore Avenue.
Where do you shop?
American Rag is my favorite; Fred Segal; H Lorenzo is my
new favorite. If at a loss, I know I can always get something at Barney's. The Kasbah Cafe in Silver Lake. For
vintage it's Liliett C for Kate and Leisha. Also, Come to
Mama, Luxe de Ville, Catwalk and Silver Sailors in
Silver Lake.
Do you think The L Word has opened a window into
the lesbian world, enabling the straight community
to understand and therefore accept the gay com•
munity?
Yes, I do. I have a very good straight friend in Rome, Italy.
His straight, married, middle-aged sister likes to watch
the show while cooking dinner. Can't you see that traditional busy, steaming, full-of-life Italian kitchen full of
The L Word? Even in another language, another country, people are intrigued to look in. They don't get it altogether, but they are willing to watch. Maybe after some
time, some understanding will build, some tolerance.
Q:
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Want Cynthia's insider tips on which designers The L
Word gals wear? Want to buy the dress off Carmen's
back? Go to curvemag.com for more info.
DIV
ontheDown
Low
NEED HELP GETTING STARTED? START HERE.
By Jocelyn Yoo
As with
most
daunting
activities
(cooking, job-hunting and relationships come to mind), we wish there were a
beginner's manual to help us navigate a new trade. The hobby world is no
exception. Whether it's beading or bedding, scrapbooking or sewing, a newbie is bound to get lost. Thankfully, numerous DIY magazines are available to
help beginners and inspire the seasoned.
Here's a smattering to get started. Don't
worry - CuRvE's here to hold your hand.
Beadwork (beadworkmagazine.com):More
than just a project magazine, this bimonthly
glossy includes meaty pieces on all things
related to beadwork. Past features include a
survey of Native American beaded crafts and
BEADWOR
-~·--
Techniques Galore!
•Squarootitch
•l.add«stttch
•Rlghl-.nglo···And•~sfitch
c,utedfustforyoul
tips on starting a beading business.
ReadyMade
(readymademag.com): For
"people who like to make stuff;' ReadyMade
shows how to make everything from sushi
plates to your own food-inspired fragrance.
Most notable is their "Re-Make" section,
which demonstrates how to recycle singleuse items and turn them into cute, useable
things around the home, such as a juicecarton coat holder or a Lego CD rack.
Paper Crafts (papercraftsmag.com): I
have yet to meet a gal who doesn't have a
perverse fascination with glue guns and
frankly, I don't know if I want to. From customized journals to gift bags to greeting
cards for every occasion, Paper Crafts
doles out design ideas and technical tips to
get your fingers working.
McCall's Quilting (mccallsquilting.com): Quilting may be old-school, but that
doesn't mean the patterns have to be. This glossy comes with step-by-step
instructions and has an easy-to-follow, pull-out pattern section in every issue.
Art Jewelry (artjewelrymag.com): A far cry from cheap plastic beads on a
string, Art Jewelry shows you how to make beautiful pieces of professional
quality. Beginners can follow the step-by-step instructions to create a stunning
broach with an opal inlay, while seasoned artisans will delight in the full-color
photography and tips from other crafters.
Fine Woodworking (finewoodworking.com): Ty Pennington wannabes, this
one's for you. Revel in high-school woodshop nostalgia by refinishing a cabinet,
learning the nuances of bandsaw jigs or constructing a new Shaker-style bed
for you and your girl. Getting crafty doesn't always mean lace and sequins.
Sew News (sewnews.com): Revamp a plain wardrobe with colorful accents
and trim, or make an ill-fitting skirt hug all the right curves. This service-minded
mag also tests out tools and tells you where to get the most bang for your buck.
Creative Knitting (creativeknittingmagazine.com): The world of knitted
goods has gone beyond reindeer sweaters and granny potholders. This
bimonthly mag teaches you how to make a felted purse, dye your own yarn and
master a variety of carpal tunnel-inducing stitches. The designs are practical
and - surprise! - actually presentable in
It'sAllAbout
Me
FROM TOADSTOOLS TO TINKKOO, DESIGNS FOR THE REST OF US.
By Diane Anderson-Minshall
"Fashionable lesbian"
used to be an oxymoron and I understand
why. A whole lot of "fashion" isn't exactly
aimed at us. But a few great designers many of them queer girls - offer an in-yourface attitude and togs that, fortunately, you
can't find at Wal-Mart.
Evil Needles
(evilneedles.com):
Patricia
Valery's Evil Needles boutique is the only fully
functioning, DIY reconstructed T-shirt store on
the Web. Customers can select from hundreds
of licensed T-shirt styles, or they can send their
own tees in for reconstruction. Valery starts
with a men's XL tee and deconstructs it to create a new garment that fits women's bodies.
tinkkoo (tinkkoo.com): Born in India and
raised in Newfoundland,
designer Amrita
Gagnon is the driving force behind tinkkoo, a
collection of modern, ethnic-inspired designs
that appeal to women across a range of ages,
races, body types and yes, sexual orientations. Plus, Gagnon makes sure all tinkkoo
artisans work in comfortable conditions rather
'
ecs, and gnome-centric
by Hannah skirt and bl
than in factory settings.
Sol Moscot (moscots.com): The Moscot family has been selling eyeglasses in New York
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since patriarch Hyman got a pushcart when he
arrived from Eastern Europe in 1899. Today,
the Moscots still operate their flagship store in
New York, but the clientele now includes
dykes, hipsters, fashionistas and celebs like
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Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill all clamoring for
their vintage-inspired, limited-edition glasses.
My new fave? The black-mauve Malpa, a Tina
Fey-meets-Michelle Tea cat's eye look (smart
but naughty).
Made With Love by Hannah (madewithlove
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byhannah.com): Hannah uses silk screening
and unique embellishments in her handcrafted sassy skirts and tops. From this
~
schwarzwa/der skirt (gnomes and deer and
toadstools, oh my!) to her racing-stripe
skirts, everything Hannah touches is filled
with whimsy and retro flirty fun.
Size Queen (sizequeenclothing.com): The
diva who brought us Big Boxers of Brooklyn
(bigboxers.com) does it again with this online
ce
femmetique of slip dresses, hot pants and
skirts - all in sizes up to ax.I can't wait to get
my hands on the sassy pink mesh faux wrap
::; skirt and half-top.
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45
Make
Your
Dwelling
Eco-Friendly
NEW TRENDS IN HOME DESIGN HELP YOU CREATE AN EARTH-FRIENDLY LIVING SPACE. By Malinda Lo
It seems like everybody is thinking
Vetrazzo slabs, made from 80 percent recycled materials, turn trash into
green these days. From the rising popularity of hybrid cars to the organic
beauty. These custom-made slabs are crafted from chips of polished glass
foods movement to all-naturalcosmetics, almost everyone has jumped on the
that used to be stemware, traffic lights, beer bottles or even windshields.
reduce, reuse, recycle bandwagon. So if you want to apply this earth-con-
The slabs resemble marble or mosaic, come in an almost endless variety
scious attitude to your home, where should you start? The variety of options
of color patterns (you choose the specific mixture), can withstand high
can be overwhelming, ranging from installing Energy Star-compliant appli-
temperatures, are highly stain-resistant and are durable enough to be used
ances, to using insulation made from recycled phone books, to flooring your
in high-traffic areas or outdoors. (counterproduction.com)
house with salvaged wood. But don't panic - you can make a difference a little bit at a time. Here are a few lesbian-friendly ideas to get you started.
The New Prefab
Paint It Green
designs, combined with eco-friendly building materials and an affordable
One of the simplest ways you can make an impact on a room is by painting
price, are giving prefab a whole new look. Her Camp series includes two
it a new color, and now you can make sure that the paint you use is envi-
options, the Fish Camp and the Base Camp, which are constructed with
Prefabricated housing has gotten a.bad rap, but Rocio Romero's modern
ronmentally friendly. Founded by lesbian couple Virginia Young and Janie
structurally insulated panels that use Performax (made from fast-growing
Lowe, both of whom trained in the fine arts, the Portland-based Yolo Color
timber) and recyclable Galvalume, and are manufactured producing almost
House offers toxic-free paint that contains zero volatile organic compounds
no waste. They ship to you packed flat and include a power-driven screw-
(most paints contain harmful VOCs) and has no lingering odors. Yolo's 40
driver - which is apparently all you will need to put together your very own
paint colors are grouped in seven nature-based categories (water, grain,
futuristic, super-luxury campsite. ($15,000 and up, rocioromero.com)
stone, clay, air, leaf and petal) and are available in flat, satin and semigloss.
If you want to test out a color in your house, you can take home a giant
For More Tips
poster-sized repositionable swatch (made with actual paint) rather than a
If you've been bitten by the eco-friendly bug and find yourself yearning to
tiny paint chip, and if you're nervous about pick-
remodel your home using salvaged metal and wood, pick up a
ing a good color combination, Yolo sells a
copy of Jennifer Roberts' Redux: Designs That Reuse, Recycle,
design kit that includes letter-sized samples of
and Reveal. This gorgeous book walks you through several homes
all 40 colors as well as suggestions for color
that have taken the three R's to heart, including an old Brooklyn
coordination. (Swatches are $4.99, paints are
icehouse that has .been turned into highly energy-efficient apart-
$24 and up; yolocolorhouse.com)
ments, and a home in the Sierra Nevada Mountains built with walls
filled with straw bales. If you're looking for the basics, Redux also
Counter Revolution
provides simple tips for making sure your home is eco-friendly, as
Recycling is about more than separating
well as a detailed list of resources and retailers that you can pur-
paper
chase reclaimed materials from. ($29.95, gibbs-smith.com)
from
46 APRIL 2006
glass
bottles;
handcrafted
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Extreme
Home
Makeover,
Lesbian
Style
SOME SERIOUSLY COOL DYKE DECOR IS AS CLOSE AS YOUR KEYBOARD
Try as you might to continue living like you did (or do) at 20 when futons, cinder block bookshelves and beer can pyramids
are still boho enough to be charming - sometimes a girl just has
to nest. And whether you're 18 or 82 or somewere in between,
a few funky fundamentals that you find online can make the difference between a home where you can entertain that lovely lass
after the club closes, or one that'll have the same gal pal running
for a shower and Mr. Bubbles (at her own place).
First things first: Even if you rent, you can give your kitchen a
makeover - for less than a fortune. ($22 and up, IKEA)
Curve
47
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48 APRIL 2006
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Feels like suede!
Corrugated cardboard
rocking chaise ($595,
Cardboard Chair)
Witty luxe linen Secret
Service pillow ($70,
Velocity Art & Design)
40-Disc Recycled
Bicycle CD Rack ($88,
Uncommon Goods)
German-made,
curved swing tumblers
($10, Uncommon Goods)
Red Tango's pretty
kitty will sex up your
sofa ($40, Red Tango)
Curve
49
She's
agonzo
filmmaker,
abiodiesel
fuels
nutaHollywood
sexpot
and
a
human
rights
activist.
lsthere
anything
Daryl
Hannah
can't
do?
ByDiane
Anderson-Minshall
YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW DARYL HANNAH,
and fossil fuels. She drives a 1983 Chevrolet El Camino that
the blond bombshell who made box-office dreams come
sports a "Greed Kills" bumper sticker and runs entirely on
true in the '80s playing a mermaid (Splash), a power
used trench-fry oil from fast food restaurants. "They actually
player (Waif Street), a performance artist (Legal Eagles)
dump billions of gallons of it a year:' she explains, "and the
and, perhaps most famously, an android (Blade Runner).
But the long-legged actor - who gained lesbian fans
diesel engine was meant to run on vegetable oil, and it can:'
Wild flowers
monoxide than regular gasoline and no greenhouse gases -
(alongside Clea DuVall) and by posing in an embrace
something that Hannah, who is adamant about her "no war for
with her role in the seemingly Sapphic
Few Americans know that biodiesel produces less carbon
with lesbian model Jenny Shimizu for Out magazine - is so
oil" stance, is working hard to publicize. In 2004 she received
much more than your typical Hollywood A-lister.
the National Biodiesel Board's Influencer Award for her work in
Hannah, who in recent years has championed independ-
educating people about veggie fuel. She also joined Good
ent film and become something of a cult icon due to her role
Morning America as an environmental correspondent,
as Elle Driver in Kill Bill: Volume 2, is a bit of an unsung hero
appeared in the documentary French Fries to Go, was honored
of the environmental movement, championing biodiesel fuels
(alongside Willie Nelson) at the Environmental Media Awards
and living off the grid.
and spoke at the UN World Environment Day.
She has spent years living simply in tepees and yurts and
A champion of indie films, Hannah isn't leaving Hollywood.
embracing eco-friendly practices. Her Rocky Mountain
She's had notable parts recently as Mandy Moore's mom in A
home, an old stage coach stop in Colorado, was rebuilt from
Walk to Remember, a stripper in Dancing at the Blue Iguana,
recycled materials and runs entirely on solar energy. Even her
a resident of a Montana town about to be relocated in
couch is a rock covered with live moss. ("It can go dormant
Northfork, and a mother awaiting an international adoption in
for months at a time. We take the cushions off every few days
and water it and keep it thriving:') She has a smaller home in
Casa de los Babys.
Despite the career renewal, Hollywood takes a backseat
beachside Malibu that has a graywater system, runs on solar
to Hannah's activism - and she doesn't hesitate to speak her
power and has radiant floor heat, as well as a giant nursery
mind. When she told High Times that marijuana shouldn't be
with every kind of fruit tree imaginable (from persimmon to
illegal, pundits nationwide lambasted her. When she posed
avocado to grapefruit), a moss deck and giant cactuses that
with Shimizu, tabloids headlined "Hannah's Gay Lover:' But the
grow out of their pots into the ground.
media furor didn't even garner a response from Hannah. She
Though she is still undeniably a sexpot and fashion icon
remains devoted to queer causes as well as environmental
in her mid-40s, Hannah has now turned her talents to edu-
ones, with a belief that "being a humanitarian, supporting ani-
cating people about the perils of depending on foreign oil
mal rights activists, human rights activists - it's all the same."
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51
I'm interested to hear more about your
documentary about human trafficking.
Can you tell me more about it?
You've been in Southeast Asia working
on it. Can you tell me where?
was invaluable to me in shooting this doc.
For security reasons I really can't talk about
never been in a strip club. It is essential that
Basically I'm doing an extreme activist sort of
what part of the world I was in, and I still
I appear comfortable and even believable
have to go to shoot a bit more.
as a customer in these brothels or it could
show for Link TV covering the crazy things
Before Dancing at the Blue Iguana, I had
What's surprised you most about what
you've encountered so far?
be very dangerous. Many are gang-run and
the planet, and [the] ways some [people]
are ... effect[ing] a change. I felt so shel-
How extremely young and surprisingly still
How much are you affected by the
women you encounter in these projects?
we do to each other, other creatures and
tered and was so shocked to learn that
innocent these girls are.
protected, and I'm often wired.
66 percent are
Do you think most Americans are oblivious to the significant sex trafficking of
young women?
working in the sex trade, and of this num-
Absolutely! And it's all over the world, even in
really difficult to not take them all with you
ber a third to a half are under the age of
America. Four brothels were just busted in
when you walk out that door to freedom. I
there are more slaves today than [at] any
other time in human history. Of the 30 million slaves worldwide,
18, with little hope for freedom. They are
L.A. with young girls held prisoner [who
abducted from their families, homes and
were] trafficked from Mexico.
some
It's interesting that you went inside strip
clubs for your role in Blue Iguana - and
the documentary that you made about it
- and now you're going inside brothels.
How different are the two experiences?
people who try to rescue and retrieve as
My experience working in and spending time in
their countries, placed where they don't
speak the language, where drugs and sex
are forced on them, and they're brainwashed to believe that they must pay off
an intangible
debt. I'm following
many as possible.
52 APRIL 2006
the clubs for my documentary Strip Notes
I'm affected by them very deeply. As a matter of
fact, I had nightmares all night last night
about some of the girls I met this trip. It's
can't stop thinking and worrying about them.
Does the documentary have a working
title? When will we get to see it?
Night Fright. That's what it is called when you
go out looking for the girls to retrieve.
You've become such an inspiring activist something rare for a Hollywood star. Are
you feeling more committed to environmental activism now than your film work?
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Hopefully I'm committed to whatever I'm doing
a hard transition to make?
at the moment, whether it's a role, environ-
I've been using biodiesel for almost six years. It
mental or humanitarian work. However, I've
wasn't hard to transition. All I had to do is
also just recently realized ways to use my
get rid of my gas guzzlers and get a diesel
vehicle. I got an '83 diesel El Camino.
voice and experience in film to explore substantial issues.
Do you think that being a movie star
helps or hinders your ability to make
changes in the world?
I wasn't aware of any brouhaha.
A lot of people wanted to know if it
meant anything. What did it mean to
you?
Jenny's the best, funniest, funnest friend.
Biodiesel is just part of an answer to abate
She asked me to do the cover with her,
our dependence on fossil fuels.
and I'm programmed to do almost any-
You're 45, living alone in an eco-friendly
solar-powered house, driving an El
Camino on biodiesel fuels and traversing
You've been in a lot of high-profile relationships with men. Have you ever been
Sometimes I get the sense that people
are over the environment, like that was
yesterday's cause. How do we keep people motivated? Why is it still important?
the world to stop sex trafficking. Is this
the life you expected for yourself when
you were 20? How is it different?
Just my mom, whom I thought I would marry
when I was 5.
It's only the life blood of every organism existing. . . . We are so lucky to exist in this
because I could never picture my life at 45,
No idea; I don't really think about it.
thing she asks.
"I've
also
justrecently
realized
ways
touse
myvoice
and
experience
in
issues:'
filmtoexplore
substantial
exact time in the history of the universe
where our planet's balance is just perfect
to sustain life.
You're really behind biodiesel fuels, too.
When did you start using biodiesel? Is it
You know, I always thought I would die young
but the one thing I really did imagine was
that I would have a family of my own.
A few years ago you posed in a photo in
Out magazine with lesbian model Jenny
Shimizu. Were you surprised by all the
media attention it got?
in love with a woman?
In addition to your filmmaking and
activism, what other plans do you have
for 2006?
I have big hopes but no plans. I have a really
fun board game out that I created with
Hilary Shepard - my best friend since we
were 16 - called LI Ebrary. You can get it
online at LIEbrary.com.
thellife.com
•11M COMES
MCI IOBJE##YPI Thehottest,
fastest
growing
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hangoutonline!
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FanFiction
- lesbianonlytv andmoviefanfiction
Creative
Writing- postyourpoems,plays,books
Literature
- bookreviews,
authorinterviews
Dating- lesbianonlydatingservice!nomen!
Marketplace
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moviesfor FREE!
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Curve
53
>> By
Malinda
Lo and Diane
Anderson-Minshall
The TablesHave Turned
TWENTY-FIVE
YEARS
AGO,
WHEN
LILY TOMLIN
AND
Dolly Parton cracked us up in their corporate (and closeted feminist)
comedy 9 to 5, the idea of a lesbian romantic comedy in which a
woman leaves her man for a hot chick was nothing but a daydream.
But in 2006, not only do lesbians triumph on the big screen and on the
boob tube, we tackle the social system with a new spin on Robin Hood.
Imagine Me & You (BBC Films)
In the cheesy, feel-good tradition of romantic comedies named after
love songs, the British film Imagine Me & You offers not only a
tried-and-true meet-cute scenario (bride meets true love/soul mate at
her own wedding) but a queer twist. Yes, this is a lesbian romantic
comedy about a super cute (straight) bride, Rachel (Piper Perabo,
who formerly starred in the lesbian schoolgirl drama Lost and
Delirious), who falls for her own wedding florist, the sexy Luce
(Lena Headey). Though their initial meeting is a bit contrived involving much fishing around for a wedding ring in a vat of punch
- Perabo and Headey do have a believable chemistry, and when
they are on-screen together they truly seem to be having a good
time. What sets Imagine Me & You apart is the fact that it's a British
romantic comedy, and it clearly mines the fertile English ground of
Four Weddings and a Funeral. Though the
film centers on Rachel and Luce, the male
supporting characters are particularly funny,
with Rachel's father, played by Anthony
Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), stealing
the show with his sarcastic, slightly dour
delivery. No, this film is no Brokeback
Mountain, but then again, that means it has
a happy ending. If a British accent turns you
on and watching beautiful women fall in
love with each other brings a smile to your
face, this movie is sure to become one of
your faves. (foxsearchlight.com)
between the haves and have-nots - not unlike our own lives Robin (played pitch perfect by newcomer Khahtee V. Turner), an
African-American social worker and single mom who struggles to
keep things together within the confines of the social system to
Robin's Hood (Wolfe)
Just in time for tax season comes one of the
most engaging lesbian films that you've never
seen, now finally on DVD. In a political climate characterized by a broadening gap
Brokeback Mountain (Focus
Features): With a headlining trio
consisting of the famously talented
Ang Lee, Heath Ledger and Jake
Gyllenhall, it's no wonder
Brokeback Mountain is causing a
splash in the predominately
straight waters of the entertainment industry. Annie Proulx's
54 APRIL 2006
award-winning love story about
stars fall in love - and lust - with
may be distracting, the real heart
Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist
each other is not the average
of the story lies in the sacrifices
never shies away from its subject
movie-going experience.
these two men must make
matter and forces the audience to Along with stunning shots of the
because society cannot accept
be engulfed in the same passion
their love for each other.
Alberta, Canada, locations where
that blooms between these two
By making their love the most
the film was shot, Lee doesn't
cowboys. This may be nothing
hesitate to show the boys kissing,
important aspect of the story,
new to art-house indie film lovers,
Golden Globe-winning
screwing and - dare I say it Brokeback Mountain forces the
but seeing two young A-list movie
cuddling. Though the love scenes
which she's dedicated herself. When she
decides to take matters into her own hands,
Robin meets a French butch thief named
Brooklyn (the lovely-to-look-at Clody
Cates) who helps her subvert the classic
myth of Robin Hood in a more homo hiphop hood. Raw, charming but gritty and
never visually excessive, director Sara
Millman's Robin's Hood offers a portrait of
lesbian women as we rarely see them. If this
was The L Word, Robin would be Bette's
impoverished, long-lost ghetto cousin, tackling social ills rather than negotiating the
closet, the bedroom or frivolities like "bush
confidence." (wolfevideo.com)
Butchby anyOtherName
By Amy Silverman
Yes, it's true: Skyler Cooper has really
big muscles. Now that we've gotten
that out of the way, we can get on to
her acting. Last year, Cooper portrayed Othello as a woman in Impact
Theater's San Francisco production of
the Shakespeare play, and critics were
amazed at her ability to completely
inhabit the role. She managed to
squeeze us into her busy schedule of
acting and working as a personal
trainer to talk a bout why she has no
plans to play it straight.
Nine to Five: Sexist, Egotistical, Lying,
Hypocritical, Bigot Edition (Fox)
The quintessential feminist workplace comedy starring Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and
Jane Fonda has aged well, and now that it's
on DVD, a whole new generation of girls
(or is it grrls?) can witness this spectacle of
an '80s business ethos that gave birth to a
legion of women-climbing-the-corporateladder comedies. In the now 25-year-old
flick, Tomlin is the office manager, Fonda
the newest employee and Parton the secretary of an egotistical bigot of a boss. When
an inadvertent accident gives the women
control of the office, they go wild with
their feminist fantasy, instituting a host of
popular office changes (day care, job sharing) and offering up plenty of incisive
social commentary about power, class and
sexism along the way. The DVD has plenty
of great bonus features including commentaries by Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily
Tomlin and producer Bruce Gilbert; a Nine
at 25 featurette with new interviews with
Fonda, Parton and Tomlin; 10 deleted
scenes; a gag reel; and a karaoke feature
called Singing Nine to Five. (fox.com)
audience to venture past
stereotypes and into their own
hearts to understand the love
between Jack and Ennis, while
loathing a world in which they
can't be together.
(brokebackmountain.com)
The Chronicles of Narnia
(Disney): Youthful fantasies fill
What led you to acting?
It was around that time that Boys Don't Cry
came out ... and I thought, "Why the hell
Desdemona's love balances who he was,
because this woman really loved him for
is a straight woman playing a gay
woman? Straight women play straight
everything he was and not just what he
could do.
women. Why can't gay women play gay
women?" We have a depth that I think
we could bring to it that straight women I
have yet to see [bring].
What other roles do you want to take
on? It seems like you want to seek out
parts that are lesbian.
No, not just lesbian. I want to do parts that
Is Othello gay in this interpretation of
the play?
I can do well; for instance, I could have
played the boxer in Million Dollar
Baby. The character's se)(uality didn't
Well, I am a gay woman. But Desdemona is
not. I'm her first. And Othello was her
even come into play at all. So there's
first black man, so all of the text was
there to support the character. It was
material out there like that, that I want
to approach.
there. If you just change "he" to "she,"
you'd be surprised .... Mostly we kept
the text the same.
As an actor, absolutely. I will not go under-
Is it important to you to be out?
ground because going underground does
nothing for the community. I wouldn't do a
What do you and Othello have in
common?
I know what it's like to have a skill that peo-
part that I felt ashamed about. ... If I'm
going to act, I'm going to be out.
ple need and respect and yet still not fit
in.... I understand his feeling of needing
to be loved, and I think that on some level
For more of our interview with Skyler
Cooper, visit curvemag.com.
the senses as The Chronicles
of Narnia comes to life for the
first time on the big screen.
Fans of the novel give it mixed
reviews, and some critics call it
religious propaganda, but few
lesbians can deny the lure and
cold beauty of striking Tilda
Swinton's White Witch.
(narnia.com)
Mrs. Henderson Presents
(Weinstein Company): Based
on a true story, Mrs. Henderson
Presents tells the plight of a
quirky widowed aristocrat (portrayed expertly by Dame Judi
Dench) trying to open and run
a nude review in London during
World War II. The naked ladies,
saucy aristocrats and historical
feminist content more than justify a rental, but it's the amazing
actors, such as Dench and Bob
Hoskins, that make Henderson
a movie worth owning.
(mrshendersonthemovie.com)
- Lauren Marie Fleming
Curve
55
Inside the Lesbian Family
FAMILIES
>> By
Rachel
Pepper
WE CHOOSE ARE JUST AS RIFE WITH DRAMA
as families we are born into, and two recently issued books reveal
the struggles and compromises that are inherent in today's untraditional family structures. Stacey D'Erasmo's novel A Seahorse Year
tells the story of a family that happens to include lesbian mothers,
while Con( essions of the Other Mother brings us inside the hearts
and minds of the lesbian partners of women who have given birth.
A Seahorse Year, Stacey D'Erasmo (Mariner)
Did you miss Stacey D'Erasmo's Lambda Award-winning novel, A
Seahorse Year, when it was first published back in 2004? If so, with
its recent release in paperback, there's
~~----"""..............
now no excuse for not picking up this
~::::-~-====::
..,_...,__.,.__....,._A___,_
exceptional novel. A Seahorse Year is
that rare book - a beautifully written
STACEY D'ERA MO
and sophisticated novel by a lesbian
A
author that includes gay characters but
transcends the boundaries of what we
sometimes consider lesbian fiction. It's
the story of a family living in San
Francisco - gay father Hal, biological
mother Nan, her partner of seven years,
Marina, and the 16-year-old boy at the
book's heart, their son Christopher. As
Christopher descends into schizophrenia, those around him - including his
parents and girlfriend Tamara - must
CONFESSIONS
come to terms with his condition, and
of the
with their relationship to him and to
each other.
I was particularly impressed with
the author's handling of the delicate
trio that the biological parents form
with the mother's live-in partner, a portrayal that is quite a rarity in our community's literature. It's hard enough to
find fiction representing lesbian families; the fact that this book portrays
Ell/TEP6Y NAfttY/tAlltEY
one such family without overt
............ ,11,J... .......
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- UltAIUH
STROUt
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IN BOOKSTORES
NOW:
It Stops With Me: Memoir of a
Canuck Girl, Charleen
Touchette (TouchArt Books):
Leaving behind her chaotic
Catholic family at age 1 7,
Touchette found herself melding the Jewish culture of her
lover with her own French
Canadian-Matis heritage. When
56 APRIL 2006
she contracts a strange illness,
she is forced to take an insightful look at her past and what
that can mean for her future.
With her eloquent words, it's
easy to relate to Touchette's
account of her life as a minority.
(touchart.net)
Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in
a Fragmented Land, Janisse
sentimentality and with parenting thorns intact is a welcome event.
My only critique would be the fact that Nan gets pregnant on her
first attempt and, annoyingly, is said to "know" she'll get pregnant
that first time - something that is not possible for anyone to
"know," as much as any woman hopes or believes is the case.
The lovely City by the Bay also takes its rightful place in the story,
and D'Erasmo gets her details just right. San Francisco is a town
"built by runaways," says Hal, and the fog, the native plants, the
East Bay's artists lofts, the Mission District's lively coffeehouses even the house purchased cheaply by Hal from a gang of Hell's
Angels that is now worth a fortune - all are sketched by someone
In the Stacks. . . continued
onpage64
Ray (Chelsea Green): Pinhook is
how bits and pieces of a landa watershed, an important
scape can make a person whole.
(chelseagreen.com) - Lauren
swampland habitat for a variety
Marie Fleming
of species, some you cannot find
Reading Women: Literary
anywhere else. Ray takes the
Figures and Cultural Icons
reader to the heart of Pinhook by
From the Victorian Age to
using stories told from varying
the Present, Janet Badia and
perspectives including a frog, an
Jennifer Phegley (University of
old man and herself. In an often
Toronto Press): Reading
poetic writing style, Ray shows
By Jodi Helmer
~ioda
Wa~mer
Faithfulto a Dream
LINDA WAGNER SPENT FOUR YEARS
writing Faithful to My Heart, a novel about
a lesbian cruise that turns into a quest for
survival when passengers are stranded on a
deserted island. The novel is a first for
Wagner, 45, who works as a juvenile justice
researcher in Eugene, Ore. Wagner, who
self-published the novel in 2005, recently
shared her thoughts about the plot, the creative process and her next project.
Where did the idea for the story come
from?
I started with a skeleton idea to write a novel
about the ways that women connect to
each other. I knew that I wanted to write a
publisher, but it seemed limiting - and it
story about a woman in her early 40s find-
can take forever for your book to get into
ing her voice, but the actual plot did not
print - so self-publishing seemed to be
reveal itself to me until I started writing.
the best option.
How long did it take you to write
Faithful to My Heart, and how did you fit
it into your schedule?
It took me four years to write the book. I
What are you working on now?
I am writing another novel, but I am not ready
to give out a lot of details just yet. I will
say that it has elements of science fiction.
squeezed in time to write whenever I
I am hoping to complete the entire book
could - mostly after work and late at
within a year.
Why did you decide to self-publish?
In the book, the women from the cruise
ship are stranded on an island. If you
were stranded on an island, what would
you want to have with you?
I was not even considering publishing the
I would definitely want to have something
night. It took a lot of dedication, but writing is my passion and it was really important to me to write this book.
book while I was writing it, but once it
to write with. I would also want to have
was finished I knew I wanted to give it a
a recipe for fermenting
wider audience. I researched traditional
could have a cocktail
coconuts
so I
every now and
publishing and I had some interest from a
Women provides a close
study of the evolution of
the woman reader by
examining a range of
media including Victorian
paintings, Oprah Winfrey's
book club and the writings
of Charlotte Bronte,
Harriet Beecher Stowe
and Zora Neale Hurston.
Not recommended as light
reading, this book looks at
the role that women readers have played in the formation of literary history.
(utpress.utoronto.ca) Janel M. Lynch
The Buckskin Skirt Oar
Traveler, Sage
Sweetwater (Author
House): Told through the
spirit of the loon, Buckskin
is a lesbian fairytale set
amid the forests of Lac du
Flambeau in Wisconsin,
where a feminist tribe is trying to start a new culture
through their children.
(a uthorhouse. com)
- Diane Anderson-Minshall
Curve
57
Uppity-Women
THOUGH
AN ARGUMENT
COULD BE
made that there's a continuum of distinctly
African-American-rooted genres of music
represented in this month's column (from
blues to soul to rap), the more obvious theme
between the sassy blues of Saffire: The Uppity
Blues Women, the confessional R&B/hip-hop
of Mary J. Blige and the defiant, scrappy,
grime-style rap of U.K. sensation Lady
Sovereign is that of bold, independent women
excelling in particularly male-dominated genres of the music industry.
Deluxe Edition, Saffire: The Uppity Blues
Women (Alligator)
If you missed the Saffire chapter of your
Women's Music 101 class, here's your chance
to get caught up. This must-have Deluxe
Edition retrospective includes 20 of their
saucy originals and definitive covers, culled
from the groundbreaking group's seven
albums since their debut on the Alligator
label in 1990. Formed in Fredericksburg, Va.,
in 1984, the middle-aged trio of Ann Rabson,
Gaye Adegbalola (who later came out as
>> By
queer) and Earlene Lewis - Andra Faye
later replaced Lewis in 1992 - instantly
wowed mainstream, blues and
music critics and audiences
alike with their raucous,
decidedly feminist honkytonk blues that updated the
long tradition of badass
female blues singers like Ma
Rainey, Bessie Smith and
Memphis Minnie. Tracks
like "Middle Aged Blues
Boogie," "Bitch With a Bad
Attitude"
and
"Silver
Beaver" perfectly exemplify
their wicked humor and
unabashed bawdiness, while
their
interpretations
of
"T'ain't Nobody's Business"
and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?"
pay homage to tamer, more traditional
women's blues. Check the group's Web site
for tour dates and catch them live if you
can - you won't be disappointed.
(uppityblueswomen.com)
The Breakthrough, Mary J.
Blige (Geffen)
This aptly titled seventh studio
release from the queen of hiphop and soul pleasantly showcases the new, more mature
and dare we say happy side of
the once angry, drama-weary
diva. Since coming onto the scene
in 1992, Blige's musical marriage
of soulful R&B and rap has
become the benchmark to which
Otbtn Licks
ON. CD:
Face Time With Son, New
The L Word: Season 3
England Roses (DoggPony):
Soundtrack (Silver Label/Tommy
Le Tigre's JD Sampson does
Boy): The 24-track, two-disc set
filled with lesbian favorites like
Tegan and Sara, Sleater-Kinney,
BETTYand the Gossip will keep
the latest season of the hit dyke
soap opera alive long beyond its
January to May playdates.
(/wordonline.com)
58 APRIL 2006
sparse indie pop with college
friends Sarah Shapiro and
Brendan Fowler, including covers of George Michael, Tracy
Chapman and Dave Matthews.
(dnp006.com)
Trouble From the Start, Lisa
Moscatiello (Machine Heart): A
Margaret
Coble
Romantic Energy,1welve Glrla Band
(Domo):Normally,I eschewany CO with
the word •energy"in the title, but I make
great exceptionfor TwelveGirls Band, a
charmingglobalgirlgroupfromChinathat
hasalreadysold 2 minionrecordswiththeir
Eaat-meets-Westinstrumentalstyle. This
sweeping two-disc CD/DVD combines
everythingfrom Chinesefolk and orches·
trated Celtic to old school Eastern
Europeanmelody.Gives new meaningto
•rockthe classics~(domo.com) - Dlllne
Andersoa-ltllMha/1
all others in the genre have aspired, and this
new 16-track set proves she's still at the top
of her game, with lead-off single "Be
Without You" already a hit and the cut
frequent vocal collaborator with
rary tattooed-and-whiskey-soaked
D.C:s techno-dyke wizard Arthur
blender, then this gritty, bad girlLoves Plastic (aka Bev Stanton),
fronted quartet from the motor
this out lesbian vocalist draws on
city will rock your socks off.
(b/oodshotrecords. com)
folk, jazz and pop to create her
own "acid cabaret" sound.
Take a Good Look, Alyson (PM
(/isamoscatiel/o.com)
Media): Finally, the debut fullBaby, The Detroit Cobras
lengther from the Los Angeles(Bloodshot): If you like your oldbased DIY dance music diva,
featuring three Billboard Top 10
school soul and R&B-rooted rockand-roll run through a contempohits and remixes by superstar DJs
Stilla Bitch
By Karen Loftus
"Can't Hide From Luv" (featuring Jay-Z)
generating early buzz. Lyrical honesty about
her painful past and emotional present has
been her hallmark, too, and autobiographical tracks like "Take Me as I Am" summarize
her current self-assured, no-bullshit attitude.
"Good Woman Down" offers her own life
experience as inspiration for other women,
and the Bono duet on the U2 ballad "One" is
similarly uplifting. Blige even steps out as a
rapper herself for the first time via the alias
"Brook" on "Enough Cryin"' and "Gonna
Breakthrough" (and not surprisingly, she's
fierce). Be on the lookout for a world tour
that kicks off this May. (mjblige.com)
MusicWatch. . . continued
onpage64
WITH A NEW NAME (CAPITAL B),
a new film (John Cameron Mitchell's
Shortbus) and a new album (Make
this/Break this), Bitch is about to
reveal more of herself than ever before.
Formerly with the political-folk band
Bitch and Animal, Capital B has long
been known for her aggressive, inyour-face feminist lyrics, including the
legendary "Pussy Manifesto." Bitch
and Animal's third album, Sour Juice
and Rhyme,
released
on Ani
DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records,
was nominated for a GLAAD award
alongside Rufus Wainwright, Peaches
and Meshell Ndegeocello. I recently
caught up with Capital B and chatted
with her about the changes in her life
and her new solo release.
What made you go solo as Capital B?
My old band wasn't fulfilling me anymore.
just wanted to keep doing what I do, making songs, writing poetry and having
Two of my heroines! Ani he_ardour freaky
demo about feminist politics, dildos,
grandiose ideas about movies I want to
make. So I did.
Oprah and pussy and put us in front of
thousands of people because she wanted
How is Capital B different from Bitch,
and what can we expect on Make
this/Break this?
our message to be heard. Ani's art and
I am not changing my name, just adding a
new one. Bitch is still me, and always will
good, I'm shocked it's not played all over
radio. Like revolutionary stuff in the same
be. This album is like opening up one of
my diaries. There's a sonic gentleness
that I've never captured on record
rebellious vein as Green Day. I wonder if
she went incognito about her gender and
before. And a confidence that comes
from that holy-shit-what-the-hell-am+
m
..J
<
IQ.
<
..J
I-
""
0
Q.
0
U.I
cc
0
""
Ralphi Rosario and Hex Hector.
(alysonmusic.com)
The Sound of You and Me,
Garrison Starr (Vanguard): The
out dyke Mississippi native's fifth
studio effort is her most solid
yet, an 11-track, soul-baring
roots-folk collection kicked off by
the radio-friendly "Pendulum:'
(garrisonstarr. com)
Otherlicks ...
continued
onpage
64
like working and touring with Ani
Difranco and Amy Ray?
doing place when you are going through
major change.
What are the benefits of going indie
versus commercial?
righteousness played a huge role in my
liberation. Amy's solo stuff is so amazingly
her dyke-ness if that would happen. Of
course I know the answer.
What's next?
I'm in John Cameron Mitchell's [Hedwig and
the Angry Inch] new film, Shortbus,
where I play myself. JD [from Le Tigre]
I'm not surrounded by a bunch of suits talking
and Daniela [Sea, of The L Word] are
also in it. I'm collaborating with Daniela,
about crunching numbers and looking at
me like I'm just a piece of Profit Ass
instead of the Prophet-Ess that I am.
my girlfriend, on a project called The
Exciting Conclusion, a music and film
experience.
You've collaborated and worked with
some incredible women. What was it
For more on Capital B, visit bitchmusic.com.
Curve
59
>> By
Michele
Fisher
Breakingup Is Hard to Do
CONSIDER
THIS
SITUATION:
YOU
want to take your date home with you, but
there is already someone in your bed. Your
ex-lover has been in your bed, sleeping with
you - yes, just sleeping - for several
months now. You don't know when she is
leaving; in fact, you have never asked. You
knew that this day would come, but you did
not expect it tonight.
You have a revolutionary thought: Maybe
you can go to your date's place instead. But
she sheepishly admits that she is crashed with
her ex, too. You discuss going to a hotel, but
both acknowledge that your ex-lovers would
"worry" if you didn't come home.
Maybe tomorrow, after you and your ex
finish grocery shopping, you can discuss new
living arrangements. Or perhaps you should
wait until after your yoga class when she
might be in a more Zen state of mind. You
really should do it before you two go to
Disneyland next month.
Or maybe you should just quit going shopping, to yoga and on vacation with your ex.
Believe me, I am not judging you. I wrote
this column on the inability to separate from
ex-lovers - which, I might add, you are
now reading.
A decade and a half ago, when my credit
was deservedly wretched, a girlfriend opened
a credit card account and put me on as a second so I could feel the thrill of spending not
just every penny I made but several dollars
that I never would. I carried that card around
even after I had better credit. A subsequent
lover admonished me for being unable to let
go of the past, but it was the $20,000 credit
limit that was hard to let go of. I liked knowing that if some emergency happened - like
I needed to buy a new car or bribe a public
official - I had the funds to make it happen.
I never used the card after the breakup, but I
liked knowing that it (and she) was there if I
needed it (or her). I guess that's bad.
But before you judge me, you think that's
bad only because you haven't gotten to the
part where I stayed married to a woman for
years after we had broken up. If you want to
peg out the drama-meter, just try telling a
new girlfriend that you are married to an old
girlfriend and intend to stay that way. Good
health insurance and mutual funds cannot
just be tossed away. Several women I became
60 APRIL 2006
involved with thought this concept unacceptable and appalling, but not until they
had tired of pretending they were OK with it
and tried, in vain, to steer me toward
divorce court. I guess you could say that my
marriage broke up my relationships.
Eventually, my "wife" met her next husband, I metthe love of my life, and we gladly
traded our old vows in for shiny new ones.
But if you think staying hitched to an
ex for years is bad, try taking in an old
girlfriend's badass cat. I am not a cat person, as regular readers know. If I had to
pick a pet, it would be a koi fish. They live
forever, don't poo on the rug and don't
shed, but alas, apartments with ponds are
scarce in San Francisco.
After a particularly rancorous breakup
with a she-devil who became the standard by
which all bad female behavior would be
judged thereafter, I found myself living with
her cat. This cat had picked up everything it
knew from its owner. It yowled endlessly,
demanded attention by clawing at my legs
and sinking its teeth into any bit of exposed
flesh, and it ate until it threw up. I never
agreed to take in the cat, but this woman felt
that it was my duty to watch her hellcat
while she staggered around town telling
everybody how she had been done wrong by
me. A few days into this foolishness, I called
her and told her in no uncertain terms that I
was leaving town. She reluctantly picked up
the cat, but not the carpet it had barfed on
or the box of turds it had squeezed out.
But at least the cat couldn't strangle me in
my sleep.
One of my friends got stuck with a snake
after a breakup. She and Monty (the python)
were no more compatible than she had been
with his mother, but somehow she ended up
with Monty's aquarium in her den. She had
a snake phobia and became quite promiscuous because she was afraid to go home to
Monty. We finally convinced her to call
Monty's mother and insist that she take him
back home. Monty's owner refused to take
him back, explaining that her new girlfriend
didn't like snakes. I suggested my friend call
her ex back and ask her whether she fancied
a belt or a wallet. Ultimately, Monty ended
up in the reptile house at a zoo. I was going
to take him, but my ex had already picked
up the cat, so there was no need.
Some people inherit art and other treasures
TheClothes...
after a split, but I always get stuck with junk
that my exes will not or cannot take with
them. The latter was the way I was saddled
with a table as big as Wyoming. And it wasn't
a nice table either. It was a 2-inch thick piece
of lumber, 6 feet wide and 15 feet long with
lead pipe legs that screwed into iron fittings. It
was as ugly as it was large, and when she left
without it, I almost gave her the tears she had
longed to see for weeks.
The table and I cohabitated for a long
time, each of us with our own half of my
apartment until, finally, a construction project was started on my block and I begged
one of the workers to let me dump my
"table" among the construction rubble. As
five friends and I wrestled the monstrosity
out of my apartment and down the block, I
promised myself not to let big furniture into
my life again.
Which is why when you call it quits, it is
best not to leave anything behind. Even
more importantly, don't let her leave so
much as a button at your place. "Picking up
stuff" or "dropping off stuff" is how bad
things happen after a breakup. Usually the
more-injured party wants another chance to
salvage the relationship and thus latches on
to the idea of returning or retrieving items
left behind. She arrives with reconciliation
on her mind, and when that doesn't happen,
she ends up feeling stupid and depressed,
freaks out and treats your neighbors to front
row seats at the dyke drama of the week.
Do a big sweep after every breakup. Be
like the Grinch: Don't leave even a crumb
too small for a mouse. If an ex calls with
news of exchanges or returns, have a friend
handle the transaction for you.
That is, unless you left a bag of money
behind. ·Once, I was a baby dyke waitress in
San Francisco, and my roommate was an
aspiring crank addict. I was saving my tips
to move into a new place, but obviously I
couldn't keep the money in my apartment
DykeDrama... continued
onpage64
continued
frompage31
"I was the spiky-haired city dyke in black with the digital camera
around my neck walking amongst the sea of young, drunk, hetero college
kids getting their freak on in sand, snow and sun;' she remembers.
However, it's precisely those drunk, hetero college kids whom dykes
around the world should be thanking. During her years spent designing
mass retailer suburban clothing, Parnian noticed just how many of her
fashions were being worn by lesbians rather than the young men they
were ostensibly made for.
"I got a thrill out of watching women reinterpret these items of mainstream men's clothing for their gender, lifestyle, and as a way to help
mark or identify them as queer or butch or genderqueer;' she says.
The final kick in the bucket occurred one fateful day in the summer of
2004 as Parnian perused the craft fair at the Michigan Womyn's Music
Festival, watching women hawk lesbian products and services to fellow
lezzies.
"It was like a math equation;' she says. "Knowledge of masculine
design plus dykes complaining about lack of fashion relevant for their
aesthetic/lifestyle plus quitting [the] corporate fashion world equals
starting Rigged OUT/fitters:'
Parnian cobbled together an impromptu line that was consistent with
vintage cowboy shirts, zip jackets with chest patches, boy-cut graphic
tees with "Outlaw" or "Tomkat's Pussy Shack" silk-screened on the front.
The recycled, one-of-a-kind pieces seem worn-in, unfinished. And for
Parnian, that sentiment is deliberate, even symbolic: "I like the raw, true
sense of things. I'm not into polished or highly refined aesthetics but a
play between new and old, history and the future, possibilities and borders to be crossed and walls to be broken:' After all, she points out,
Brooklyn hipster dykes were sporting "that white trash 'dirt fag' look"
long before Hollywood celebrities began making the front pages of Us
Weekly in Salvation Army duds.
Even without a brick-and-mortar storefront, Rigged has slowly gained
momentum over the past few years. In fact, Cynthia Summers, costume
designer for The L Word, recently contacted Parnian to discuss including Rigged clothing on the hit show. With show creator Ilene Chaiken's
blessing, Shane, Moira and Carmen will all be wearing Rigged pieces in
the upcoming season, and the waitstaff and chef of L Word hangout The
Planet will be rocking Rigged's signature swallow bird on their uniforms.
Breaking stereotypical "lesbian fashion" categories is still an uphill
battle, but progress seems to be slow and steady.
her idea of the way people ought to dress, and Rigged fashions quickly
became noted for their strong androgynous design. Rigged's first collection was modeled after stereotypically macho yet homoerotic figures
"Can you imagine if I tried to pitch my clothing line to a bunch of financial investors? This is the last market anybody would be willing to take a
risk with," Parnian says. "But I am invested in at least giving it a shot and
doing it with a bang:'
- sailors, pirates, cowboys, boxers - who are glorified for their sexy,
rebellious appeal. This translated into feminine cuts of masculine wear:
Visit Rigged OUT/fitters at riggedoutfit.com.
Curve
61
>> By
Victoria
A. Brownworth
FightingRape on Campus
THERE'S AN OLD SAYING THAT
in springtime a young man's
thoughts turn to love. But this is a
lesbian magazine - so who cares?
I do and so should you: Love is a
euphemism for sex, arid sex between
men and women is not always consensual. Sometimes sex is rape.
According to the FBI and
Department of Justice, rape is the
most common violent crime after
domestic violence. A rape occurs in
the United States every two minutes,
and though 1.5 million women
report being raped each year, the
DOJ states that only 39 percent of all rapes
are reported. While rapes occur all year
long, rapes on college campuses increase
exponentially in the spring.
The DO J reports that fully 80 percent of
rape victims -are under 30, and that 25 percent of college students have reported being
raped. College rapes are the most likely to be
perpetrated by a man identified as either the
victim's boyfriend (35 percent) or an
acquaintance (75 percent). Given the high
incidence of acquaintance rapes, lesbians on
college campuses are as likely to be victims
as their straight counterparts. Male friends
are as likely to rape as boyfriends.
The fact that such a high percentage of
rapes occurs at the hands of someone known
to the victim makes protecting oneself against
rape all the harder and prosecuting rapists
immensely difficult. On college campuses, 85
percent of women who report being raped
knew their attacker. But the statistics indicate
that when it comes to college rapes, women
are even less likely to report the crime: only
10 percent do. Many young men on college
campuses, as well as many young men on
the streets of America, view sexual assault
on women as not so much a crime as a difference of opinion.
Any man can become a rapist; the average rapist is just that: average. He's not a
sociopath, he's not stalking dark alleys
naked in a trench coat, he's not a serial perp
like guys on CSI or Law & Order.
According to FBI and DOJ statistics, most
rapists are the boy or man next door, men so
ordinary that women don't think twice
about being in their company.
62 APRIL 2006
In addition, particular circumstances can
turn men into rapists. Men are more likely
to rape when they are drunk - 54 percent
of rapes involve alcohol. Young men are
more likely to rape at parties or after a date.
Rapists are also frequently young: More
than 60 percent of rapes are committed by
men under 30.
These facts all conspire against the rape
victim, who rarely receives justice. According
to the FBI, out of all rapes reported, only one
in three is actually prosecuted and only one
in 10 results in conviction. Which leaves a lot
of rapists on the street to perpetrate what is,
according to the DOJ, one of the most
recidivist crimes. DOJ stats show 85 percent
of men did not believe the rapes they committed were actual crimes.
Last spring a couple of basketball players
at a Philadelphia university were charged
with raping a female basketball player at the
same school. The young woman told police
the men raped and sodomized her at a party.
She admitted she had consumed at least nine
drinks, which made her extraordinarily
intoxicated (and thus legally unable to give
consent). She also said the rapes occurred as
she was vomiting into a sink.
The players were tried and acquitted. The
judge deemed the sexual encounter consensual, despite the victim's testimony that it was
not, because the young woman had willingly
gone to the party. The alleged victim reported the incident immediately to campus
authorities, but it was not reported to police
until much later; campus authorities considered it an internal matter. This too weighed
against the woman at trial. The men contin-
ued to play on the basketball team.
The young woman left the school.
A recent survey of campuses
nationwide indicates that most
colleges keep data on campus
crimes hidden; the number of
rapes, for example, would be difficult to ascertain for incoming
freshman. Not knowing the percentage of rapes on a particular
college campus can also mean not
knowing how the university or
college treats rape - whether it
supports a victim or challenges
her. Does the college foster an
atmosphere where rape is considered
acceptable?
Unlike other violent crime in the United
States, rape has not declined in the past
decade, which means attitudes about rape
have not changed sufficiently for either
women or men. Women are still implicated in
their own violation - by themselves as much
as through the system. Rape, particularly of
young women and women who know their
attacker, remains a he said-she said debate
rather than a criminal act. And a woman's
sexual history and social behavior are still
considered factors in rape cases.
When I was in college 30 years ago, rape
was just coming out of the closet as a feminist
issue. But three decades later, surprisingly little
has changed, either statistically or societally,
for victims. It's time to bring rape back into the
spotlight as an issue, since so many women are
impacted by the crime. Just consider: How
many women have been raped while you read
this? Talking about rape and educating women
as well as men about what constitutes rape is
essential to reducing the number of victims
and perpetrators.
Every time a woman is forced to have sex
she doesn't want, that's rape - whether a
stranger held a gun to her head or her best
friend just kept saying, "Oh, come on, you
know you want to try it." "No" really does
mean "no." It's past time that each of us
recognized that and w~rked to eradicate
rape - on campuses, in neighborhoods, <
everywhere. The first step is education, and <co
<
that's something we can all do to help pro- ""
""
tect ourselves and other women from this
<
terrible, violating crime.
Vl
Vl
UJ
Vl
TV to TurnYou On
IMPRESS
DOES THE IDEA OF CURLING UP ON
your couch in front of a mesmerizing widescreen
flat-panel TV turn you on? Well, you're not alone.
Now that flat-screen TVs are all the rage, there are
more options than ever - and more confusion.
Here are some things to keep in mind: Plasma
screens cost less than LCDs (liquid crystal display) but have a lower picture quality. "Burn-in"
affects plasma TVs when a static image (like that
network logo hanging in the lower right corner of
the screen) is displayed for too long, but newer
technologies have greatly reduced this problem. If
you're aiming for the very tip-top of the line,
"1,080p" refers to the highest resolution HDTV
standard you can get. And if the specs don't interest you and you just want to look at some pretty
TVs, here are some of our favorites. - Malinda Lo
EVERYO
E YOU KNOW
If you're a high-tech geek and have no problern shelling out the cost equivalent to a com•
pact car for your TV, get yourself the Sony Qualia 006, a rear projection television with
:
:
a sleek, sophisticated aesthetic. Rear projection TVs once looked like huge, rectangular
black boxes that often delivered distorted or shadowed visuals, but the Qualia 006
•
employs Sony's SXRD projection system (a liquid crystal on silicon display) that elimi-
•
nates nearly all motion distortion. This is particularly important if you're watching sports
•
(we know you love to watch the game)
or action movies (whip out your copy of
•
Tomb Raider to test it out). The Qualia
006 also comes with Sony's S-Master
:
•
digital amplifier and removable left and
right speaker consoles for custom
:
•
installation, and has a screen resolution
of a whopping 1,920x1 ,080. If you buy
•
this baby, you'll never leave home
again, and not just because you proba-
:
:
bly sold your car to get it. ($13,000,
qualia.sony.us)
..
.
.....................................................................................................................
GET FUNKY
WITH THE TUBE
Ever wish your TV looked like a stuffed animal? Well, your wish has been granted by Hanspree,
which offers a line of themed flat-screen LCD televisions that appeal to the kid in all of us. Its
Fantasy line includes televisions dressed up to look like a squishy, spotted cow, an apple, a fire
truck and even a carton of french fries complete with a remote shaped like a ketchup packet. For
the sports fan, Hanspree's deals with the NBA and MLB have produced television sets shaped
like baseballs, basketballs and a special Lakers jersey. Last but not least, lovers of kitsch will
enjoy the Style line, with its retro-futuristic boqb tubes reminiscent of The Jetsons. ($400 and
up, hanspree.com)
...........................................
MOOD
.,
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.
LIGHTING
One of the most important elements in creating a pleasurable viewing experience is lighting, and Philips offers a nifty
new way to light up your home theater with its Ambilight technology. The Philips 42PF9830A is a 42-inch flat-panel
LCD that comes with its own mood lighting system, Ambilight 2. Consisting of two
fluorescent lights mounted on the back of the panel, Ambilight reflects different colored lights off the wall behind the panel to create an ambient lighting effect to
enhance picture display. Plus, with the motorized swivel stand, you can angle it up to
30 degrees in either direction with your remote, which makes optimal viewing of the
LCD screen a lot easier. ($2,835, philips.com/simplicity)
......................................................................
BEST BANG
FOR YOUR
BUCK
If you're on a budget but yearn to own your very own plasma TV, check out
Panasonic's TH-37PX50U, a mod-looking 37-inch flat-panel with a resolution of
1,024x720. The TH-37PX50U comes with a digital cable-ready card slot so that you
don't have to use your cable company's bulky box (you just slide the card into the unit
and it disappears), and a built-in HDTV tuner so you can pick up local HDTV broadcasts. Even better, the High-Definition Multimedia Interface connector allows you to connect your peripherals with only
one cable, eliminating the messy tangle that typically comprises a home theater setup. ($2,500, panasonic.com)
Curve
63
MusicWatch. . . continued
frompage59
In the Stacks. . . continued
frompage56
Vertically Challenged, Lady Sovereign
who clearly did her research and cared
enough to get it right. Most impressively,
D'Erasmo easily gets inside all her characters' heads, even capturing what it's like as
Christopher
battles the demons that
threaten to bring heartbreak to his whole
family. If you've been looking for a wonderful lesbian-themed novel to read, put A
Seahorse Year at the top of your list.
(houghtonmifflinbooks. com/mariner)
(Chocolate Industries)
Believe the hype, because this feisty U.K. rap
upstart really is the bomb. Brash and selfaggrandizing like most of her male counterparts, Sov's got the goods to back up her
bravado, as this U.S.-debut eight-track EP
amply proves. The 19-year-old rumored-tobe-bi rapper from a North London housing
project epitomizes the U.K. grime scene,
which is a distinctively British variety of rap
derivative of U.K. garage, jungle, dancehall
and reggaeton sounds. A product of '90s
youth culture, Sov's a do-it-yourselfer who
gained popularity via Internet-released
rhymes picked up by pirate radio; eventually
a performance last summer in New York
brought her to the attention of U.S. rap king
Jay-Z, which resulted in her getting signed to
Universal Records (her album is due out this
month). Her delivery is rapid-fire and
tongue-in-cheek, and her hybrid, danceable
sound recalls British Sri Lankan female
emcee M.I.A., especially on the lead-off cut,
"Random." Beastie Boy Adrock also contributes a remix on "Little Bit of Shhh."
(ladysovereign.com)
Otherlicks .. . continued
frompage59
Change It All, Goapele (Columbia):
Conscious R&B, hip-hop and neo-soul
from the Bay area-based multi-culti
singer on her outstanding sophomore
effort, including a down-tempo collaboration with dyke producer Linda Perry
("Darker Side of the Moon").
(goapeleonline.com)
Timeless, Sergio Mendes
(Concord/Hear Music): Black Eyed
Peas' songwriter and producer will.Lam
updates the classic Brazilian pop-jazz
king's sound, merging hip-hop with
samba and bossa nova, and including
contributions from Erykah Badu, Jill
Scott, Stevie Wonder, india.arie and
more. (concordmusicgroup.com)
The Pomegranate Seed, Cosy
Sheridan (CMS): The soundtrack to
the nationally acclaimed singer-song·
writer's one-woman show about body
image, dieting and eating disorders is a
sparkling acoustic-folk journey from
beginning to end. (cosysheridan.com)
Singles and Sessions 1979-1981,
Delta 5 (Kill Rock Stars): Timeless and
decidedly feminist garage-punk from
the groundbreaking U.K. co·ed indie
band that sounds like a musical cross
between early Joy Division and con·
temporary the Gossip.
(killrockstars.com) - MC
64 APRIL 2006
Confessions of the · Other Mother:
Nonbiological Mothers Tell All, ed. Harlyn
Aizley (Beacon)
This important anthology is a good first
attempt at addressing the many issues that
nonbiological mothers have in two-mommy
families. Common themes that emerge
throughout the collection include feeling left
out during a partner's pregnancy (especially
if the nonbio mom herself had first tried
unsuccessfully to conceive); how to find
recognition as a parent (many nonbio moms
insist on always carrying the baby in public
to assert their parental status); and what to
call oneself as a nonbiological mother or
other parent. These names, which vary
depending on family status, as well as on the
gender identity of the other parent, include
lesbian father, dyke daddy, mommy or
mama, Ima, Baba or, especially in a family's
first days, simply nothing. As contributor
Shira Spector writes, "An ancient rite of passage ... has finally happened right in front of
my eyes. It has left me not a father, not a
birth mother, not even really an adoptive
mother ... I am totally transformed with no
name for myself that doesn't begin with a
lack. Consider nonbiological mother, nonbirthmom, and the other mother."
Harlyn Aizley, author of the nonfiction
book Buying Dad, which chronicles her journey with her partner, Faith, toward parenthood, is a knowledgeable editor. She has
culled some of the stand-out names in this
subset of parenting literature, dividing these
pieces into sections of nonbiological parents
partnered with a lesbian biological mom (her
partner's "Betsy Lobes Bobbies" is included
here); mothers who have been both the nonbiological moms as well as the birth mothers
of children in their families (see Casandra
McIntyre's "Two Ubermoms are Better than
One") and a third section with a lone piece by
a lesbian stepmother. Other authors included
are Suzanne M. Johnson, Judy Gold and
Nancy Abrams, who published one of the
first book-length works about the trials of
being a nonbiological mom, The Other
Mother, back in 1999. In her essay here, "Mr
Anonymous," Abrams updates us on her
relationship with her nonbiological daughter,
who is now a rebellious teenager.
Among the other pioneers in the book are
Robin Reagler, who publishes the enjoyable
blog, The Other Mother (theothermother.type
pad.com), detailing her life with her partner,
Marcia, and their photogenic daughter Pearl,
as well as Polly Pagenhart, who is writing a
book about lesbian fatherhood and supplied
one of this collection's most revealing and bestwritten essays. Pagenhart writes, "In the days
and weeks to follow the birth, though we
shared an experience, the birthparent and nonbirthparent recover from and adapt to very
different facets of it: the birthmother bore the
child, and we bore witness." Given how many
lesbians are conceiving children together, this
collection will fill a much-needed space in the
queer parenting canon. (beacon.org)
DykeDrama... continued
frompage61
where the junkies could get to it, so I used to
drop it off at my girlfriend's place and hide
it in this old briefcase I had picked up at a
thrift store.
This girlfriend was not a very good girlfriend. In fact, she was a crab-ass know-it-all
who thought everybody should be in recovery. You regular readers will know her from
previous columns as Miss Tan, due to her
five-tans-a-week booth habit. After months
of melodramatics, I finally decided to get out
of the relationship. (OK, she dumped me, but
I decided not to fight it this time.) It felt great
knowing that I would never see her again ...
until I remembered the briefcase. I had to call
her. Luckily, she thought I was using the briefcase as an excuse to get her to come over and
then beg her to stay with me, which is why
she agreed to bring it to me. When she
arrived, I left the chain on the front door and
snatched the bag through the small gap like
Carrie grabbed her victims from the grave.
I got my money, the junkie moved out, and
I got rid of Miss Tan - finally a happy ending.
Incidentally,Miss Tan was not lassoed into my
social circle after we broke up. None of my
other exes could stand her, so she had to go.
Ex-lovers and my inability to separate
from them have been the source of much of
the drama and humor in my life. Obviously,
clean breaks are not my specialty. But then
again, even after a clean break, you still have
to wear a cast.
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~E_N_:_ReasoosWe Love Dana Goldberg
COMEDIAN
DANA GOLDBERG IS
on the verge of something big. She's been
touring the country, competing in festivals
and making people laugh from here to
Scotland. Born and raised in New Mexico,
this bartender with a dream finally decided to
follow her heart, and here's why we think
she's the best thing since . . . homo milk?
- Amy Silverman
After a close
friend was killed in a plane crash, she decided
to stop wasting time and pursue the one thing
she'd been too afraid to do since winning her
high-school talent show 10 years ago: comedy.
forming, her first gig was at a fundraiser for
the Lesbians for Change Foundation, whicb
raises money for higher-education scholarships for lesbians. She has also performed at
HIV-AIDS benefits and helped to raise
money for needy children in New Mexico.
material to Olivia Cruises, she finally received
that phone call. Her persistence paid off, and
she got a gig at the Columbus Isle II Resort
(scheduled for December 2006), where
she'll perform with fellow comedians Kate
Clinton, Karen Willic1msand Jennie McNulty.
• • • She's smart,
cute and seriously funny - what more could
you ask for? Goldberg is not afraid to make
her audience think and frequently uses "call
backs;' which means she references previous
jokes later in the show. It's her way of keeping audiences on their toes.
Maybe, she theorizes, this
whole gay thing is in the milk. After all, her
brother is gay and her straight sister is
lactose-intolerant, which clearly points to
only one conclusion.
Her response to Spokane's ex-mayorJames E.
West's reluctanceto resign after getting caught
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you don't want to quit. You can't get hired
because of all the legislationyou passed!"
down comic in the nation:'
Politics are an important part of her act,
and whenever George W. Bush gives a
speech, she gets ready for some new material.
72 APRIL 2006
knot with her girlfriend. And because performers always take material from their own lives,
her wife gets the final say on whether a joke
makes it into a show. Not only does Goldberg's
wife go on the road with her whenever she can,
she's also her most trusted critic.
ideal gig would be an HBO special, and she
dreams about "knowing that I can sell out a
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Letter• to the Editor E-mail LETTERS@CURVEMAG.COM
Gay men have long been considered the
pinnacle of fashion and design, but today
with shows like The L Word and
America's Next Top Model spotlighting
the lesbian angle of style, we might be on
our way to equal billing as trendsetters in
the arena.
Often documenting
the cutting-edge
trends in hair, footwear and clothing,
CURVEhas always reported on fashion
changes within our community. Now, we
are taking it one step further in a special
section that takes a more in-depth look at
the role of lesbians in the fashion industry.
From the women behind the scenes to
those strutting down the runway, lesbians'
roles in the fashion industry are changing.
With openly queer designers like Parisa
Parnian of Rigged OUT/fitters (who
designed pieces for the third season of The
L Word), Aisha Pew and Breonna Cole of
Chocolate Baby Designs and a host of new
DIY-style fashion crafters like Jennifer
Perkins, our role in couture is definitely
changing.
One TV stylist offers an
insider's report on what
lesbians are wearing to
push the envelope on screen, at least.
The L Word's fashion-forward mantra has
spurred debates that the characters are not an accurate representation of the lesbian community at large. In our feature article "Shane's Sense of Style" (see page
42), we sit down with L Word stylist Cynthia Summers for an insider's report on
what the girls are wearing and why. Summers reveals that the show's motive is
to push the envelope, challenging viewers - lesbian or otherwise - to reevaluate the lesbian community and the characters in a different light.
Ten years ago, we interviewed Jenny Shimizu, the lesbian runway model with
boyish appeal and a motorcycle mechanic· edge. Back then, Shimizu was an
anomaly as lesbians were seen as anything but fashionable. She set the stage for
today, when Kim Stolz, one of the finalists from America's Next Top Model, is
the latest out lesbian to hit the runway. In "Out on the Catwalk" (see page 30),
Stolz tells us what it's like to defy the ultrafeminine expectations in the modeling
industry and what it was like to meet her role model, Shimizu.
As our community continues to garner visibility through television and other
traditional sources of media, we will undoubtedly continue to gain notoriety for
our contributions to the fashion industry. Today, lesbians are actually at the forefront of creating new styles, trends and designs. We don't want to say we aren't
wearing flannel anymore because, hell, some of us are, but we may just be cutting it up and turning it into flannel baby tees.
Publisher/Editor in Chief
Frances R. Stevens
Executive Editor
Associate Editor
Book Review Editor
Music Review Editor
Contributing Editors
Copy Chief
Proofreaders
Editorial Assistants
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Malinda Lo
Rachel Pepper
Margaret Coble
Julia Bloch, Victoria A. Brownworth,
Gretchen Lee, Sarah Warn
Laura K. Cucullu
Emmie Q. Lam, Jocelyn Yoo
Lauren Marie Fleming, Janel M. Lynch
Art Director
Photography Editor
Photo Assistant
Production Manager
Kas Neteler
Nathalie Peterson
Amy Silverman
Ondine Kilker
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Nikki Woelk
Web Forums Administrator Julie Houghton
Web Forums Moderators
Chris Alex, Wendy Armitage, Danielle
Ceribo, Autumn Congrove, Annie
Daniels, Susan Hinson, Ally Miller, Eliza
Rhee, Yolanda Sanchez
Catalog Manager
PK McBee
Advertising
Danie Belfield, Sara Jane Keskula
(415) 863-6538
Rivendell Media
(212) 242-6863
Contributing Writers
Susan Ashman, Jaclyn Barcewski, Kathy
Beige, Gina Daggett, Michele Fisher, Zoe
Gernelli,Jodi Helmer, Kate Lacey, Karen
Loftus, Karlyn Lomey, Vanessa Marlin,
Aefa Mulholland, Ariane Resnick, Beth
Schwartzapfel, Andy Wright
Katherine Streeter
Contributing Illustrator
Contributing Photographers Matthew Carden, Phyllis Christopher,
Annabel Clark, Lydia Daniller, Jim
Dobson, Laura Gugliermetti, Callie
Lipkin, Greg Martin, David Morch,
Maggie Parker, Cory Pineda, Roberto
Portillo, Shae Rocco, Cory Ryan, Mike
Ruiz, Jef Seaver, Eva Serrabassa, Mark
Seliger, Tyler Stalman, Tony Tremblay,
Patricia Valery, Jeff Vespa, Jin Wang,
Kevin Weaver, Yam Studio
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1087-867X)
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American Airlines •
Is A Proud Sponsor Of
Curve Magazine.
To find out more about American,visit us at AA.com.
100%HUMAH
.......
IUGHT
AmericanAirlines®
April
2006
Volume
16#3
24 MAKINGIT TOMONTREAL
by Kathy Beige
The Outgames will have you singing
Montreal's praises.
28 SHE'SONESEXYLESBIAN
MODEL
by Jocelyn Voo
She pouts, she swaggers. She's Kim Stolz
from America's Next Top Model and we
pinned her down for a few questions.
50 DARYLHANNAH
SPLASHES
RIGHTBACK
INTOOURHEARTS
by Diane Anderson-Minshall
She has a solar-powered house and drives
a car that runs on french-fry oil for fuel.
How much cooler can this sexpot be?
Now she's also documenting sex trafficking and fighting for women's rights.
You're
Stylin'!
Lesbian
Fashion
& Home
Design
30 THELESBIAN
DESIGNERS
by Diane Anderson-Minshall, Ariane
Resnick, Amy Silverman and Jocelyn Voo
From Breonna Cole to Parisa Parnian,
queer girl designers are doing us proud.
38 WEB-SAWY
SHOPPING
by Jocelyn Voo
Hate braving the mall? Find dyke-friendly
gear online instead.
42 WHOGIVESTHEL WORDSTYLE?
by Karen Loftus
Stylist Cynthia Summers is responsible for
every sexy thing Carmen puts on.
i'
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46 THELESBIAN
ECOHOME
by Malinda Lo
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::c
Make your home eco-friendly and get
more swag for your Sapphic sanctuary.
0
39 THATNAUGHTY
SECRETARY
by Jocelyn Voo
DIYer extraordinaire Jennifer Perkins.
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40 TEESASFASHION
ICONS
by Aef a Mulholland and Ariane Resnick
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These feminist ventures are doing more
than just silkscreening T-shirts.
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43 DOINGIT DIV
by Margaret Coble
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Who needs couture when you can stitch it
all by yourself?
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4 APRIL 2006
COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF VESPA/CONTOUR
PHOTOS
STOLICHNAYA®
PRESENTS
BE REAL A PROVOCATIVE
NEWDOCUMENTARY
SCREENED
AT SUNDANCE
See it at queer film festivals across the country
including the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival - Sunday, April 30th
~t. RE-4(
I
f
BE REAL produced by the TVgals, Inc Directed by Bobbie Birleffi with the participation of
Ross Hayduk, Mignon Moore, Oraia Reid, David Sexton, Red Tremmel, & Trae Williamson
Music by Smack Music and Sound Edited by Madeleine Gavin
Executive Producers, Pernod Ricard USA, Joanne Kletecka, Kellyann Maclean, Chris Monaco, Adam Rosen
Conceived by Double Platinum, LLC
~YAo
____
DRINKRESPONSIBLY.
100'!<Gla_Spril&._in.,o,lldb\lPemod_USA,
_l'lln.NY
llepar OLents________________________
8
CONTRIBUTORS
Where would we be without 'em?
18 OPENSTUDIO
Artist Gina ash makes
beauty out of garbage.
10 LETTERS
20 LIPSTICK
& DIPSTICK
They're still talking
about last year.
Help! My partner looks
like a man.
12 OUTIN FRONT
21 ASKFAIRYBUTCH
This activist doctor makes
us. want to play naughty
nurses.
Who am I? Where am I?
14 CURVATURES
The Nellie Olesons, lesbian
murder, vegan vibes and so
much more.
,,
6 APRIL 2006
22 LESBOFILE
What the hell is wrong
with Michelle Rodriguez?
22 SHESAID,SHESAID
Charlize, Melissa and
Felicity on our hit parade.
54 SAPPHIC
SCREEN
Why you must see Robin's
Hood. Plus: sexy African
American actress Skyler
Cooper talks back.
56 IN THESTACKS
_
60 DYKEDRAMA
Breaking up is hard to do.
62 BROWNWORTH
When will rape come out of
the closet?
Stacy D'Erasmo does it
again. And author Linda
Wagner does it all.
63 TECHGIRL
If you kill your TV, here are
some new models to try.
58 MUSICWATCH
72 TOPTENREASONS
WELOVE
One-on-one with Capital B,
plus albums
by Lady
Sovereign, Uppity Blues
Women and Mary J. Blige.
Comic Dana
Goldberg
makes us laugh with her,
not at her.
After a particularly rancorous breakup with
a she-devil who became the standard by
which all bad female behavior would be
judged thereafter, I found myself living with
her cat."
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MORE FRIENDLY
MEANS MORE FUN
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contributors
CURVE CONTRIBUTOR
Karen Loftus first met L
Needto get away?
Wehavethe perfectplace.
Actually,we have9,000.
Ourguidesare packedwith
LGBTaccommodations,
bars,
bookstores,
cafes& more,
acrossthe US,Canada,
Europe& beyond.
Word stylist Cynthia
Summers, whom she interviews in this issue on page
42, at Los Angeles Fashion
Week last year. "Cynthia
and I got on like a storm,"
Loftus confides. "She then
invited me to the
Hollywood Style Awards
where she was being
awarded the Style Award
as TV's Best Stylist. It was
then that I met Capital B,"
the artist formerly known
as Bitch, whom Loftus also
interviews in this issue (see
page 59). "B's experiences
as a singer were so similar
to mine as a comedian. I
met another warrior on
the path." Loftus is a
comedian, a playwright, a
Tennessee Williams Fellow
and a journalist. She will
be at South by Southwest,
featured in Andy Dick's
directorial debut, Danny
Roan, First Time Director.
When not traveling the
world, she lives and plays
in Los Angeles. For more
info on Loftus or her tour,
go to karenloftus.net.
BEFORE SHE DECIDED
to write for a living, Rhode
Island-based freelance journalist Beth Schwartzapfel
worked at an HIV clinic in
Providence. So when she
heard about Dr. Husna
Baksh (see page 12),
Schwartzapfel jumped at.
the chance to get to know
her. "Even in a field like
8 APRIL 2006
HIV, where sexuality and
health are so closely linked,
there aren't a lot of out gay
doctors," says
Schwartzapfel, who also
writes for the Providence
Phoenix, Rhode Island
Monthly and other publications. She was awarded the
2004 Rhode Island for
Community and Justice
Metcalf Award for
Diversity in the Media, and
the 2004 third-place feature prize from the Rhode
Island Press Association for
her profile of Rhode
Island's Southeast Asian
community, which
appeared in the Phoenix in
September 2004.
"INTERVIEWING
CARLY
Miller of Clothing of the
American Mind really
drove home the true meaning of 'fashion statement,"'
says Aefa Mulholland, who
talked to the women
behind the political shirt
company responsible for the hip range of clever
protest wear (see page 40).
"Their determination to try
to change the world 'one
T-shirt at a time' made me
frown at my apathetic
wardrobe:" A relatively
recent immigrant to
Canada, Mulholland lives
in Vancouver, British
Columbia, with an elderly
Irish tabby and more
T-shirts than is strictly neeessary. In addition to contributing to CURVE,
Mulholland writes for the
Irish Times, PlanetOut.com
and a number of other
publications, makes short
films about donkeys and
llamas, and accumulates
air miles pinballing
between Vancouver and
her hometown of Glasgow,
Scotland. Mulholland is
currently working on a collection of humorous nnnfiction tales based on her
succession of short-lived
and unsuccessful careers.
CURVE EDITORIAL
assistants Janel M. Lynch
and Lauren Marie Fleming
were called upon to write
about a variety of unexpected topics during their
time at the magazine, from
murder to book reviews to
comics. "As a comic book
junkie, I was stoked to
write about Purgatori, a
famous lesbian comic character," says Fleming, who
pored over the new series
for this issue (see page 19).
"It sure beats factchecking," she quips. Her
cohort, Lynch, agrees, saying, "CURVEhas given me
the chance to pursue a lifelong dream of writing - as
well as sharpen up my
filing skills." Fleming's next
move is to the Cuayamaca
Mountains in Southern
California, where she plans
to live in a cabin and finish
her novel. Lynch, who has
worked as an EMT and a
sleep researcher, also
hopes to continue to write
professionally.
letters
Where Are They Now?
Just finished my umpteenth viewing of
Claire of the Moon and I am asking if you
know what has happened to Trisha Todd?
Karen Trumbo? Nicole Conn? Love your
publication!
- Dora Hollis, St. Paul, Minn.
Editor's note: Trisha Todd went back to
school - high school, that is. For nearly a
decade, the out lesbian Todd has been a high
school theater instructor in Portland, Ore.
She penned a book (a novel based on her
relationship with her former director), had a
kid and still has a career that makes headlines in the Northwest. Karen Trumbo
appeared in a number of television movies
(her latest was I998's Final Justice) before
she too returned to Portland's theater scene,
where, last year, she starred in Terrence
McNally's It's Only a Play, which garnered
New York Times raves. As for director
Nicole Conn, she recently produced and
directed the critically
acclaimed documentary
Little Man. The film
chronicles the difficult
first two years of her son's
life after he was born I00
days premature to Conn
and her partner, Gwen.
You Like Us, You Really
Like Us
My name is Michele, and
I'm 29 years old. I'm originally from Brazil, but I've
been living in Los Angeles
for about nine years on
and off. It's definitely easier for me to be
here and out instead of in Brazil. My parents
are not completely closed-minded, but at the
same time they don't want to accept the fact
that, yes, I am a lesbian and very proud of it!
I've been looking for a lesbian magazine for
the longest time ... for some reason I never
came across CURVE
until this weekend, when
I went to Virgin to buy the second season of
The L Word and noticed [it] on the stand. I
couldn't believe it, I was so happy! I got even
happier after reading all those amazing articles! I'm definitely an addict to the magazine
et
now . . . I've read some of the article
and over again. I can go on and on ab ut 4.
magazine but I'm sure you get loads 6f
e-mails a day ... so I'll just say that I'm
10 APRIL 2006
amazed at the magazine. It's definitely a
piece of art, information, knowledge and liberty in my eyes. Keep up the good work! I'm
definitely getting a subscription!
- Michele Costa, via e-mail
Gay Marriage Help
Four years ago, I moved to the United
Kingdom with my family and to be with my
partner. Since then I have gone back to university to allow myself to stay in the country,
even though my mom and relatives are British
citizens. Now I am about to graduate and I
would like to come back to the United States
with my partner. I think I have now found
that it is not possible for her to come back
with me? Is there anyone that you know of
whom I could contact to help with this?
- L.S., via e-mail
Editor's note: We share your frustration
since we also have friends who are prevented
from immigrating to be with their partners
because of restrictive marriage laws. Though the
laws may not be changing
in the near future, organizations like Immigration
Equality
(immigration
equality.org) are fighting
for LGBT couples' immigration rights today. The
National
Center
for
Lesbian Rights also offers
resources on immigration
for binational same-sex
couples; visit nclrights.orgl
projects/immigration.htm
for more information.
Teens Read
CURVE,
Too
Although I love your magazine, I feel that it
is geared toward women out of school. Since
I am at the young age of 16, I do not fit this.
So I feel less connected to most of your
issues. Many famous people referenced or
mentioned in your articles I cannot recognize; they are before my time. According to
a study released in the October issue of
Time, the average age for lesbian adolescents
to first feel an attraction to another girl has
gone from 17 in the 1960s to 12 in 1990.
Whereas articles focusing on moving in with
a woman and how to make it work are
great, why not also include one on gay students [in] high schools around the country?
Since more mature women have accessto more
groups, bars and the overall gay community,
they might not need to rely on a magazine for
the status of gay issues. But a less-informed
child might have only a few lesbian magazines
hidden in a box under her bed. To improve
your already wonderful magazine, I think you
should add two things. One is stories for or by
a lesbian teen. The other would be a slight
background story on the actresses and musicians that are mentioned. Thanks for taking the
time to hear from one of your readers.
- Jin Smith, Centerville,
Ohio
Send Us Your Requests
A while back in your annual music issue
(Vol. 15, #5) you did a brief note on a group
called Someone's Sister. Will you have more
on them in the future? I checked out their
stuff, and they are pretty amazing and they
sing for child abuse prevention. The reason I
was wondering is because a lot of women
are victims of abuse. Just curious and I hope
to see more of them.
- Leigh, via e-mail
Can you please do a cover story or feature
article on Janis Ian? Us 45-and-over lesbians
would particularly enjoy it. Janis will be producing her new CD in February, Folk Is the
New Black. This woman rocks and really
knows how to treat her fans. She is indeed a
special talent.
- Marilyn, Totowa, N.J.
I'm a long-time reader of your wonderful
mag. I enjoy everything about it, but I'm not
writing just to give you praise. I was watching a sports program this weekend that was
showcasing some of the competitions leading up to the Winter Olympics in Torino,
and I discovered the perfect athlete to feature somewhere in CURVE.Her name is
Courtney Yamada, and she races skeleton. I
was happy to see that Courtney proudly
races with an HRC sticker on her board. I
thought she might be worth checking out for
an article. Thanks for the great literature,
my sexy CuRVEladies!
- Jennifer Allen, Memphis, Tenn.
Have you ever thought about doing an article
on lesbians and mental health? I have been
slogging through the mental health system for
years, ever since I was 11. So much of my
mental illness has impacted my relationships
with girlfriends; hell, it even destroyed the last
one. Finding people who are willing and
capable to deal with and understand my
problems is fairly hard. Plus, living in a small,
very backward town with a limited gay community makes it even harder. Education is the
only way people are gonna learn about this
stuff and if it makes them even just a bit more
understanding then it's worth a couple of
pages in your spiffy magazine.
o.'s Lt>sf
--:rrr,
c.~~+i.leN
THE CUllft l!Xa.USIVE
Kristanna
Loken
Comes
- Meaghan O'Leary, Butte, Mont.
Blinded by Design
On page 16 of the February 2006 issue (Vol.
16, #1) you have white printing on mustard
yellow background. Help! My eyeballs are
out on my cheeks! Whoever planned this combination should be made to read an entire
page of the same print. Please ... no more!
- Linda Hansen, St. Paul, Minn.
Coming Out Christian
"missing" poster from actor Daniela Sea,
who lost her favorite jacket and puffy
vest combo at our January bash.
I was wondering if you would ever consider
writing or printing an article about being gay
and being a Christian. I am a gay Christian Secondly, I wanted to thank you from the
and I can tell you it's not an easy journey. bottom of my heart for including FTM and
However, there is one nugget of truth that transgender issues in your magazine. I have
had I been told in the beginning of my jour- been reading CURVEsince I came out at 17,
ney, would have saved me much stress and 11 years ago (it was still called that "other"
name), and I have been reading through my
heartache. That truth is as follows.
When you are a Christian and you realize gender and sexuality transitions, first and
you are gay it is such a difficult situation. for many years as a dyke and then through
The church has taught you that homosexu- my transition into a transguy over the last
ality and God don't go together, so you live couple years. The dyke/lesbian community
believing they aren't compatible. Truth is, a has always felt like home to me, and while I
person's homosexuality doesn't come as a have felt pressure at times to abandon the
surprise to God. Before they were even born, community or "find my own community,"
He knew the day would come when they CURVEhas never left me feeling alone or
would fall for someone of the same sex. If unwanted. It is hard in this world to be
someone had said this to me in the very accepted simply as a queer, and it is even
beginning when I realized I was gay, my harder when the dyke community turns its
whole journey would have been different. back on one of their own (and yes, I still do
Instead of running a hundred miles from • consider myself "one of your own"). So,
God I would have stayed with him or even thank you, thank you for being inclusive and
snuggled in more. I know what a brutal fair, never telling your readers they have to
struggle it can be [for gay Christians] and accept trans people but absolutely never saythat's why I want to share my nugget of ing they shouldn't. Good journalism is hard
is proof it
truth. I thought putting an article in your to come by these days, and CURVE
magazine might be a good idea. When I was is still out there.
- Alex, Olympia,
first coming out, it's the first place I looked
for answers.
- Cindy McCarron, Scotland
You're Welcome
First I want to congratulate you on an excellent February issue (Vol. 16, #1). Great job!
Got Something on Your Mind?
E-mail letters@curvemag.com; write to
CURVELetters, 1550 Bryant St., Ste. 510,
San Francisco, CA 94103; or fax to (415)
863-1609. Letters may be
curve
11
"I did not want to work with
teenagers," recalls physician Husna Baksh with a laugh. It
was the early 1990s, and Baksh was in the middle of her
medical residency at Washington Hospital Center in
Washington, D.C. She had "kicked and reamed" about the
requirement to spend a few weeks studying adolescent medicine, but all that changed when the physician who had been
assigned as Baksh's teacher and mentor got a phone call. The
distraught mother of a teenage boy who had just come out
had called the one person she knew who cared as much
about her son's health and well-being as she did - his doctor.
"She spoke to that boy's mom so skillfully and lovingly,"
Baksh recalls. Baksh had only recently come out as a lesbian
to her own parents, so this phone call struck a chord.
Baksh, 44, now takes care of her own patients, gay and
straight, teens and adults, at her Silver Spring, Md., practice.
Her work garnered her the GayHealth.com and Gay and
Lesbian Medical Association's Provider of the Year Award
for 2005. Though her practice is not aimed specifically at the
gay community, Baksh estimates that 40 percent of her
patients are LGBT. "By focusing on gay health, I've learned
to be a better provider to all people," she says. Her work
with gay patients has helped her learn how "to get a sense of
the whole person. I don't think there's a lot of providers out
there taking the time to say, 'How's your personal life?
What's your stress level right now?'" Baksh herself is a firm
believer in the power of movement to maintain "a healthy
emotional and physical balance," and named her private
practice Healthy Steps in honor of her love for dance and
athletics. In fact, she and her partner danced in the
International Latin competition at the 1998 Gay Games in
Amsterdam. One day Baksh hopes to integrate her two passions: both practicing medicine and teaching and studying
dance. In the meantime, she is growing Healthy Steps, taking
care of patients and demonstrating, by her actions, why this
award - and her work - is so important. She has heard
enough of her patients' horror stories to know that "homophobia is a health hazard." - Beth Schwartzapfel
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JUNE:
PROVINCETOWN
INTERNATIONAL
1 Annual Chef'sTable
10 HelpingOurWomen:By the Sea
Bike Trek
14-18ProvincetownInternationalFilm
Festival
17 TennisFor Life Tournament
22 A ProvincetownTastingat The
ProvincetownTheater
22-25 PortugueseFestival
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JULY
1-7 4th of July Week-parties/events
4 Fourthof July Paradeand
Fireworks
9 ProvincetownArt Associationand
Museum:Secret GardenTour
25 FamilySunsetCampfireand Singalong at Race Point Beach
7/29-8/5 11thAnnual FamilyPrideWeek
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Who the Hell Are the Nellie Olesons?
THERE
ARE FEW PEOPLE
WHO
COULD
LIVEN
UP A
dinner party like I imagine the Nellie Olesons could. By dessert, I'd
expect half the guests to have thrown their napkins down on their
tiramisu and left in a huff. Good thing I like my dinner parties saucy.
After performing together in the gay ew York comedy group
Planet Q, Nora Burns and Terrence Michael founded the Nellie
Olesons in 1993 looking to infuse the pre-South Park comedy circuit
with their own brand of edgy humor. After some initial member
shuffling, the original duo "put out an ad looking for a woman,"
says Michael, "and boy, did we get one." John Cantwell - probably most recognizable as the flamboyant "bend and snap" hairstylist alongside Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde - joined the
Nellies in 1996.
Almost immediately the no-holds-barred sketch comedy troupe
earned a reputation with the press for being "perverse," "campy"
and "tasteless," much to the Nellies' delight. Among their repertoire
are skits lampooning everyone from Ann Coulter to Terri Schiavo.
"We mime a knock-knock joke that makes The Aristocrats look
like Dr. Seuss," Burns says proudly, referring to the 2005 documentary revolving around comedians re-telling the legendary dirty joke
of the same name. Theirs is not the most sensitive act around, but
there's a reason both critics and audiences laugh their asses off:
There's a fine line between being prude and politically correct, and
neither you nor the ellies care to respect it.
Billed as a gay troupe even though Burns is now married with two
kids ("But so is Madonna, so go figure"), the Nellies have toured the
continent, most recently headlining Los Angeles' first-ever gay and
We WishYou a Merry
IF YOUR GAZE FELL UPON A PAIR of shoes hanging from a
balcony or a window last month, or dangling from an electrical wire
or strung onto a Pride flagpole, you might have celebrated SHOE Day.
To honor the third annual International SHOE Day, lesbians around
the world adorned their windows with shoes as a symbol of lesbian
solidarity. Zurich-based Fab Syz and Sunci
Nikolic co-founded the
Web site SHOE.org, an
online lesbian community, as a place for lesbians
to identify others in
their own communities
and feel less isolated.
SHOE started back in
1997 as a free local
mailing list for lesbians in the Zurich area. It
quickly grew into a meet-up and hook-up spot
for lesbians around the world, and it has since
swelled to over 110,000 members.
But a SHOE Day? The idea for a lesbian day
grew from a dream Syz has had since she came
14 APRIL 2006
lesbian comedy festival, Outlaugh!, and performing their latest
sketch act Older! Uglier! Meaner! from coast to coast. With bawdy
jokes and costumes that often involve far too much spandex, the
group has even earned groupies who follow them from high-brow
theaters to tiny basement clubs to behold what Cantwell calls the
underdogs of offensive humor.
"The guys always have people mooning around the stage
door," Burns adds. "People just think I'm a tranny." Catch the
Nellies (thenellieolesons.com) at the We're Funny that Way
Comedy Festival on Memorial Day weekend and at the Cavern
Club April 14-15 and 20-21. - Jocelyn Voo
I
I
I
SHOE Day?
out: For just one day, it would be possible to identify all of the lesbians in
the world. "It would be so great if just for one day all lesbians had green
hair," she thought. The green hair idea didn't bode well with other SHOE
members necessarily,but they agreed with the need for some way for lesbians to covertly identify themselvesto each other one day a year. They
opted for a dyke version of Italian housewiveshanging their bloomers out
for the world to see: hanging shoes (pun totally
intended) out for other lesbians to see.
"Let's have something to celebrate and
identify ourselves - not with rainbow flags or
anything like that - but as a fun event,"
explained Syz. Last year women from all over
Europe and North America (and from as far
away as Kazakhstan) participated. "We had a
lot of members saying, 'I live in a small town.
No one is going to see my shoes hanging out
there.' That's exactly why you should do it.
You never know who lives near you," she says.
SHOE's motto: "There are as many types of
women as there are shoes." Doc Martens,
Croes, pointed heels, loafers? What pair did
you hang out? - Zoe Gemelli
I'm OK, You're OK
ACTOR
LYNN
REDGRAVE
BEGAN
WRITING
IN
A
journal when she was five years old and never stopped. When she
was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, she and her daughter,
then a photography student, decided to combine their efforts and
record the experience in a photo journal. By adding daughter
Annabel Clark's photographs to Redgrave's words, Journal: A
Mother and Daughter's Recovery
From Breast Cancer (umbrage
books.com) presents a powerful and
moving record of Redgrave's internal
and external experience during her
fight
against
breast
cancer.
Demonstrating
great
courage,
Redgrave appears before the camera
both bald and shirtless, in various
stages of cancer treatment and recovery, and describes difficult, even devastating, days as well as her joy in life.
"My mother's will to live has been
empowering for me and, I hope, will be
for other women and their families
who are battling cancer," says Clark. For those of us equally inspired
to document life but intimidated when confronted by seemingly endless blank pages of most journals, there's a new breed of journals
emerging that seeks to diminish "blank page anxiety" and to more
effectivelyharness the healing potential of self-expression journals.
Together with Art with Heart (artwithheart.org), co-authors
Steffanie Lorig and Jeanean Jacobs have created a part-journal, partart therapy workbook called Chill & Spill that could help queer teens
(among others) cope with difficult life experiences. The book combines creative writing and art therapy exercises with blank pages to
help teens not only determine the origins of their suffering but also discover their individual strengths and power. Created with the support
of psychologists, art therapists and child life specialists, Chill is filled
with inspirational drawings by contemporary illustrators.
"Through writing, journaling and
drawing, this book holds their hand
through their journey," says Lorig of
the book's effect on teens, "bringing
clearer vision, which in turn, empowers them to recognize patterns of
behavior - good or bad - and helps
bring closure to whatever situation
they find themselves in."
With a similar all-ages concept, Self
Help and Wishful Thinking (caffeine
society.com) are journals that aim to
help women tap into their own creativity and potential by providing writing
exercises and inspirational pictures in a
decidedly hip and contemporary {rather than earthy) fashion. Creator
Jacqui Lumer was a respected art director who worked in advertising
before deciding to use her artistic vision to inspire others rather than to
sell products.
"I like to think I might be helping people to help themselves," she
says of her motivation. -Janel M. Lynch
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VEGANVIBES
Early to Bed, a feminist sex shop based out of Chicago (early2bed.com),
took the plight of the animal-lovingsex toy user to heart recently by creat-
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casein-free condoms, leather-free harnesses and organic lubricants,
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they're paving the road to cruelty-free fun for all. - Ariane Resnick
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The J-Word Meets the F-Word
WHO
WANTS
TO
SPEND
HOURS
ambling around a museum when one can
view a vast array of progressive artwork with
only a few clicks of a mouse? The Jewish
Women's Archive, at jwa.org, has taken the
potential of the Internet to new heights with
their new virtual exhibit, Jewish Women and
the Feminist Revolution, and the results are
as fascinating and textured as any you could
find in person. With 74 contributors, and
works that span four decades, JWA offers an
online mecca of "artifacts, documents, video
clips, radio news reports, images, art, sounds
and fragments of memory that convey Jewish
women's roles as activists." Included in the
online exhibit are the first two American
women to be ordained as Rabbis, the first
Jewish Supreme Court Justice and the
founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist
Alliance. - AR
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GlobalGays
GAY PUBLICATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES,
from your local queer paper to CURVE,have long
been handy sources for traveling queers, pointing us
to small-town lesbian bars as well as giving us a
heads-up on what to expect in a given locale. It's no
different on the other side of the pond. Europe's
queer mags have done the same for years, and with
more publications popping up almost every month
in almost every European country, you can easily
discover what's what in the gay scene when you visit
the Continent.
France
boasts
Leshia
Magazine: Revue Mensuelle de
la Visihilite Leshienne (lesbia
mag.com), a monthly review of
lesbian culture. For more than
20 years, Leshia has been one
of the few cultural diaries of its
kind in France, tackling topics
as varied as gardening, the
defense of women and feminism. Tetu magazine (tetu.com)
is also a valuable resource for
fashion, culture and underground news, while Treize
Revue Leshienne tackles art,
culture and lesbian family
themes (revuetreize.org). In Germany, pick up Lespress-Das andere
Frauenmagazin (lespress.de), a glossy, 10-year-old queer culture
magazine that showcases the hottest gay happenings in Berlin. You
can also try Berlin's Lmag (I-mag.de) or the free Siegassaeule: Queer
in Berlin (siegessaeule.de).
In the United Kingdom you'll find the mag CURVEreads cover to
cover, Diva (www.divamag.co.uk). Europe's
premiere mainstream lesbian magazine since
1994, Diva offers a wide range of features
on travel, music, scenes, products and entertainment. A popular new addition is the
stylish Girls Like Us, a fashion-forward
power dyke mag.
If you make it to Amsterdam, one of the
most liberal cities in the world, check out
the decade-old Gay News Amsterdam
(www.gay-news.com)
for
its
extensive, free city agenda. It is so
inclusive that it has teamed up
with the Dutch official international tourist boards, KLM and
the NBT. You might also pick up
another Amsterdam-based newspaper, Gay Krant (gaykrant.nl) for
further information.
When in Scandinavia, browse
through QX (qx.se), the region's
largest gay and lesbian magazine
with information on about 300
clubs, stores and restaurants in
Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo
and Copenhagen. And despite
opposition from the Catholic Church, Poland now boasts the most gay
publications among former Communist bloc countries. You can peruse
the glossy Filo (write to: Box 733, PL-80-958, Gdansk 5, Poland),
which has covered cultural events, international news and AIDS-related stories since 1986. Or comb the bookstores for Gayzeta: Nie? Tak!
(Skrytka poczt 78, 03-370 Warsaw 9, Poland) and· Inaczej (48-61537655). - Jaclyn Barcewski
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When Gina Nash
climbs into a huge recycling
bin - which, incidentally, makes the folks who work at the Portland
Recycling Center pretty mad - she's searching for tin cans to transform into handmade lanterns. "I sell people back their own trash and
they love it;' she says. Around town, Nash has become known as the
tin can lady. Nine years
ago, she had just finished
her art degree after spending 10 years working as a
chef. Naturally, after she
graduated she got another
job in a restaurant and
couldn't help but notice
the large amount of "free
material" going out the
door every day. Curiosity
compelled her to take an
acetylene torch to some
cans, and she found that the metal practically melted under the
intense heat of the flame. Essentially, Nash paints with fire, and her
designs have grown to be more and more intricate over the years.
She is inspired by shapes she finds in the garden or under a microscope, and by Middle Eastern or Moroccan textiles, and can be
found selling her wares at the Portland Saturday Market each week.
She is also branching into other materials, with one-of-a-kind felt
bags her newest passion. She's taking another leap as well: She's
finally referring to herself as a designer, and we can't wait to see
what's next. - Amy Silverman
~mour Dangereux
THE
POSSIBILITY
OF A LESBIAN
love triangle being the motive behind double
murder is causing the French media to go
wild with speculation. The bodies of
Geraldine Giraud, daughter of well-known
French actor Roland Giraud, and her lover,
Katia Lherbier, were discovered Dec. 9,
2004, in a drainage well on the property of
Jean-Pierre Treiber, who has been the main
suspect in the case after police discovered he
had the victims' credit cards a month after
their disappearances.
The frenzy, though, was sparked by the
Nov. 25, 2005, arrest of Marie-Christine
Van Kempen, Giraud's aunt and Lherbier's
voice teacher and roommate. Two witnesses
came forward claiming to have seen Van
Kempen and Treiber having a heated discussion at a cafe a few days before the murders.
Van Kempen was previously questioned for
31 hours after police found chloroform,
which was used in the killings, in her cellar.
However, there was not enough evidence
to charge her with murder until her relationship with Treiber (which she denies) was substantiated by witnesses. The French media
are calling the murders a crime of passion,
motivated by Van Kempen's love for Lherbier
and the rivalry she felt with her niece for
Lherbier's affections. Van Kempen denies any
involvement in the murders, and The
Telegraph quoted her mother as saying, "She
adored Geraldine and would not have done
what is suspected of her." - Janel M. Lynch
BibliophilesRejoice!
FOR ANYONE WHO'S EVER DITCHED
her library card because there was a $20 late
charge for a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha that
was a month overdue, Booksfree.com is for
you. Established in 2000, Booksfree has since
become the world's largest e-library of paperback and audio books. Employing a flat fee,
no due date policy similar to Netflix's one for
movies, Booksfree does the same with paperbacks. For prices starting at $7.99 a month,
you can rent an unlimited number of books
from their library of over 63,000 paperback
titles and have them shipped to your residence
for free. This is great news not only for library-
goers who are now dodging overzealous
checkout jockeys, but also work-at-home
women and seniors as well as chicks with disabilities. You can also buy new books for up to
30 percent off the retail price at the Booksfree
retail store. Finally,total access to all the trashy
Harlequin romance novels you want but are
too embarrassed to buy in the flesh at your
neighborhood Barnes and Noble. Not that I
would know anything about that, though.
- Jocelyn Voo
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19
My Partner Looks Like a Man
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick:I am a 33-yearold mother of three and fell in love with
my own dipstick, Louise, a few months
ago. This is the first time I've been
involved with a woman on more than a
physical level. My oldest daughter (I'll call
her Katie) is 1O and has done a good job
adjusting to mommy's new lifestyle, but is
embarrassed about my partner being
around her friends because Louise is
ultrabutch. Katie loves Louise and is
happy to spend time with her, as long as
her friends aren't around. Louise thinks
Katie has self-esteem issues and we
should seek professional help. I believe
we're just transitioning and should back
off. What do you think? Is it time to call
the doctor? - Mother of Three
Lipstick: No, it's time to call the fashion police.
Your daughter definitely has issues, as we all
do (especially at that age), but I doubt they
warrant immediate psychological evaluation.
Thinking fashion-forward
might give her
sliced the heart of every dyke I know. If you
and Katie something to bond over. When
I was her age, my mom and I were bond-
line 10 lesbians up, I bet nine of them have
puffy scars from women who had no busi-
ing over lip gloss and mascara.
ness entering into relationships. It's not out
That's not to say that Lipstick doesn't condone therapy, but what Katie's dealing with is
Dipstick:Nice try Lip, but if Lou and Katie really
of malice, but innate defense. Hell, I even
want to bond, they should pursue one of
homophobia. Even grown women who've
Katie's interests. Skateboarding perhaps?
Or Tomb Raider on her Gameboy? Lou,
accidentally pulled a machete years ago
when I was coming out. Out of the closet,
been out for years struggle with this, so until
Katie sorts this out, tell Louise to cool her jets
and open a magazine to find out what's
trendy. Would it hurt to swap that flannel
pullover for a fitted butterfly collar every so
often? Or trade in those old 501 s for some
low-rise Lucky's?
Dipstick: Yes, Lipstick, if I know Louise, it will
hurt. A lot. Dipsticks don't wear butterfly
collars, whatever they are! And 501 s are
still the No. 1 fashion choice for butches, no
matter how hard you try to get us to
squeeze into those overpriced faggy jeans.
You should know better than to try and
change Louise. What kind of role model
would that be for little Katie? Cut the kid
some slack, Mama. For Christ's sake, she's
10 and adjusting to a new life. No matter
how much she loves Lou, imagine what
she's dealing with - we live in a hetero
world and she's getting all kinds of homophobic pressure from her friends and their
parents. Be there for her and remind Katie
of your unconditional love. This is a difficult
time for the whole family, and shipping her
off to therapy will make her think there
really is something wrong with her.
Lipstick: I'm not trying to change Louise.
20 APRIL 2006
then into a relationship!
show off your grind or make it to TR Level 15,
and Katie and all her little pals will be hang-
Dipstick: I'm not even gonna go there, DD, as
ing all over you. Drop the adult analysis and
think like a 10-year-old!
about my girls dating straight women.
Lipstick is right - you're about to have your
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick:What makes a
straight woman tick? I'm in a one-year relationship with Alice. This is her first relationship with a woman; she's been with men
until recently.For her birthday,I brought her
flowers at work along with a card. Nothing
mushy. She freaked out and told me I
shouldn't have brought them to her job.
Please tell me when givingflowers became
a crime? I'm totally confused. Help me!
- Dotingly Dumbfounded
Lipstick: I'll tell you what makes straight
women tick: the time bomb under their
skirts. I can smell a combustible cutie from
miles away and this firecracker is especially
you should already know how Dipstick feels
heart mangled. Better get heart insurance
before your pre-existing condition gets
worse. It's true: The problem wasn't the
flowers, it's that you, in all your butch glory,
delivered them yourself. That's what FTD is
for. Women love toget flowers at their workplace, but every dashing dyke knows you
don't show up at work with a bouquet like a
blushing schoolboy. Apologize and have
'em sent proper to make up for it.
Dear Lipstickand Dipstick:My sweetie suf-.
fers from outrageous flatulence at the
most embarrassing moments while we're
having sex. Is there a cure for that?
- Holding My Breath
pungent, so beware, Dotingly D~bfounded,
because Alice is gonna blow! The flowers
weren't the crime - it's that you opened the
closet door a little too wide when you slid
Lipstick: How shitty. Try Beano.
Dipstick: Can true love survive this noxious
them in. Get your heart good and ready for
the sharp blade of the closet, a razor that's
Ask us anything about sex, love or lesbians
at lipstickdipstick.com.
event? Who nose?
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WhichLabel Fits?
Dear Fairy Butch: I have a problem. I am 24
and I know that I am bisexual; however, I
don't know what to label myself so far as
butch-femme. I don't really like labels.
Nonetheless, I feel like I have to have a
label to be a lesbian and I would like you
to label me. Here's my general description: I used to be a tomboy back in grammar school and high school. I used to wear
guys' clothes, but now I wear girls'
clothes. I can be tomboyish sometimes
when it comes to video games and sports,
but usually I do girl things like cook, clean,
get my nails done, etc. When it comes to
sex, I like doing everything. And as for
choosing a girlfriend, which one should I
go for after you've decided which label I
am? I need to know where I stand!
- Label-less in Los Angeles
some aspect of something or someone's
identity. Is "woman"
any different than
"butch" or "andro"? Not really, it just has a
better publicist. Is the word "woman" useful? Well, it'd be pretty tough to get through
the day without using it, especially if you
Dear Label-less: Definitely stone butch. Or
have to pee. It is liberating, then, in the
maybe stone femme. Andre switch? Sugar
sense that we don't have to carry around a
pie, I do believe you've missed the point.
cardboard cutout of a woman and point to it
First off, I can't confer a "label" upon you,
my dear. It's not like being knighted, for
every time we want to refer to one.
Is it also limiting? You bet. Once defined as a
Pete's sake. Secondly, you don't have to
"tablecloth," said item is far less likely to be
work within the butch-femme dynamic at all
seen as a headdress, maxi pad or work of
if you don't want to. You don't line up to get
art. And the words we have don't always
a "butch" or "femme" card along with your
suit us. Not everyone fits comfortably into
coming-out toaster oven, and you're not
the identity of "woman" or "man:' and even
going to get one from me. And regardless of
those who do will find the way gender is
how you define yourself, you have my official
labeled to limit their options for expression.
Fairy Butch permission to date anyone to
Similarly, "butch" and "femme" don't work
whom you're attracted.
Then what is this "label" thing about? Well, labels
But every word is a label. And where does that
for a lot of lesbians.
operate as approximate verbal signifiers of an
leave us with regard to butch-femme?
identity one has come to embody. When they
These words are just attempts to get closer
work well, they come to name inner feelings,
to the unnamable core identity in some
traits and attitudes around which that identity
folks, a place not fully encompassed by
coalesces. Why name them at all? Well, it
"woman;' "lesbian" or "dyke:' But here's the
helps those of us with identities outside the
real take-home point, hon: You don't have to
limited spectrum offered by Baywatch and
be intimidated or constrained by other folks'
The Bachelor to form a sense of coherence
attempts to nuance the verbal expression of
within ourselves. Just as importantly, labels
their identity. Butch-femme may not work for
help folks find one another and form relation-
you, and that's absolutely fine. If your inter-
ships and community.
But in the words of the inimitable Peggy Lee,
the butch-femme lexicon and you want to
nal core is not suitably expressed through
"Is that all there is?" Not by a long shot. A
use words to describe yourself, get creative
lot of people talk about labels as though
and find some that
they are endemic to the lesbian community,
but labels are everywhere and they're on
everything. "Woman" and "man" are labels,
as is "tomboy:' "Christian" or "lamp;' for that
matter. They're just words that describe
To submit your queries regarding the finer
points of lesbian /if e, sexuality, romance and
other matters of the heart, send a note to
fb@fairybutch. com.
carve
21
>> By
Jocelyn
Yoo
Straight: Just Another Word for Lesbian?
BETWEEN
TINSELTOWN
AND
THE
city that never sleeps, straight girls can't
seem to keep it straight, gay girls rumble
with the law, and more straight girls can't
keep it straight. And this time, nobody's
blaming the water.
The Rules of Celebrity
Apparently, when you're a B-list socialite
aspiring to hit the A-list, being a reality TV
celebrity - even on a show named after
yourself - isn't official until you've been
caught tonguing the same sex. ew York
media gossip blog Gawker.com reports that
Gastineau Girl No. 1 (that would be mom,
Lisa, co-star of the E! show Gastineau Girls
with daughter Brittny) was spotted on Jan.
6 at the West Village dyke bar Cubby Hole,
getting cozy with patrons. According to a
witness, Gastineau was "kissing one girl
and later getting felt up by another. Hell
hath frozen over." I disagree: Isn't girl-on-
girl action Chapter 2 of the Reality
Television Handbook?
Driving Miss Rodriguez
Cir/fight and Lost star Michelle Rodriguez
was arrested this past December for driving
under the influence with a 0.145 blood alcohol content - twice the legal limit - in
Hawaii, but not until she invoked
Braveheart while lashing out at her detainers: "Why don't you just put a gun to my
head and shoot me! You've already taken
my freedom! You might as well take my life
too," she was quoted as saying in a police
report. Rodriguez racked up three misdemeanors last year and is currently serving a
three-year probation term. If judges deem
her newest DUI as a probation violation,
Rodriguez could face prison time.
Mrs. and Mrs. Smith
A week before British tabloid The Sun
reported (erroneously, it was later found
out) that Jenny Shimizu was still sleeping
with the hotter half of Mr. and Mrs. Smith,
another starlet admitted a crush on the resident hottest pregnant woman in the world.
When Access Hollywood asked Lindsay
Lohan at VHl 's Big in '05 Awards whether
she had a crush on Brad Pitt, Lohan replied,
"Well, he's beautiful. But I've got more of a
crush on Angelina Jolie, though, than
Brad." I guess everyone wants a piece of
those "waterbed lips."
Channeling Georgia O'Keeffe
Scarlett Johansson, star of Match Point and
2003 sensation Lost in Translation, denies
that she's bisexual, following news of her
snogging designer friend Tara Subkoff in the
New York Hiro hotel bar in December.
Subkoff and the 19-year-old actor laughed the
reports off, Johansson told W magazine. "Of
course two nights later we had a dark, can-
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for it;'>> Melissa
Etheridge to
say that the fact that there
Lavender magazine
are two genders and you
have to choose between
"The queer frontier
them is ridiculous. There
looks like middle
are many permutations of
school. People are
sexuality. And what's really
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closet. It also
Felicity Huffman to Variety
decreases the likelihood that people will continue behaving like
"We came up with a new idea that we said that we would get married the
teenagers into their 20s, 30s and 40s, like my
day that gays and lesbians can get married - when that right is given to
generation did. Or is still doing;'>> Alison
them. We've decided that we're gonna use that in a positive way, so the
Bechdel, of Dykes to Watch Out For, to the
day that law gets passed, then we'll get married;'>> Charlize Theron, who
Dallas Voice
is dating actor Stuart Townsend, to Extra
22 APRIL 2006
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dlelit dinner and I was calling her 'my petal' all
night. . . . I was like 'Can I get you a glass of
wine, my rose, now that we're a couple?"'
Expose Exposed
She Gets What She Wants
There's never been a woman who better represented sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll than
Courtney Love. Once, following a night of
drinking at London's Groucho Club, British
journalist Janet Street Porter claims the
boozy rock star begged her for sex. After
declining, Porter thoughtfully introduced
Love to a famous pop guitarist, but that
wasn't good enough for the widow of
grunge legend Kurt Cobain. "I was getting
on famously with Sir Ben Kingsley when
the Crazed One lurched into view," Porter
says in Britain's Independent on Sunday
newspaper. "'Hi,' she announced to Sir Ben.
'I'm in love with Janet and she won't have
sex with me. I've even offered to go on a
ramble with the bitch, but she doesn't want
to know. And by the way, Janet, that bloke
you told me to fuck was useless."' Goo~ to
know that even in a haze of whiskey, the
Remember that 1988 hit "Seasons Change"
by girl group Expose? Well, former Expose
member Gioia Bruno recently told Q
Television's Brunch (hosted by Queer Eye
alum Honey Labrador and Scott Withers)
that her love interests have changed as well.
"I never wanted to put a label on myself,
but, yes, I have dated women," Bruno
admitted earlier this year. Since splitting
from Expose, Bruno has become something
of a dance diva, releasing a string of club
anthems that have landed her on gay club
playlists, as well as the Queer as Folk soundtrack. Though the pop star, who recently
released her first solo album, Expose This, is
currently dating a man, she's keeping her
girl-on-girl options open. "I can still look at
the girls," she said. "I think everybody's got
a little queer in them."
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Curve
23
Book now for a July jam-packed with fun in
Quebec. By Kathy Beige
IF YOU'VE EVER THOUGHT
OF GOING TO
Montreal, now that the First World Outgames and the
International Conference on LGBT Human Rights
will be held there this summer, you have no excuse not to
visit the most European city in North America. Whether
you're into activism, sports or even just Martina Navratilova
(who recently joined Outgames' Circle of Champions),
Montreal will have something for you this summer.
"Over the past three years, the Montreal organization
has built a new model for LGBT sport and cultural events,
one that honors the past, speaks to the present and stands
ready to embrace the future," Navratilova, an 18-time Grand
Slam champion, told reporters about joining the Circle, an
international group of prominent individuals supporting the
Outgames, which will take place July 29-Aug. 5.
Outgames organizers expect more than 16,000 athletes and 25,000 spectators and conference attendees
from around the world. And in Canada, a country where
gay marriage is legal, an impressive number of partners notably the government of Canada, the government of
Quebec, the city of Montreal and Tourism Montreal, along
with numerous corporate sponsors - are embracing the
24 APRIL 2006
games wholeheartedly.
The Outgames (montreal'.2006.org) will host 35 sports
from aerobics to wrestling, 31 of which are officially sanctioned. Montreal, host of the 1976 Summer Olympics, is
primed and up to the challenge of one of the world's biggest
sporting events. In fact, many Olympic venues will be used
for the Outgames, including the Olympic Stadium, which will
host opening and closing ceremonies.
This city will also play host to a slew of cultural programs,
including a choral festival, dance events, and activities for
bands and color guards. Viger Square, which will be
renamed Rendez-Vous Square for the week of the
Outgames, will provide a gathering place in the heart of the
city for thousands of visitors after the various sport competitions have wrapped up for the day.
And recognizing that gay and lesbian rights go hand in
hand with sports competition, the Right to Be Different
International Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Rights, held July 26-29, will focus on global
queer issues and is the first international gay and lesbian conference withgovernment sponsorship. An array of impressive
activists like March on Washington organizer Robin Tyler,
carve
2s
"If people don't come to Montreal this year, they are
going to miss out on a phenomenal experience!'
National Organization for Women executive vice president Olga Vives and
Wilde's is a great place to grab an outside seat, have a beer and watch
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission executive direc-
the crowds walk by. Oh, and eat at lesbian-owned La Paryse for the best
tor Paula Ettelbrick are all on the planning committee.
"While we [Americans] are fighting for basic human rights;' notes
burgers in Montreal.
Transportation won't be an issue with a subway system that is easy
Tyler, "the government of Canada is giving huge sums of money to sup-
to navigate. Or grab your bike and cruise around on more than 600 kilometers of cycling paths. You can also step back in time with a visit to
port this conference;'
Because both the Gay Games and Outgames are being held this
summer (and only a week apart), many athletes are put in the difficult
position of having to choose one event over the other. Catherine Meade,
a 41-year-old athlete from Nova Scotia who has attended every Gay
Games since 1990, says the decision to attend Outgames was not an
easy one to make: "My allegiance had always been
Old Montreal. With the narrow brick streets, stone front buildings and
francophones on each corner, you'll feel like you're in Europe. And a visit
to Montreal would not be complete without stepping inside Notre-Dame
Basilica, the ornate Gothic church where Celine Dion was married.
And whatever you do, do it Quebec style in July.
with the Gay Games. They had been behind so many
phenomenal experiences for me;'
But the more she learned about the planning for
Montreal 2006, especially its financial solvency, the
more impressed she became.
"I realized the Gay Games do not have a monopoly
on life-altering experiences;' she says. Meade is now
co-president of the Gay and Lesbian International
Sport Association, the governing body of the
Outgames. She encourages people ·to attend both
Gay Games and Outgames, but adds, "If people don't
come to Montreal [this] year, they are going to miss out
on a phenomenal experience;'
Julia Applegate, 35, is a swimmer from Columbus,
Ohio, who also made the difficult decision to attend
Montreal over Chicago's Gay Games. She says her
experience at Gay Games in Amsterdam in 1998
changed her life.
"I can't put into words how powerful it was to walk
into the opening ceremonies and hear thousands of
people cheering and affirming my identity as an athlete
and a lesbian;' she recalls.
Applegate spent a lot of time researching both
events and finally chose Montreal because of the
quality of the swimming venues and the mission of the Montreal Games.
"The Outgames has a three-pronged
mission;' she said. "To provide a space for
sport, culture and international human
rights. As a G LBT person living in America,
I must live with the denial of many basic
human rights every day. This denial of liberties heterosexual people take for granted is
not separate from my identity as an athlete;'
Regardless of why you go to Montreal,
you'll find it one of the most gay-friendly cities
in the world. Be sure to spend time on Rue St.
Catherine in the Village,Montreal's gay district,
where even the subway stop is decked out in
rainbow colors. Le Drugstore is Mortreal's lesbian bar and what a bar it is: eight floors of
dancing, food, pool and an outdoor terrace.
You may never leave. Next door, Oscar
26 APRIL 2006
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TOURISME
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COULD AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL BE ANY
GAYER? JUST ASK KIM. BY JOCELYN VOO
IT'S 'HARD NOT TO ADMIRE A GIRL WHO
unapologetically eats a Big Mac three times a week
despite its artery-clogging composition and questionable meat sources. It's nearly impossible when that girl
is also a model.
Kim Stolz is the latest lesbian to brave Tyra Banks'
reality television catwalk and emerge relatively
unscathed from the unforgiving lens. America's Next Top
Model, soon to be in its sixth season, has featured queer
girls before - out contestant Ebony in the premiere
cycle and bisexual wrestler Michelle in season four - but
perhaps unlike the previous girls, Stolz worked her masculine tendencies to her advantage from day one.
"My sexuality is definitely a source of confidence and
feeling different in a good way:' the 22-year-old says. "I
feel great about it:'
As an only child growing up in Manhattan, Stolz got
her first taste of the industry when she accompanied
her model mother to fashion shows. At 7 years old, she
watched a videotape of Anne Klein's 1972 runway
show of which her mother was a part.
"In the finale when all the models walk out together,
she was leading the pack:' Stolz remembers. "She
looked so confident and so beautiful, and I thought to
myself that maybe this would be something I'd really
enjoy doing'.'
But at her parents' insistence, it wasn't until Stolz
graduated from Wesleyan University that she seriously
turned an eye on modeling as a career. Earlier, she had
focused on athletics and academics, co-captaining her
varsity soccer, basketball and softball teams during her
senior year in high school, and on churning out 180
pages for her thesis on international government policy
in college. In fact, prior to her audition for Top Model,
Stolz had never had any formal runway training at all
(which might explain why no one ever tied her to a chair
to restrain her from frequent McDonald's runs). Yet
despite her lack of existing modeling credentials, her wit
and butchy kewpie doll-meets-Charlize Theron looks
still landed her one of the 13 spots on the show.
Almost immediately, you knew where reality TV producers wanted Stolz's subplot to go: Can Kim ever be
girlie enough to win? And the answer, proven by her
marked improvement with every challenge: Hell yeah.
Stolz's androgynous looks and ability to blend boyishness with feminine attributes prove that a girl rocking
a necktie and fauxhawk can stand her ground in the
high-fashion modeling industry. In one episode, the contestants met Jenny Shimizu, the butch lesbian icon
probably equally known for her bare-chested CK One
ads as for the 4-inch tattoo of a sexy pinup girl straddling a crescent wrench on her upper arm.
"All the challenges and photo shoots and teachers we'd had so far were very much geared toward
looking feminine or acting in a sort of girlish way,"
Stolz said. "To me, [meeting] Jenny Shimizu and
having her tell us about her boyish look, how it
helped her on the runway and in photo shoots and
her uniqueness - I mean, that was really exciting for
me because finally I saw someone as a potential
role model for the kind of model that I want to be'.'
Indeed, Stolz, who was axed in the ninth round
of competition, remained faithful to her sense of
self, rarely repressing her boyish tendencies outside of photo shoots and still conveying an undeniable beauty. It's not bravado; it's honesty. The
fact that it even shone through the warping properties of reality TV says something. After her elimination, Stolz returned to her New York stomping
grounds to develop a modeling and acting career.
However, at least for me, she'll always be that
masculine-feminine girl who left the Top Model
house wearing a striped rugby shirt, a double
string of pearls around her neck and a cigarette
tucked behind one ear.
Curve
29
The
Clothes
That
Make
theWo/Man
RIGGED OUT/FITTERS DIVA PARISA PARNIAN TAKES FASHION WAY PAST GENDER. By Jocelyn Yoo
Versace, Armani, C~lvin
Klein - you can't rummage through a Bergdorf
women's rack without flipping past a dozen frocks
making a post-snack trip to the bathroom.
But Parisa Parnian is one such fashion rebel
out to leave her mark on gender-divided cloth·
envisioned by a queer eye. The clothes are sen·
sual and evocative, but their aesthetic almost
always conforms perfectly to the mainstreamdef·
ing. While growing up in a traditional Iranian
family - where Islamic dress code requires a
inition of feminine attire: flowing couture gowns,
and a conservative Republican community in
Arizona, Parnian struggled with the idea of dis·
crete gender categories, which seemed
increasingly anachronistic as she matured.
"To me, it didn't seem weird to draw a fash·
delicate silk shirts, form-fitting tailored pants. And
while no one can claim there's a lack of gay
designers, for a gay designer to produce a
specifically queer-themed women's line that
defies traditional notions of femininity - well,
that's rarer in the fashion industry than a model
wolfing down a pint of Haagen·Dazs without
30 APRIL 2006
woman's head, neck and arms be covered -
ion sketch of a tall, lanky person with short
spiky hair, high cheekbones, eye liner, red lips,
plunging necklines, tight pants and a giant
bulge between his/her leg;' Parnian says. As a
result, her early college sketches were full of
first-generation Iranian American living in a
culturally unsophisticated suburban sprawl of
women dressed in boyish clothing and men's
attire with a typically feminine edge.
strip malls and bottle blonds."
But even a prodigal designer has to pay her
Parnian's fashion philosophy also closely
resembles her outlook on life. By the end of her
dues in the beginning. Though she is now known
for her innovative manipulation of color and
college years, the queer designer realized that
sexuality aside, living a straight-edge life was
not for her.
design, Parnian got her start at the king of plain
polos and khakis: The Gap. For two years she
designed Hawaiian camp shirts and tongue-in-
"Myqueerness moved beyond my label as
'gay' or 'lesbian,'" she says. "I found myself
constantly pushing the envelope and not fitting in with many aspects of my life - as a
cheek print boxer shorts for the Old Navy division.
Before that, she was a senior designer of young
devout Muslim, the prodigal eldest child, a
TheClothes...
menswear at Target,traveling to extremesporting
events to promote a surf-skate house brand.
continued
onpage61
carve
31
-:c
en
C
u.
Get
Studded
THE LESBIAN FASHIONISTAS AT
CHOCOLATE BABY DESIGNS MAKE MEN'S
CLOTHES TAILORED FOR WOMEN - AND
CREATE POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE
WHILE THEY'RE AT IT. By Ariane Resnick
Six or seven years ago,
I stumbled across
a lingerie catalog called Apres Noir that featured everything from
frilly corsets to lacey panties - only instead of nubile, leggy
women wearing the garments, the models were fit, well-built men.
Yes, Apres Noir was a brand of women's lingerie designed
specifically to fit men. At last, men aren't the only ones who can
get clothes originally intended for the opposite sex tailor-made
for their own bodies: Women who wear masculine apparel can
now enjoy Studded, a menswear-for-women clothing line
founded by Chocolate· Baby Designs.
Co-owned by partners Aisha Pew and Breonna Cole,
Studded arose from Cole's need to feel more physically comfortable in the clothing she wore every day. Although she felt
more at home in men's clothes than women's, she couldn't get
them to fit correctly; necks were too roomy, sleeves were too
long, pants fit in the waist or the hip but never both at once.
Frustrated by Cole's attempts to look stylish in clothing
designed for men's bodies, Pew decided to design a line of
clothing for studs, butches and bois who want to wear men's
clothes that complement a woman's body: Studded.
The line, which is all about the basics, consists of tailored shirts
and pants made with American materialsby women-owned worker
cooperativesin the San FranciscoBay area.They are committed to
a "double bottom line;' insisting not only that workmanship be topnotch but also that prices be affordable for the average working
dyke. This summer, Studded (which is showcased on chocolate
babydesigns.com)will expand to in~lude sport coats, and suits are
scheduled to follow this winter. Currently, clothing is availablefor
purchaseat events hosted by Chocolate Baby Designs.
And it's not just about fashion, Cole says: "It's social change
on a whole new level:' Cole and Pew are erasing and redefining
the laws of gender with every stitch. And they don't stop at just
the clothing; Chocolate Baby Designs partners with a variety of
Bay area organizations, such as Sweat Equals Love Fitness,
where they take part in coordinating 90-day physical fitness and
personal training programs for butches, studs and tranny bois.
Cole remarks, "Our goal is to make sure that people feel good
about themselves on the outside - that's reflected in the
clothes they wear ... but it's also about finding ways to make
sure that we're all taking care of ourselves on the inside:'
If their first fashion show was any indication of how well
Cole and Pew are taking care of women, inside and out,
Studded has quite the promising future.
32 APRIL 2006
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY PHYLLIS
CHRISTOPHER
Funky
asShe
Wants
toBe
LESBIAN DESIGNER LALA
BRINGS GLAM TO THE GIRLS.
Lala Lowe, one half of the duo
behind Funky Lala Productions - with business partner Michelle
Alleyne - is one hot babe who describes herself as "a biz ultrafemme
fashion powerhouse L Word chick come to life but in New York City."
Phew. I'm excited already. Known as the fiercely independent and ultra·
cool Lala (like Cher, but without the baggage), this fashion-forward
funkstress spearheads multiple fashion lines (LaMa and In With La),
34 APRIL 2006
operates a fashion PR consulting division as well as the Funky Lala
boutique (funkylala.com), which features several up-and-coming
designers such as Rebecca Minkoff, Wendy Bassin and Bambina di
Cioccolato. Oh and, in her spare time, she teaches other women how
to start their own fashion companies. All that work, though, might eas·
ily make folks lose sight of how darn exciting her foxy lady dresses
are. Here's a sneak peek at two of her new designs.
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FROM AN ANTI-BUSH TEE SPRINGS A CAREER FOR
DESIGNER PERIEL ASCHENBRAND. By Amy Silverman
Periel Aschenbrand may have become a
designer by accident, but the T-shirts she has been churning out for her company, Body as Billboard, have attracted the attention of everyone from urban
teens to celebs like Betsey Johnson, Susan Sarandon and Gloria Steinem. It all
started during a summer philosophy course she taught to high school students.
After seeing more than her fair share of girls wearing T-shirts with blatantly antifeminist slogans on them, she decided to do something about it.
In an effort to kick-start some political consciousness among her students,
Aschenbrand started talking to them about people who have inspired her. Later,
when her class silk-screened shirts with a motto of their choice, Aschenbrand
settled on the now-famous motto, "the only bush I trust is my own:• ("Larry Kramer
for President" and "Foucault is Sexy" were others from that project.)
When Aschenbrand walked into a Los Angeles boutique wearing her tank
top, the owner placed an order on the spot. Only three years later,
Aschenbrand's company is getting ready to launch a new line of tees featuring
quotes by iconic women, and Aschenbrand is feeling more comfortable with the
label "fashion designer:'
The idea behind putting slightly sarcastic slogans on T-shirts is simple, says
28-year-old Aschenbrand: "This is about women. It's about our bodies. It's about
how our bodies are used, and it's about using our bodies and appropriating that
in order to do something more intelligent, more interesting:'
You can choose to wear a shirt that says "Mrs. Timberlake" or you can wear one
of Aschenbrand's shirts that says, "The show is upstairs:• Thus the slogan of the
company: Advertising for Shit That Matters. If anything makes her mad (and a lot
of things do), it's that women use their bodies to advertise for corporations or any
number of things that they don't even think about. If anything, she wants people to
read her designs and be forced to think about issues they would rather ignore.
On her way to becoming a designer, the postgender Aschenbrand was actually
working on being a writer, and her aptly titled first book, The Only Bush I Trust Is
My Own, was published in 2005. An irreverent series of anecdotes from her own
life, the book covers everything from her friendship with an ex-Mormon missionary
to her graphic efforts to shatter her mother's sweeping generalizations about people based on race and religion. Baudrillard, Foucault, Peter Singer and Monique
SPONSOREDBY:
Wittig are a few of the philosophers she cites along the way. When Aschenbrand
was a graduate student at the University of Arizona, a friend suggested she take a
class with Wittig, a French lesbian theorist known for, among other things, her statement that "lesbians are not women:' That class changed her life and took her questioning nature to a new level. Wittig challenged ideas that Aschenbrand had taken
for granted about our cultural institutions and the basic structure of society.
Although it may seem impossible to reconcile heady feminist theory with living life in our consumer-driven culture, Aschenbrand is pretty determined. While
T-shirt slogans may not exactly be direct action, her work doesn't stop there. Last
fall, the designer took part in a fashion show at New York University to raise
money for the organization Keep a Child Alive, which provides medicine to HIV-
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positive children in Africa. Not only was it a good cause, but women of all shapes
she says. Aschenbrand has succeeded in using fashion to promote awareness,
and we'll take that over seeing Britney in a "Future MILF" tee any
V-ISiO..
PRODUCEDBY:
and sizes got a chance to strut their stuff.
"I saw a bunch of 18-, 19- and 20-year-old girls get up on that runway and
kick such serious ass in really challen_gingand in-your-face and hardcore issues;'
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36 APRIL 2006
37
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Fashion
ALTERNATIVE OUTFITTERS AND CULTURE JUNKIE HAVE WHAT YOU NEED ONLINE. By Jocelyn Yoo
If spending an afternoon browsing
them barking in the background;' she says. "At first I was worried about
in a mall sounds only slightly more desirable than going to the gynecolo•
what people would think about us having dogs at the office, but actually,
gist, then online shopping is your answer. Online storefronts have come
most of them are jealous that we get to bring our dogs to work:'
a long way in providing unique wares created with a socially responsible
Another online fashion alternative is CultureJunkie.com, which sells
philosophy in mind. One such store is AlternativeOutfitters.com, which
eco-friendly goods ranging from political slogan panties to vegan lip
offers a range of high-quality, cruelty-free fashion and beauty products,
balm. Founder Nancy Gray Cowan was always a DIYer, but it wasn't until
including nonleather shoes, handbags, and hair and body products that
1997, when she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, that she became con-
aren't tested on animals and contain no animal byproducts. "You better
cerned with minimizing consumption and waste output. Two years later,
believe if it contains animal products, we will find an alternative;' founder
the Portland, Ore., resident founded Culture Junkie as an outlet for her
Jackie Herrick says. Her commitment was recognized by PETA, which
and her friends' handmade projects, the majority of which are made from
named the company best cruelty-free online vendor in 2005. Herrick, a
recycled products, and Cowan has big plans for expansion. "I [just]
strict vegan who hasn't worn leather since she was 16, is such an animal
bought a 1976 diesel Blue Bird bus and had it converted to run on
lover that she allows two dogs to run around her office in Pasadena, Calif.
biodiesel;' she says excitedly. "I'm planning on turning that into my mobile
"Sometimes when you call the Alternative Outfitters number, you can hear
store and driving around the country this spring and summer:'
38 APRIL 2006
Playing
Secretary
DIY MAFIOSO JENNIFER PERKINS. By Jocelyn Yoo
If achieving personal celebrity is the
goal, then Jennifer Perkins still has a way to go. "I definitely get the occa-
sional, 'Hey, you're the naughty secretary;" the 31-year-old founder of
DIY jewelry business Naughty Secretary Club.says. "I think a lot of people think that's my name:'
From an early age, the Texas native showed signs of entrepreneurship,
though not by selling lemonade or trying to pawn off her little sister like normal kids do. Instead, her family raised lop-eared rabbits, so she and her
younger sister Hope would load the babies into a wagon and set up shop
on the corner. Of course, not all her early business ventures went that
smoothly: "My best friend and I once decided to have a roadside manicure
stand in a tent in her front yard. Problem was, it was like 20 degrees and
snowing, so only her grandmother paid us not to do her nails:'
Luckily, Perkins' interest in cosmetology soon grew into a passion for
crafting. As a child she made earrings out of fishing lures, drawn to the
bright colors and sparkles. Perkins also won a blue ribbon at her school science fair for a pair of dangly earrings she designed. It was the epitome of
'80s jewelry: a tiny travel-sized toothbrush attached to one earring and a
travel-sized tube of toothpaste to the other. What this had to do with science is anyone's guess, but it did bolster Perkins' jewelry-making habits
beyond the sixth grade - a much more important fact in the long run.
Perkins' aesthetic taste eventually graduated from oral cleansers
and fishing bait. For a period her medium of choice was resin, and her
love for it was so intense that it - and the pungent chemical smell it
;
exuded when heated - literally took over her home. "When I first
Naughty Secretary Club is just the tip of Perkins' creative empire.
moved into my current house, the neighbors across the street did
Perkins is also the founder of Babes in Business and a founding member
come over to investigate;' she admits. "I can imagine what they must
of the Austin Craft Mafia, two collectives of creative, small business-owning
have been thinking: I was in the garage with the doors up wearing a
women. "Technically,I am the mouthy, tattoo-covered member of the Mafia;'
big Darth Vader-style ventilator mask, with the stinkiest smell ever
Perkins says. "I would say all of us are very strong, independent women:'
permeating the neighborhood. We were definitely the weirdos on the
As the DIY movement continued to grow, the Mafia took their projects to the
street:' Luckily, Perkins' palette has broadened so her house no longer
mainstream. In 2002, mafiosi Tina Sparkles, Jesse Kelly-Landes and Karly
smells like a meth lab.
Even when she took a desk job as a secretary ("executive adminis-
Craft Fair,a forum for fellow designers to exhibit their work. The annual Austin
trative assistant;' she jokingly corrects me) immediately after college, she
event is wildly successful, routinely selling out its 1,000-plus capacity to a
didn't let the 9-to-5 faxing and filing regime interfere with her creative
rabid DIY community.
Hand joined forces and founded the STITCH Fashion Show and Guerilla
side. "When I was still working with resin, I was joined at the hip to my
Crafting has raised such a fever pitch that even television networks are
Dremel tool;' she says. "I even would bring resin cubes and pliers when
throwing elbows for a piece of the action. This spring, Perkins is co-hosting
the front desk receptionist was going to be out and answer the phones
the weekly show Stylelicious on the DIY Network with seven other Mafia
and make jewelry all daY:' In fact, it was her day job that inspired the
members. "Sty/e/icious is about wearable arts, so you might catch an
name for her booming jewelry business.
Started in 2000, Naughty Secretary Club offers a line of tastefully
episode with me showing how to make a purse out of training panties, Tina
kitsch jewelry, handbags and other fashion accessories pretty enough to
out of plastic grocery bags;' she explains. Perkins' solo show, Craft Lab, is
be mainstream but retro enough to be truly hipster. The nostalgic line
set to air this fall. On each episode, a different DIY guru teaches Perkins a
recalls the toothpaste-and-toothbrush earrings that started it all: Bakelite
new project, such as metal etching or furry monster-head mask-making.
instructing you on making a guitar strap and Vickie [Howell] making an apron
beads, Lucite rings and big wooden pendant necklaces reminiscent of the
Over the past half-decade, crafting has been dramatically elevated to
ones that I'm convinced all aging, female elementary school teachers wear
hip status, and as one of the original godmothers of DIY, Perkins is only
as unofficial identification badges. Perkins' favorite piece is a Golden Girls
too thrilled. "There is power in numbers, and the more people that are
necklace, featuring the four ladies strung alongside vintage black glass
into DIY, the more other people on the fringes start to think things like:
beads. "The parody of the whole thing makes me laugh;' she says. "I like
'Hey I could knit, or I could sew, or I could make that necklace;" she says.
to wear it to fancy events with little black dresses. At first glance it looks
"I am sure other crafters love, as much as I do, to be wearing something
like a nice sophisticated necklace, but then people do a double take when
and have a stranger go, 'Hey, I really like your bracelet. Where did you
8 they see Bea Arthur staring back at them:'
get it?' And you get to proudly say, 'I made it:"
Curve
39
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Dressing
Down
A Q&A WITH CONSCIOUS CLOTHIER
CARLY MILLER. By Aefa Mulholland
en
C
IL
Born 1n 2004 amid discontent
spawned by the war in Iraq, Clothing of the American Mind
(cotam.org) has been outfitting the politically disgruntled around the
globe ever since. Specializing in clever protest wear, such as
"Peace" T-shirts for toddlers and organic, environmentally friendly
"Stop Wars" T-shirts, Carly Miller and founder Caitlin Blue also make
sure their company invests in organizations such as MoveOn,
Progressive Democrats of America, Peace Action and Amnesty
International, meaning their customers can really feel as righteous as
they look. We got Miller to tell us what it's like to dress down the war
machine.
What kind of reactions do your shirts get? Do they make
Republicans frown?
For the most part, people's reactions to our T-shirts are extremely
positive. It's great to be at events, exposing Clothing of the
American Mind to larger audiences and watching people inter·
act with the T-shirts. Most people laugh. There's a very distinct
tongue-in-cheek humor about most of the shirts that works to
Anne Ramsay (above) and Amber Valletta (below) wear their
hearts on their sleeves - or chests, as the case may be - with
Clothing of the American Mind's tees.
alleviate, I think, some of the severity of the issues they
address, such as "This Child Left Behind" or "Electoral
College Dropout." Even people who aren't that political under·
stand the message because of how it's conveyed: on a clever,
stylish T-shirt. In general, Republicans and other right-minded
people are not appreciative or understanding of our mission.
While some Republicans we encounter simply frown, as you
say, and ignore the shirts, others will engage us in dialogue,
which is really what the shirts are meant to do: start a dialogue.
We know we can't change everyone's mind, but introducing
issues into the conversation is a start. Exposing Republicans
to ideas not addressed in their Fox News telecasts is about
spreading truth.
How has the "Stop Wars" shirt been received?
Lots of people identify with the design because of its pop-culture
familiarity. If that gets more people to notice it, that only translates
into more shirt sales and more widespread awareness of the issue
of war and the opposition to it. I think one of the other reasons it's
been so well-received is because it's our first organic shirt. It's
made from certified 100-percent organic cotton grown with zero
pesticides; it's also sweatshop-free and made in America.
Are your wares lesbian-popular?
I think that Clothing of the American Mind wares are definitely popular
among lesbians.... We have slim-fitting shirts for smaller women
and roomier styles for larger women, so people can usually find
something that's just right for them. A very popular style among
most of our female customers, including lesbians, is our "My Bush
Is Pro-Choice" T-shirt, which was designed by Julianna Parr, an
amazing artist and a good friend. Also, from our 2004 team jersey
line, our "Family Devaluers" shirt has always been quite popular in
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the GLBT community.
What are you trying to achieve with your shirts?
We understand that not everyone has the ability to donate time or
money to political causes. Clothing of the American Mind is
encouraging activism as a way of life for anyone who gets
dressed in the morning: Being politically active can be as simple
as putting on a T-shirt.
Is COTAM a full-time concern for you?
For me, being a political activist and running Clothing of the
American Mind is more a way of life than it is a full-time job. I was
working at a newspaper on election night in 2000 when the election was stolen in Florida. At that point, I realized my vote just
wasn't going to be enough anymore. I was looking for a way to
get more politically involved, but between my full-time day job
and my freelancing, it was near impossible - until I landed the
gig with Clothing of the American Mind. Now, I get to try to
change the world, one T-shirt at a time.
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Shane's
Sense
ofStyle
TALKING FASHION, SEX AND POLITICS WITH THE L WORD'S RESIDENT STYLIST
CYNTHIA SUMMERS. By Karen Loftus
I met L Word stylist Cynthia
Summers during Los Angeles Fashion Week where you
check out the people as much as you do the fashion.
Summers had a definitive style with her vibrant red Bettie
Page bangs, vintage-look dresses arid incredible sense of
whimsy. In the la-la landscape, she was different - she was
my kind of gal. Months later, we finally caught up for a drink
and a giggle at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. She
arrived with Bettie bangs in place, in the perfect red summer sundress, and ordered a coffee
with a side of black Sambuca
before we settled in for a chat.
Lucky Cynthia
Summers (left)
gets to make
Carmen (Sarah
Shahi) wear whatever she wants
42 APRIL 2006
You've worked on a number of
TV shows, like The Dead Zone.
What were you doing before
styling for film and television?
I worked in dance and theater. It
was 1994, I was producing a dance
line at the time, and it just so happened a movie [Double Happiness]
needed a tutu built. It was a turning
point in my life. I was single. I had
three kids - I still have three kids - I
was self-taught, but I went to fashion school at the time, to find shortcuts to what I was doing.
How did you end up on the L?
I [had] worked with a producer,
Rose Lamb, in Vancouver, who
works with Showtime a lot. I wasn't
sure what they wanted, as this was
the first-ever lesbian drama. I'm not
~ure they knew what they wanted.
What look were they going for?
Initially it was a blend. Like Friends, they had a coffee
shop. Like Sex and the City, it was fashion-forward and
politically forward. The show's brazen, and it pushes
the envelope in all directions. If it's a lipstick lesbian, we
made her more lipstick, and then gave her an edge. We
wanted to create someone to aspire to.
What was your vision for the show?
My vision was to try to depict, as best I could, the lesbian
community within L.A., taking the typical fashion of said
ladies, pushing the envelope whether it be in a glam or
controversial direction, and challenging the "inside"
and "outside" worlds to see themselves in a different
light of fashion, diversity and acceptance. And to sprinkle a little fairy dust, to make it all TV magical or something of wonder.
Some people think The L Word's not a true
representation of the community.
We were really careful to make them characters, not caricatures. We wanted to tell a real story. We got a lot
of backlash that we were making characters attractive
to appeal to a straight audience. These characters
needed to be welcomed in a way that says, "Hey,
we're all people too. We're the same as the rest of the
world. We have the same problems in life." Also, what
people need to remember is that this is L.A.: People
look different in L.A.
Boy, do they! In the lesbian community, women can
escape male standards, but in L.A. they can't escape
L.A. standards. Is that why the show is so stylized?
Yes, absolutely. One thing that was very important from the
get-go was that we remain true to the L.A.scene and
style, but mix it up a bit to make it our own. We've made
a real effort to use a lot of smaller L.A.-based up-andcoming designers to keep it fresh and real and evoke
that L.A.-ness. We're representing a specific circl~ of
friends, but the request has been for more diverse
characters. People are asking for that. This season will
definitely represent that.
Tell me more about season three.
There will be some disturbing turns for a few of our characters. Season three is a very comfortable blend of the
first two, in that season one was a very full season to
establish characters and who they were; season two
was "let's push all the boundaries we can" to establish
where we can take this series - whether it will become
more political, whether we can broaden our audience
base, what is too shocking. [Now] we are not afraid to
tell a deeper story, create a few more fringe characters
that enter our original circle and leave their mark. This
season will be a little less frivolous in fashion.
Is your process collaborative with the cast?
Every look on every character is a complete collaboration.
So much thought goes into what they're wearing. I
always have options ... but in the end, I defer to the
actors. Then it gets QK'd by [show creator] Ilene
[Chaiken] and the current director.
Who was your favorite guest star to dress?
I was so nervous to meet Sandra Bernhard. I had never
met her and she's such a big personality. She was so
collaborative. She was wonderful to work with. She
was up for anything. I think my favorite was Kelly Lynch.
She worked on Ivan from the inside out. She was a
dreamboat. We built a whole costume off of an earring
she brought in. A lot of our actors do that. They have a
soul connection to a piece - a T-shirt or a ring - and
they will wear that ring scene-to-scene, episode-toepisode. It's almost superstitious. Not everyone will
know, but they will. If I am stuck, I will start a costume
on shoes. Everyone knows I'm obsessed with shoes. If
Manolo Blahnik was Sex and the City's shoe, then
Christian Louboutin is The L Word's shoe. Everyone
has a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes with a red sole,
even Kate [Moennig], who will never wear them.
Will Shane dress differently this season now that
she has a relationship?
Yes, but not because of the relationship.
Is a stylist like an interior designer, where it is all
about scale and balance?
Yes. There has to be balance. There may be seven actors
in a scene. They need to harmonize. We just had an
instance where Pam Grier and Alan Cumming were
both wearing hot pink in the same scene. We had to
take one out of hot pink. It's a tough decision. Pam
looks great, and Alan is wearing a T-shirt that says,
"Bad People Wear Fur'.'That's a clue as to where that
scene is going.
Who or what are your influences or icons as a
designer and a stylist?
Icon: Edith Head. She was [a] designer at the studio, in
the early days. Influences: nature. I wasn't in L.A. in season one. Season two I was. The sky is different. The
green here is different. In L.A., there's always a gentle
breeze blowing through your hair. Everyone looks sexy
and fabulous, and there's a flow to the skirt. In
Vancouver, your skirt would be over your head with the
wind. It's different.
Who are your favorite designers?
Balenciaga. I love Gaultier - the color, the embellishments
- Valentino, Mauret and U.K. designer Jenny Peckham.
Last season we did a lot of Stella McCartney suits.
Each one was subtly different, a real nod to the '40s.
My new favorite label that you will see a lot this season
is Elmore Avenue.
Where do you shop?
American Rag is my favorite; Fred Segal; H Lorenzo is my
new favorite. If at a loss, I know I can always get something at Barney's. The Kasbah Cafe in Silver Lake. For
vintage it's Liliett C for Kate and Leisha. Also, Come to
Mama, Luxe de Ville, Catwalk and Silver Sailors in
Silver Lake.
Do you think The L Word has opened a window into
the lesbian world, enabling the straight community
to understand and therefore accept the gay com•
munity?
Yes, I do. I have a very good straight friend in Rome, Italy.
His straight, married, middle-aged sister likes to watch
the show while cooking dinner. Can't you see that traditional busy, steaming, full-of-life Italian kitchen full of
The L Word? Even in another language, another country, people are intrigued to look in. They don't get it altogether, but they are willing to watch. Maybe after some
time, some understanding will build, some tolerance.
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Want Cynthia's insider tips on which designers The L
Word gals wear? Want to buy the dress off Carmen's
back? Go to curvemag.com for more info.
DIV
ontheDown
Low
NEED HELP GETTING STARTED? START HERE.
By Jocelyn Yoo
As with
most
daunting
activities
(cooking, job-hunting and relationships come to mind), we wish there were a
beginner's manual to help us navigate a new trade. The hobby world is no
exception. Whether it's beading or bedding, scrapbooking or sewing, a newbie is bound to get lost. Thankfully, numerous DIY magazines are available to
help beginners and inspire the seasoned.
Here's a smattering to get started. Don't
worry - CuRvE's here to hold your hand.
Beadwork (beadworkmagazine.com):More
than just a project magazine, this bimonthly
glossy includes meaty pieces on all things
related to beadwork. Past features include a
survey of Native American beaded crafts and
BEADWOR
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Techniques Galore!
•Squarootitch
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c,utedfustforyoul
tips on starting a beading business.
ReadyMade
(readymademag.com): For
"people who like to make stuff;' ReadyMade
shows how to make everything from sushi
plates to your own food-inspired fragrance.
Most notable is their "Re-Make" section,
which demonstrates how to recycle singleuse items and turn them into cute, useable
things around the home, such as a juicecarton coat holder or a Lego CD rack.
Paper Crafts (papercraftsmag.com): I
have yet to meet a gal who doesn't have a
perverse fascination with glue guns and
frankly, I don't know if I want to. From customized journals to gift bags to greeting
cards for every occasion, Paper Crafts
doles out design ideas and technical tips to
get your fingers working.
McCall's Quilting (mccallsquilting.com): Quilting may be old-school, but that
doesn't mean the patterns have to be. This glossy comes with step-by-step
instructions and has an easy-to-follow, pull-out pattern section in every issue.
Art Jewelry (artjewelrymag.com): A far cry from cheap plastic beads on a
string, Art Jewelry shows you how to make beautiful pieces of professional
quality. Beginners can follow the step-by-step instructions to create a stunning
broach with an opal inlay, while seasoned artisans will delight in the full-color
photography and tips from other crafters.
Fine Woodworking (finewoodworking.com): Ty Pennington wannabes, this
one's for you. Revel in high-school woodshop nostalgia by refinishing a cabinet,
learning the nuances of bandsaw jigs or constructing a new Shaker-style bed
for you and your girl. Getting crafty doesn't always mean lace and sequins.
Sew News (sewnews.com): Revamp a plain wardrobe with colorful accents
and trim, or make an ill-fitting skirt hug all the right curves. This service-minded
mag also tests out tools and tells you where to get the most bang for your buck.
Creative Knitting (creativeknittingmagazine.com): The world of knitted
goods has gone beyond reindeer sweaters and granny potholders. This
bimonthly mag teaches you how to make a felted purse, dye your own yarn and
master a variety of carpal tunnel-inducing stitches. The designs are practical
and - surprise! - actually presentable in
It'sAllAbout
Me
FROM TOADSTOOLS TO TINKKOO, DESIGNS FOR THE REST OF US.
By Diane Anderson-Minshall
"Fashionable lesbian"
used to be an oxymoron and I understand
why. A whole lot of "fashion" isn't exactly
aimed at us. But a few great designers many of them queer girls - offer an in-yourface attitude and togs that, fortunately, you
can't find at Wal-Mart.
Evil Needles
(evilneedles.com):
Patricia
Valery's Evil Needles boutique is the only fully
functioning, DIY reconstructed T-shirt store on
the Web. Customers can select from hundreds
of licensed T-shirt styles, or they can send their
own tees in for reconstruction. Valery starts
with a men's XL tee and deconstructs it to create a new garment that fits women's bodies.
tinkkoo (tinkkoo.com): Born in India and
raised in Newfoundland,
designer Amrita
Gagnon is the driving force behind tinkkoo, a
collection of modern, ethnic-inspired designs
that appeal to women across a range of ages,
races, body types and yes, sexual orientations. Plus, Gagnon makes sure all tinkkoo
artisans work in comfortable conditions rather
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ecs, and gnome-centric
by Hannah skirt and bl
than in factory settings.
Sol Moscot (moscots.com): The Moscot family has been selling eyeglasses in New York
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arrived from Eastern Europe in 1899. Today,
the Moscots still operate their flagship store in
New York, but the clientele now includes
dykes, hipsters, fashionistas and celebs like
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Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill all clamoring for
their vintage-inspired, limited-edition glasses.
My new fave? The black-mauve Malpa, a Tina
Fey-meets-Michelle Tea cat's eye look (smart
but naughty).
Made With Love by Hannah (madewithlove
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byhannah.com): Hannah uses silk screening
and unique embellishments in her handcrafted sassy skirts and tops. From this
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schwarzwa/der skirt (gnomes and deer and
toadstools, oh my!) to her racing-stripe
skirts, everything Hannah touches is filled
with whimsy and retro flirty fun.
Size Queen (sizequeenclothing.com): The
diva who brought us Big Boxers of Brooklyn
(bigboxers.com) does it again with this online
ce
femmetique of slip dresses, hot pants and
skirts - all in sizes up to ax.I can't wait to get
my hands on the sassy pink mesh faux wrap
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Eco-Friendly
NEW TRENDS IN HOME DESIGN HELP YOU CREATE AN EARTH-FRIENDLY LIVING SPACE. By Malinda Lo
It seems like everybody is thinking
Vetrazzo slabs, made from 80 percent recycled materials, turn trash into
green these days. From the rising popularity of hybrid cars to the organic
beauty. These custom-made slabs are crafted from chips of polished glass
foods movement to all-naturalcosmetics, almost everyone has jumped on the
that used to be stemware, traffic lights, beer bottles or even windshields.
reduce, reuse, recycle bandwagon. So if you want to apply this earth-con-
The slabs resemble marble or mosaic, come in an almost endless variety
scious attitude to your home, where should you start? The variety of options
of color patterns (you choose the specific mixture), can withstand high
can be overwhelming, ranging from installing Energy Star-compliant appli-
temperatures, are highly stain-resistant and are durable enough to be used
ances, to using insulation made from recycled phone books, to flooring your
in high-traffic areas or outdoors. (counterproduction.com)
house with salvaged wood. But don't panic - you can make a difference a little bit at a time. Here are a few lesbian-friendly ideas to get you started.
The New Prefab
Paint It Green
designs, combined with eco-friendly building materials and an affordable
One of the simplest ways you can make an impact on a room is by painting
price, are giving prefab a whole new look. Her Camp series includes two
it a new color, and now you can make sure that the paint you use is envi-
options, the Fish Camp and the Base Camp, which are constructed with
Prefabricated housing has gotten a.bad rap, but Rocio Romero's modern
ronmentally friendly. Founded by lesbian couple Virginia Young and Janie
structurally insulated panels that use Performax (made from fast-growing
Lowe, both of whom trained in the fine arts, the Portland-based Yolo Color
timber) and recyclable Galvalume, and are manufactured producing almost
House offers toxic-free paint that contains zero volatile organic compounds
no waste. They ship to you packed flat and include a power-driven screw-
(most paints contain harmful VOCs) and has no lingering odors. Yolo's 40
driver - which is apparently all you will need to put together your very own
paint colors are grouped in seven nature-based categories (water, grain,
futuristic, super-luxury campsite. ($15,000 and up, rocioromero.com)
stone, clay, air, leaf and petal) and are available in flat, satin and semigloss.
If you want to test out a color in your house, you can take home a giant
For More Tips
poster-sized repositionable swatch (made with actual paint) rather than a
If you've been bitten by the eco-friendly bug and find yourself yearning to
tiny paint chip, and if you're nervous about pick-
remodel your home using salvaged metal and wood, pick up a
ing a good color combination, Yolo sells a
copy of Jennifer Roberts' Redux: Designs That Reuse, Recycle,
design kit that includes letter-sized samples of
and Reveal. This gorgeous book walks you through several homes
all 40 colors as well as suggestions for color
that have taken the three R's to heart, including an old Brooklyn
coordination. (Swatches are $4.99, paints are
icehouse that has .been turned into highly energy-efficient apart-
$24 and up; yolocolorhouse.com)
ments, and a home in the Sierra Nevada Mountains built with walls
filled with straw bales. If you're looking for the basics, Redux also
Counter Revolution
provides simple tips for making sure your home is eco-friendly, as
Recycling is about more than separating
well as a detailed list of resources and retailers that you can pur-
paper
chase reclaimed materials from. ($29.95, gibbs-smith.com)
from
46 APRIL 2006
glass
bottles;
handcrafted
g
0
>-
Extreme
Home
Makeover,
Lesbian
Style
SOME SERIOUSLY COOL DYKE DECOR IS AS CLOSE AS YOUR KEYBOARD
Try as you might to continue living like you did (or do) at 20 when futons, cinder block bookshelves and beer can pyramids
are still boho enough to be charming - sometimes a girl just has
to nest. And whether you're 18 or 82 or somewere in between,
a few funky fundamentals that you find online can make the difference between a home where you can entertain that lovely lass
after the club closes, or one that'll have the same gal pal running
for a shower and Mr. Bubbles (at her own place).
First things first: Even if you rent, you can give your kitchen a
makeover - for less than a fortune. ($22 and up, IKEA)
Curve
47
w
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w
0
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6
48 APRIL 2006
11
J
Feels like suede!
Corrugated cardboard
rocking chaise ($595,
Cardboard Chair)
Witty luxe linen Secret
Service pillow ($70,
Velocity Art & Design)
40-Disc Recycled
Bicycle CD Rack ($88,
Uncommon Goods)
German-made,
curved swing tumblers
($10, Uncommon Goods)
Red Tango's pretty
kitty will sex up your
sofa ($40, Red Tango)
Curve
49
She's
agonzo
filmmaker,
abiodiesel
fuels
nutaHollywood
sexpot
and
a
human
rights
activist.
lsthere
anything
Daryl
Hannah
can't
do?
ByDiane
Anderson-Minshall
YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW DARYL HANNAH,
and fossil fuels. She drives a 1983 Chevrolet El Camino that
the blond bombshell who made box-office dreams come
sports a "Greed Kills" bumper sticker and runs entirely on
true in the '80s playing a mermaid (Splash), a power
used trench-fry oil from fast food restaurants. "They actually
player (Waif Street), a performance artist (Legal Eagles)
dump billions of gallons of it a year:' she explains, "and the
and, perhaps most famously, an android (Blade Runner).
But the long-legged actor - who gained lesbian fans
diesel engine was meant to run on vegetable oil, and it can:'
Wild flowers
monoxide than regular gasoline and no greenhouse gases -
(alongside Clea DuVall) and by posing in an embrace
something that Hannah, who is adamant about her "no war for
with her role in the seemingly Sapphic
Few Americans know that biodiesel produces less carbon
with lesbian model Jenny Shimizu for Out magazine - is so
oil" stance, is working hard to publicize. In 2004 she received
much more than your typical Hollywood A-lister.
the National Biodiesel Board's Influencer Award for her work in
Hannah, who in recent years has championed independ-
educating people about veggie fuel. She also joined Good
ent film and become something of a cult icon due to her role
Morning America as an environmental correspondent,
as Elle Driver in Kill Bill: Volume 2, is a bit of an unsung hero
appeared in the documentary French Fries to Go, was honored
of the environmental movement, championing biodiesel fuels
(alongside Willie Nelson) at the Environmental Media Awards
and living off the grid.
and spoke at the UN World Environment Day.
She has spent years living simply in tepees and yurts and
A champion of indie films, Hannah isn't leaving Hollywood.
embracing eco-friendly practices. Her Rocky Mountain
She's had notable parts recently as Mandy Moore's mom in A
home, an old stage coach stop in Colorado, was rebuilt from
Walk to Remember, a stripper in Dancing at the Blue Iguana,
recycled materials and runs entirely on solar energy. Even her
a resident of a Montana town about to be relocated in
couch is a rock covered with live moss. ("It can go dormant
Northfork, and a mother awaiting an international adoption in
for months at a time. We take the cushions off every few days
and water it and keep it thriving:') She has a smaller home in
Casa de los Babys.
Despite the career renewal, Hollywood takes a backseat
beachside Malibu that has a graywater system, runs on solar
to Hannah's activism - and she doesn't hesitate to speak her
power and has radiant floor heat, as well as a giant nursery
mind. When she told High Times that marijuana shouldn't be
with every kind of fruit tree imaginable (from persimmon to
illegal, pundits nationwide lambasted her. When she posed
avocado to grapefruit), a moss deck and giant cactuses that
with Shimizu, tabloids headlined "Hannah's Gay Lover:' But the
grow out of their pots into the ground.
media furor didn't even garner a response from Hannah. She
Though she is still undeniably a sexpot and fashion icon
remains devoted to queer causes as well as environmental
in her mid-40s, Hannah has now turned her talents to edu-
ones, with a belief that "being a humanitarian, supporting ani-
cating people about the perils of depending on foreign oil
mal rights activists, human rights activists - it's all the same."
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Curve
51
I'm interested to hear more about your
documentary about human trafficking.
Can you tell me more about it?
You've been in Southeast Asia working
on it. Can you tell me where?
was invaluable to me in shooting this doc.
For security reasons I really can't talk about
never been in a strip club. It is essential that
Basically I'm doing an extreme activist sort of
what part of the world I was in, and I still
I appear comfortable and even believable
have to go to shoot a bit more.
as a customer in these brothels or it could
show for Link TV covering the crazy things
Before Dancing at the Blue Iguana, I had
What's surprised you most about what
you've encountered so far?
be very dangerous. Many are gang-run and
the planet, and [the] ways some [people]
are ... effect[ing] a change. I felt so shel-
How extremely young and surprisingly still
How much are you affected by the
women you encounter in these projects?
we do to each other, other creatures and
tered and was so shocked to learn that
innocent these girls are.
protected, and I'm often wired.
66 percent are
Do you think most Americans are oblivious to the significant sex trafficking of
young women?
working in the sex trade, and of this num-
Absolutely! And it's all over the world, even in
really difficult to not take them all with you
ber a third to a half are under the age of
America. Four brothels were just busted in
when you walk out that door to freedom. I
there are more slaves today than [at] any
other time in human history. Of the 30 million slaves worldwide,
18, with little hope for freedom. They are
L.A. with young girls held prisoner [who
abducted from their families, homes and
were] trafficked from Mexico.
some
It's interesting that you went inside strip
clubs for your role in Blue Iguana - and
the documentary that you made about it
- and now you're going inside brothels.
How different are the two experiences?
people who try to rescue and retrieve as
My experience working in and spending time in
their countries, placed where they don't
speak the language, where drugs and sex
are forced on them, and they're brainwashed to believe that they must pay off
an intangible
debt. I'm following
many as possible.
52 APRIL 2006
the clubs for my documentary Strip Notes
I'm affected by them very deeply. As a matter of
fact, I had nightmares all night last night
about some of the girls I met this trip. It's
can't stop thinking and worrying about them.
Does the documentary have a working
title? When will we get to see it?
Night Fright. That's what it is called when you
go out looking for the girls to retrieve.
You've become such an inspiring activist something rare for a Hollywood star. Are
you feeling more committed to environmental activism now than your film work?
VI
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Hopefully I'm committed to whatever I'm doing
a hard transition to make?
at the moment, whether it's a role, environ-
I've been using biodiesel for almost six years. It
mental or humanitarian work. However, I've
wasn't hard to transition. All I had to do is
also just recently realized ways to use my
get rid of my gas guzzlers and get a diesel
vehicle. I got an '83 diesel El Camino.
voice and experience in film to explore substantial issues.
Do you think that being a movie star
helps or hinders your ability to make
changes in the world?
I wasn't aware of any brouhaha.
A lot of people wanted to know if it
meant anything. What did it mean to
you?
Jenny's the best, funniest, funnest friend.
Biodiesel is just part of an answer to abate
She asked me to do the cover with her,
our dependence on fossil fuels.
and I'm programmed to do almost any-
You're 45, living alone in an eco-friendly
solar-powered house, driving an El
Camino on biodiesel fuels and traversing
You've been in a lot of high-profile relationships with men. Have you ever been
Sometimes I get the sense that people
are over the environment, like that was
yesterday's cause. How do we keep people motivated? Why is it still important?
the world to stop sex trafficking. Is this
the life you expected for yourself when
you were 20? How is it different?
Just my mom, whom I thought I would marry
when I was 5.
It's only the life blood of every organism existing. . . . We are so lucky to exist in this
because I could never picture my life at 45,
No idea; I don't really think about it.
thing she asks.
"I've
also
justrecently
realized
ways
touse
myvoice
and
experience
in
issues:'
filmtoexplore
substantial
exact time in the history of the universe
where our planet's balance is just perfect
to sustain life.
You're really behind biodiesel fuels, too.
When did you start using biodiesel? Is it
You know, I always thought I would die young
but the one thing I really did imagine was
that I would have a family of my own.
A few years ago you posed in a photo in
Out magazine with lesbian model Jenny
Shimizu. Were you surprised by all the
media attention it got?
in love with a woman?
In addition to your filmmaking and
activism, what other plans do you have
for 2006?
I have big hopes but no plans. I have a really
fun board game out that I created with
Hilary Shepard - my best friend since we
were 16 - called LI Ebrary. You can get it
online at LIEbrary.com.
thellife.com
•11M COMES
MCI IOBJE##YPI Thehottest,
fastest
growing
lesbian
hangoutonline!
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FanFiction
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Creative
Writing- postyourpoems,plays,books
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authorinterviews
Dating- lesbianonlydatingservice!nomen!
Marketplace
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moviesfor FREE!
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nofees!
Curve
53
>> By
Malinda
Lo and Diane
Anderson-Minshall
The TablesHave Turned
TWENTY-FIVE
YEARS
AGO,
WHEN
LILY TOMLIN
AND
Dolly Parton cracked us up in their corporate (and closeted feminist)
comedy 9 to 5, the idea of a lesbian romantic comedy in which a
woman leaves her man for a hot chick was nothing but a daydream.
But in 2006, not only do lesbians triumph on the big screen and on the
boob tube, we tackle the social system with a new spin on Robin Hood.
Imagine Me & You (BBC Films)
In the cheesy, feel-good tradition of romantic comedies named after
love songs, the British film Imagine Me & You offers not only a
tried-and-true meet-cute scenario (bride meets true love/soul mate at
her own wedding) but a queer twist. Yes, this is a lesbian romantic
comedy about a super cute (straight) bride, Rachel (Piper Perabo,
who formerly starred in the lesbian schoolgirl drama Lost and
Delirious), who falls for her own wedding florist, the sexy Luce
(Lena Headey). Though their initial meeting is a bit contrived involving much fishing around for a wedding ring in a vat of punch
- Perabo and Headey do have a believable chemistry, and when
they are on-screen together they truly seem to be having a good
time. What sets Imagine Me & You apart is the fact that it's a British
romantic comedy, and it clearly mines the fertile English ground of
Four Weddings and a Funeral. Though the
film centers on Rachel and Luce, the male
supporting characters are particularly funny,
with Rachel's father, played by Anthony
Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), stealing
the show with his sarcastic, slightly dour
delivery. No, this film is no Brokeback
Mountain, but then again, that means it has
a happy ending. If a British accent turns you
on and watching beautiful women fall in
love with each other brings a smile to your
face, this movie is sure to become one of
your faves. (foxsearchlight.com)
between the haves and have-nots - not unlike our own lives Robin (played pitch perfect by newcomer Khahtee V. Turner), an
African-American social worker and single mom who struggles to
keep things together within the confines of the social system to
Robin's Hood (Wolfe)
Just in time for tax season comes one of the
most engaging lesbian films that you've never
seen, now finally on DVD. In a political climate characterized by a broadening gap
Brokeback Mountain (Focus
Features): With a headlining trio
consisting of the famously talented
Ang Lee, Heath Ledger and Jake
Gyllenhall, it's no wonder
Brokeback Mountain is causing a
splash in the predominately
straight waters of the entertainment industry. Annie Proulx's
54 APRIL 2006
award-winning love story about
stars fall in love - and lust - with
may be distracting, the real heart
Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist
each other is not the average
of the story lies in the sacrifices
never shies away from its subject
movie-going experience.
these two men must make
matter and forces the audience to Along with stunning shots of the
because society cannot accept
be engulfed in the same passion
their love for each other.
Alberta, Canada, locations where
that blooms between these two
By making their love the most
the film was shot, Lee doesn't
cowboys. This may be nothing
hesitate to show the boys kissing,
important aspect of the story,
new to art-house indie film lovers,
Golden Globe-winning
screwing and - dare I say it Brokeback Mountain forces the
but seeing two young A-list movie
cuddling. Though the love scenes
which she's dedicated herself. When she
decides to take matters into her own hands,
Robin meets a French butch thief named
Brooklyn (the lovely-to-look-at Clody
Cates) who helps her subvert the classic
myth of Robin Hood in a more homo hiphop hood. Raw, charming but gritty and
never visually excessive, director Sara
Millman's Robin's Hood offers a portrait of
lesbian women as we rarely see them. If this
was The L Word, Robin would be Bette's
impoverished, long-lost ghetto cousin, tackling social ills rather than negotiating the
closet, the bedroom or frivolities like "bush
confidence." (wolfevideo.com)
Butchby anyOtherName
By Amy Silverman
Yes, it's true: Skyler Cooper has really
big muscles. Now that we've gotten
that out of the way, we can get on to
her acting. Last year, Cooper portrayed Othello as a woman in Impact
Theater's San Francisco production of
the Shakespeare play, and critics were
amazed at her ability to completely
inhabit the role. She managed to
squeeze us into her busy schedule of
acting and working as a personal
trainer to talk a bout why she has no
plans to play it straight.
Nine to Five: Sexist, Egotistical, Lying,
Hypocritical, Bigot Edition (Fox)
The quintessential feminist workplace comedy starring Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and
Jane Fonda has aged well, and now that it's
on DVD, a whole new generation of girls
(or is it grrls?) can witness this spectacle of
an '80s business ethos that gave birth to a
legion of women-climbing-the-corporateladder comedies. In the now 25-year-old
flick, Tomlin is the office manager, Fonda
the newest employee and Parton the secretary of an egotistical bigot of a boss. When
an inadvertent accident gives the women
control of the office, they go wild with
their feminist fantasy, instituting a host of
popular office changes (day care, job sharing) and offering up plenty of incisive
social commentary about power, class and
sexism along the way. The DVD has plenty
of great bonus features including commentaries by Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily
Tomlin and producer Bruce Gilbert; a Nine
at 25 featurette with new interviews with
Fonda, Parton and Tomlin; 10 deleted
scenes; a gag reel; and a karaoke feature
called Singing Nine to Five. (fox.com)
audience to venture past
stereotypes and into their own
hearts to understand the love
between Jack and Ennis, while
loathing a world in which they
can't be together.
(brokebackmountain.com)
The Chronicles of Narnia
(Disney): Youthful fantasies fill
What led you to acting?
It was around that time that Boys Don't Cry
came out ... and I thought, "Why the hell
Desdemona's love balances who he was,
because this woman really loved him for
is a straight woman playing a gay
woman? Straight women play straight
everything he was and not just what he
could do.
women. Why can't gay women play gay
women?" We have a depth that I think
we could bring to it that straight women I
have yet to see [bring].
What other roles do you want to take
on? It seems like you want to seek out
parts that are lesbian.
No, not just lesbian. I want to do parts that
Is Othello gay in this interpretation of
the play?
I can do well; for instance, I could have
played the boxer in Million Dollar
Baby. The character's se)(uality didn't
Well, I am a gay woman. But Desdemona is
not. I'm her first. And Othello was her
even come into play at all. So there's
first black man, so all of the text was
there to support the character. It was
material out there like that, that I want
to approach.
there. If you just change "he" to "she,"
you'd be surprised .... Mostly we kept
the text the same.
As an actor, absolutely. I will not go under-
Is it important to you to be out?
ground because going underground does
nothing for the community. I wouldn't do a
What do you and Othello have in
common?
I know what it's like to have a skill that peo-
part that I felt ashamed about. ... If I'm
going to act, I'm going to be out.
ple need and respect and yet still not fit
in.... I understand his feeling of needing
to be loved, and I think that on some level
For more of our interview with Skyler
Cooper, visit curvemag.com.
the senses as The Chronicles
of Narnia comes to life for the
first time on the big screen.
Fans of the novel give it mixed
reviews, and some critics call it
religious propaganda, but few
lesbians can deny the lure and
cold beauty of striking Tilda
Swinton's White Witch.
(narnia.com)
Mrs. Henderson Presents
(Weinstein Company): Based
on a true story, Mrs. Henderson
Presents tells the plight of a
quirky widowed aristocrat (portrayed expertly by Dame Judi
Dench) trying to open and run
a nude review in London during
World War II. The naked ladies,
saucy aristocrats and historical
feminist content more than justify a rental, but it's the amazing
actors, such as Dench and Bob
Hoskins, that make Henderson
a movie worth owning.
(mrshendersonthemovie.com)
- Lauren Marie Fleming
Curve
55
Inside the Lesbian Family
FAMILIES
>> By
Rachel
Pepper
WE CHOOSE ARE JUST AS RIFE WITH DRAMA
as families we are born into, and two recently issued books reveal
the struggles and compromises that are inherent in today's untraditional family structures. Stacey D'Erasmo's novel A Seahorse Year
tells the story of a family that happens to include lesbian mothers,
while Con( essions of the Other Mother brings us inside the hearts
and minds of the lesbian partners of women who have given birth.
A Seahorse Year, Stacey D'Erasmo (Mariner)
Did you miss Stacey D'Erasmo's Lambda Award-winning novel, A
Seahorse Year, when it was first published back in 2004? If so, with
its recent release in paperback, there's
~~----"""..............
now no excuse for not picking up this
~::::-~-====::
..,_...,__.,.__....,._A___,_
exceptional novel. A Seahorse Year is
that rare book - a beautifully written
STACEY D'ERA MO
and sophisticated novel by a lesbian
A
author that includes gay characters but
transcends the boundaries of what we
sometimes consider lesbian fiction. It's
the story of a family living in San
Francisco - gay father Hal, biological
mother Nan, her partner of seven years,
Marina, and the 16-year-old boy at the
book's heart, their son Christopher. As
Christopher descends into schizophrenia, those around him - including his
parents and girlfriend Tamara - must
CONFESSIONS
come to terms with his condition, and
of the
with their relationship to him and to
each other.
I was particularly impressed with
the author's handling of the delicate
trio that the biological parents form
with the mother's live-in partner, a portrayal that is quite a rarity in our community's literature. It's hard enough to
find fiction representing lesbian families; the fact that this book portrays
Ell/TEP6Y NAfttY/tAlltEY
one such family without overt
............ ,11,J... .......
..._...trdc-......-.•
- UltAIUH
STROUt
-
IN BOOKSTORES
NOW:
It Stops With Me: Memoir of a
Canuck Girl, Charleen
Touchette (TouchArt Books):
Leaving behind her chaotic
Catholic family at age 1 7,
Touchette found herself melding the Jewish culture of her
lover with her own French
Canadian-Matis heritage. When
56 APRIL 2006
she contracts a strange illness,
she is forced to take an insightful look at her past and what
that can mean for her future.
With her eloquent words, it's
easy to relate to Touchette's
account of her life as a minority.
(touchart.net)
Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in
a Fragmented Land, Janisse
sentimentality and with parenting thorns intact is a welcome event.
My only critique would be the fact that Nan gets pregnant on her
first attempt and, annoyingly, is said to "know" she'll get pregnant
that first time - something that is not possible for anyone to
"know," as much as any woman hopes or believes is the case.
The lovely City by the Bay also takes its rightful place in the story,
and D'Erasmo gets her details just right. San Francisco is a town
"built by runaways," says Hal, and the fog, the native plants, the
East Bay's artists lofts, the Mission District's lively coffeehouses even the house purchased cheaply by Hal from a gang of Hell's
Angels that is now worth a fortune - all are sketched by someone
In the Stacks. . . continued
onpage64
Ray (Chelsea Green): Pinhook is
how bits and pieces of a landa watershed, an important
scape can make a person whole.
(chelseagreen.com) - Lauren
swampland habitat for a variety
Marie Fleming
of species, some you cannot find
Reading Women: Literary
anywhere else. Ray takes the
Figures and Cultural Icons
reader to the heart of Pinhook by
From the Victorian Age to
using stories told from varying
the Present, Janet Badia and
perspectives including a frog, an
Jennifer Phegley (University of
old man and herself. In an often
Toronto Press): Reading
poetic writing style, Ray shows
By Jodi Helmer
~ioda
Wa~mer
Faithfulto a Dream
LINDA WAGNER SPENT FOUR YEARS
writing Faithful to My Heart, a novel about
a lesbian cruise that turns into a quest for
survival when passengers are stranded on a
deserted island. The novel is a first for
Wagner, 45, who works as a juvenile justice
researcher in Eugene, Ore. Wagner, who
self-published the novel in 2005, recently
shared her thoughts about the plot, the creative process and her next project.
Where did the idea for the story come
from?
I started with a skeleton idea to write a novel
about the ways that women connect to
each other. I knew that I wanted to write a
publisher, but it seemed limiting - and it
story about a woman in her early 40s find-
can take forever for your book to get into
ing her voice, but the actual plot did not
print - so self-publishing seemed to be
reveal itself to me until I started writing.
the best option.
How long did it take you to write
Faithful to My Heart, and how did you fit
it into your schedule?
It took me four years to write the book. I
What are you working on now?
I am writing another novel, but I am not ready
to give out a lot of details just yet. I will
say that it has elements of science fiction.
squeezed in time to write whenever I
I am hoping to complete the entire book
could - mostly after work and late at
within a year.
Why did you decide to self-publish?
In the book, the women from the cruise
ship are stranded on an island. If you
were stranded on an island, what would
you want to have with you?
I was not even considering publishing the
I would definitely want to have something
night. It took a lot of dedication, but writing is my passion and it was really important to me to write this book.
book while I was writing it, but once it
to write with. I would also want to have
was finished I knew I wanted to give it a
a recipe for fermenting
wider audience. I researched traditional
could have a cocktail
coconuts
so I
every now and
publishing and I had some interest from a
Women provides a close
study of the evolution of
the woman reader by
examining a range of
media including Victorian
paintings, Oprah Winfrey's
book club and the writings
of Charlotte Bronte,
Harriet Beecher Stowe
and Zora Neale Hurston.
Not recommended as light
reading, this book looks at
the role that women readers have played in the formation of literary history.
(utpress.utoronto.ca) Janel M. Lynch
The Buckskin Skirt Oar
Traveler, Sage
Sweetwater (Author
House): Told through the
spirit of the loon, Buckskin
is a lesbian fairytale set
amid the forests of Lac du
Flambeau in Wisconsin,
where a feminist tribe is trying to start a new culture
through their children.
(a uthorhouse. com)
- Diane Anderson-Minshall
Curve
57
Uppity-Women
THOUGH
AN ARGUMENT
COULD BE
made that there's a continuum of distinctly
African-American-rooted genres of music
represented in this month's column (from
blues to soul to rap), the more obvious theme
between the sassy blues of Saffire: The Uppity
Blues Women, the confessional R&B/hip-hop
of Mary J. Blige and the defiant, scrappy,
grime-style rap of U.K. sensation Lady
Sovereign is that of bold, independent women
excelling in particularly male-dominated genres of the music industry.
Deluxe Edition, Saffire: The Uppity Blues
Women (Alligator)
If you missed the Saffire chapter of your
Women's Music 101 class, here's your chance
to get caught up. This must-have Deluxe
Edition retrospective includes 20 of their
saucy originals and definitive covers, culled
from the groundbreaking group's seven
albums since their debut on the Alligator
label in 1990. Formed in Fredericksburg, Va.,
in 1984, the middle-aged trio of Ann Rabson,
Gaye Adegbalola (who later came out as
>> By
queer) and Earlene Lewis - Andra Faye
later replaced Lewis in 1992 - instantly
wowed mainstream, blues and
music critics and audiences
alike with their raucous,
decidedly feminist honkytonk blues that updated the
long tradition of badass
female blues singers like Ma
Rainey, Bessie Smith and
Memphis Minnie. Tracks
like "Middle Aged Blues
Boogie," "Bitch With a Bad
Attitude"
and
"Silver
Beaver" perfectly exemplify
their wicked humor and
unabashed bawdiness, while
their
interpretations
of
"T'ain't Nobody's Business"
and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?"
pay homage to tamer, more traditional
women's blues. Check the group's Web site
for tour dates and catch them live if you
can - you won't be disappointed.
(uppityblueswomen.com)
The Breakthrough, Mary J.
Blige (Geffen)
This aptly titled seventh studio
release from the queen of hiphop and soul pleasantly showcases the new, more mature
and dare we say happy side of
the once angry, drama-weary
diva. Since coming onto the scene
in 1992, Blige's musical marriage
of soulful R&B and rap has
become the benchmark to which
Otbtn Licks
ON. CD:
Face Time With Son, New
The L Word: Season 3
England Roses (DoggPony):
Soundtrack (Silver Label/Tommy
Le Tigre's JD Sampson does
Boy): The 24-track, two-disc set
filled with lesbian favorites like
Tegan and Sara, Sleater-Kinney,
BETTYand the Gossip will keep
the latest season of the hit dyke
soap opera alive long beyond its
January to May playdates.
(/wordonline.com)
58 APRIL 2006
sparse indie pop with college
friends Sarah Shapiro and
Brendan Fowler, including covers of George Michael, Tracy
Chapman and Dave Matthews.
(dnp006.com)
Trouble From the Start, Lisa
Moscatiello (Machine Heart): A
Margaret
Coble
Romantic Energy,1welve Glrla Band
(Domo):Normally,I eschewany CO with
the word •energy"in the title, but I make
great exceptionfor TwelveGirls Band, a
charmingglobalgirlgroupfromChinathat
hasalreadysold 2 minionrecordswiththeir
Eaat-meets-Westinstrumentalstyle. This
sweeping two-disc CD/DVD combines
everythingfrom Chinesefolk and orches·
trated Celtic to old school Eastern
Europeanmelody.Gives new meaningto
•rockthe classics~(domo.com) - Dlllne
Andersoa-ltllMha/1
all others in the genre have aspired, and this
new 16-track set proves she's still at the top
of her game, with lead-off single "Be
Without You" already a hit and the cut
frequent vocal collaborator with
rary tattooed-and-whiskey-soaked
D.C:s techno-dyke wizard Arthur
blender, then this gritty, bad girlLoves Plastic (aka Bev Stanton),
fronted quartet from the motor
this out lesbian vocalist draws on
city will rock your socks off.
(b/oodshotrecords. com)
folk, jazz and pop to create her
own "acid cabaret" sound.
Take a Good Look, Alyson (PM
(/isamoscatiel/o.com)
Media): Finally, the debut fullBaby, The Detroit Cobras
lengther from the Los Angeles(Bloodshot): If you like your oldbased DIY dance music diva,
featuring three Billboard Top 10
school soul and R&B-rooted rockand-roll run through a contempohits and remixes by superstar DJs
Stilla Bitch
By Karen Loftus
"Can't Hide From Luv" (featuring Jay-Z)
generating early buzz. Lyrical honesty about
her painful past and emotional present has
been her hallmark, too, and autobiographical tracks like "Take Me as I Am" summarize
her current self-assured, no-bullshit attitude.
"Good Woman Down" offers her own life
experience as inspiration for other women,
and the Bono duet on the U2 ballad "One" is
similarly uplifting. Blige even steps out as a
rapper herself for the first time via the alias
"Brook" on "Enough Cryin"' and "Gonna
Breakthrough" (and not surprisingly, she's
fierce). Be on the lookout for a world tour
that kicks off this May. (mjblige.com)
MusicWatch. . . continued
onpage64
WITH A NEW NAME (CAPITAL B),
a new film (John Cameron Mitchell's
Shortbus) and a new album (Make
this/Break this), Bitch is about to
reveal more of herself than ever before.
Formerly with the political-folk band
Bitch and Animal, Capital B has long
been known for her aggressive, inyour-face feminist lyrics, including the
legendary "Pussy Manifesto." Bitch
and Animal's third album, Sour Juice
and Rhyme,
released
on Ani
DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records,
was nominated for a GLAAD award
alongside Rufus Wainwright, Peaches
and Meshell Ndegeocello. I recently
caught up with Capital B and chatted
with her about the changes in her life
and her new solo release.
What made you go solo as Capital B?
My old band wasn't fulfilling me anymore.
just wanted to keep doing what I do, making songs, writing poetry and having
Two of my heroines! Ani he_ardour freaky
demo about feminist politics, dildos,
grandiose ideas about movies I want to
make. So I did.
Oprah and pussy and put us in front of
thousands of people because she wanted
How is Capital B different from Bitch,
and what can we expect on Make
this/Break this?
our message to be heard. Ani's art and
I am not changing my name, just adding a
new one. Bitch is still me, and always will
good, I'm shocked it's not played all over
radio. Like revolutionary stuff in the same
be. This album is like opening up one of
my diaries. There's a sonic gentleness
that I've never captured on record
rebellious vein as Green Day. I wonder if
she went incognito about her gender and
before. And a confidence that comes
from that holy-shit-what-the-hell-am+
m
..J
<
IQ.
<
..J
I-
""
0
Q.
0
U.I
cc
0
""
Ralphi Rosario and Hex Hector.
(alysonmusic.com)
The Sound of You and Me,
Garrison Starr (Vanguard): The
out dyke Mississippi native's fifth
studio effort is her most solid
yet, an 11-track, soul-baring
roots-folk collection kicked off by
the radio-friendly "Pendulum:'
(garrisonstarr. com)
Otherlicks ...
continued
onpage
64
like working and touring with Ani
Difranco and Amy Ray?
doing place when you are going through
major change.
What are the benefits of going indie
versus commercial?
righteousness played a huge role in my
liberation. Amy's solo stuff is so amazingly
her dyke-ness if that would happen. Of
course I know the answer.
What's next?
I'm in John Cameron Mitchell's [Hedwig and
the Angry Inch] new film, Shortbus,
where I play myself. JD [from Le Tigre]
I'm not surrounded by a bunch of suits talking
and Daniela [Sea, of The L Word] are
also in it. I'm collaborating with Daniela,
about crunching numbers and looking at
me like I'm just a piece of Profit Ass
instead of the Prophet-Ess that I am.
my girlfriend, on a project called The
Exciting Conclusion, a music and film
experience.
You've collaborated and worked with
some incredible women. What was it
For more on Capital B, visit bitchmusic.com.
Curve
59
>> By
Michele
Fisher
Breakingup Is Hard to Do
CONSIDER
THIS
SITUATION:
YOU
want to take your date home with you, but
there is already someone in your bed. Your
ex-lover has been in your bed, sleeping with
you - yes, just sleeping - for several
months now. You don't know when she is
leaving; in fact, you have never asked. You
knew that this day would come, but you did
not expect it tonight.
You have a revolutionary thought: Maybe
you can go to your date's place instead. But
she sheepishly admits that she is crashed with
her ex, too. You discuss going to a hotel, but
both acknowledge that your ex-lovers would
"worry" if you didn't come home.
Maybe tomorrow, after you and your ex
finish grocery shopping, you can discuss new
living arrangements. Or perhaps you should
wait until after your yoga class when she
might be in a more Zen state of mind. You
really should do it before you two go to
Disneyland next month.
Or maybe you should just quit going shopping, to yoga and on vacation with your ex.
Believe me, I am not judging you. I wrote
this column on the inability to separate from
ex-lovers - which, I might add, you are
now reading.
A decade and a half ago, when my credit
was deservedly wretched, a girlfriend opened
a credit card account and put me on as a second so I could feel the thrill of spending not
just every penny I made but several dollars
that I never would. I carried that card around
even after I had better credit. A subsequent
lover admonished me for being unable to let
go of the past, but it was the $20,000 credit
limit that was hard to let go of. I liked knowing that if some emergency happened - like
I needed to buy a new car or bribe a public
official - I had the funds to make it happen.
I never used the card after the breakup, but I
liked knowing that it (and she) was there if I
needed it (or her). I guess that's bad.
But before you judge me, you think that's
bad only because you haven't gotten to the
part where I stayed married to a woman for
years after we had broken up. If you want to
peg out the drama-meter, just try telling a
new girlfriend that you are married to an old
girlfriend and intend to stay that way. Good
health insurance and mutual funds cannot
just be tossed away. Several women I became
60 APRIL 2006
involved with thought this concept unacceptable and appalling, but not until they
had tired of pretending they were OK with it
and tried, in vain, to steer me toward
divorce court. I guess you could say that my
marriage broke up my relationships.
Eventually, my "wife" met her next husband, I metthe love of my life, and we gladly
traded our old vows in for shiny new ones.
But if you think staying hitched to an
ex for years is bad, try taking in an old
girlfriend's badass cat. I am not a cat person, as regular readers know. If I had to
pick a pet, it would be a koi fish. They live
forever, don't poo on the rug and don't
shed, but alas, apartments with ponds are
scarce in San Francisco.
After a particularly rancorous breakup
with a she-devil who became the standard by
which all bad female behavior would be
judged thereafter, I found myself living with
her cat. This cat had picked up everything it
knew from its owner. It yowled endlessly,
demanded attention by clawing at my legs
and sinking its teeth into any bit of exposed
flesh, and it ate until it threw up. I never
agreed to take in the cat, but this woman felt
that it was my duty to watch her hellcat
while she staggered around town telling
everybody how she had been done wrong by
me. A few days into this foolishness, I called
her and told her in no uncertain terms that I
was leaving town. She reluctantly picked up
the cat, but not the carpet it had barfed on
or the box of turds it had squeezed out.
But at least the cat couldn't strangle me in
my sleep.
One of my friends got stuck with a snake
after a breakup. She and Monty (the python)
were no more compatible than she had been
with his mother, but somehow she ended up
with Monty's aquarium in her den. She had
a snake phobia and became quite promiscuous because she was afraid to go home to
Monty. We finally convinced her to call
Monty's mother and insist that she take him
back home. Monty's owner refused to take
him back, explaining that her new girlfriend
didn't like snakes. I suggested my friend call
her ex back and ask her whether she fancied
a belt or a wallet. Ultimately, Monty ended
up in the reptile house at a zoo. I was going
to take him, but my ex had already picked
up the cat, so there was no need.
Some people inherit art and other treasures
TheClothes...
after a split, but I always get stuck with junk
that my exes will not or cannot take with
them. The latter was the way I was saddled
with a table as big as Wyoming. And it wasn't
a nice table either. It was a 2-inch thick piece
of lumber, 6 feet wide and 15 feet long with
lead pipe legs that screwed into iron fittings. It
was as ugly as it was large, and when she left
without it, I almost gave her the tears she had
longed to see for weeks.
The table and I cohabitated for a long
time, each of us with our own half of my
apartment until, finally, a construction project was started on my block and I begged
one of the workers to let me dump my
"table" among the construction rubble. As
five friends and I wrestled the monstrosity
out of my apartment and down the block, I
promised myself not to let big furniture into
my life again.
Which is why when you call it quits, it is
best not to leave anything behind. Even
more importantly, don't let her leave so
much as a button at your place. "Picking up
stuff" or "dropping off stuff" is how bad
things happen after a breakup. Usually the
more-injured party wants another chance to
salvage the relationship and thus latches on
to the idea of returning or retrieving items
left behind. She arrives with reconciliation
on her mind, and when that doesn't happen,
she ends up feeling stupid and depressed,
freaks out and treats your neighbors to front
row seats at the dyke drama of the week.
Do a big sweep after every breakup. Be
like the Grinch: Don't leave even a crumb
too small for a mouse. If an ex calls with
news of exchanges or returns, have a friend
handle the transaction for you.
That is, unless you left a bag of money
behind. ·Once, I was a baby dyke waitress in
San Francisco, and my roommate was an
aspiring crank addict. I was saving my tips
to move into a new place, but obviously I
couldn't keep the money in my apartment
DykeDrama... continued
onpage64
continued
frompage31
"I was the spiky-haired city dyke in black with the digital camera
around my neck walking amongst the sea of young, drunk, hetero college
kids getting their freak on in sand, snow and sun;' she remembers.
However, it's precisely those drunk, hetero college kids whom dykes
around the world should be thanking. During her years spent designing
mass retailer suburban clothing, Parnian noticed just how many of her
fashions were being worn by lesbians rather than the young men they
were ostensibly made for.
"I got a thrill out of watching women reinterpret these items of mainstream men's clothing for their gender, lifestyle, and as a way to help
mark or identify them as queer or butch or genderqueer;' she says.
The final kick in the bucket occurred one fateful day in the summer of
2004 as Parnian perused the craft fair at the Michigan Womyn's Music
Festival, watching women hawk lesbian products and services to fellow
lezzies.
"It was like a math equation;' she says. "Knowledge of masculine
design plus dykes complaining about lack of fashion relevant for their
aesthetic/lifestyle plus quitting [the] corporate fashion world equals
starting Rigged OUT/fitters:'
Parnian cobbled together an impromptu line that was consistent with
vintage cowboy shirts, zip jackets with chest patches, boy-cut graphic
tees with "Outlaw" or "Tomkat's Pussy Shack" silk-screened on the front.
The recycled, one-of-a-kind pieces seem worn-in, unfinished. And for
Parnian, that sentiment is deliberate, even symbolic: "I like the raw, true
sense of things. I'm not into polished or highly refined aesthetics but a
play between new and old, history and the future, possibilities and borders to be crossed and walls to be broken:' After all, she points out,
Brooklyn hipster dykes were sporting "that white trash 'dirt fag' look"
long before Hollywood celebrities began making the front pages of Us
Weekly in Salvation Army duds.
Even without a brick-and-mortar storefront, Rigged has slowly gained
momentum over the past few years. In fact, Cynthia Summers, costume
designer for The L Word, recently contacted Parnian to discuss including Rigged clothing on the hit show. With show creator Ilene Chaiken's
blessing, Shane, Moira and Carmen will all be wearing Rigged pieces in
the upcoming season, and the waitstaff and chef of L Word hangout The
Planet will be rocking Rigged's signature swallow bird on their uniforms.
Breaking stereotypical "lesbian fashion" categories is still an uphill
battle, but progress seems to be slow and steady.
her idea of the way people ought to dress, and Rigged fashions quickly
became noted for their strong androgynous design. Rigged's first collection was modeled after stereotypically macho yet homoerotic figures
"Can you imagine if I tried to pitch my clothing line to a bunch of financial investors? This is the last market anybody would be willing to take a
risk with," Parnian says. "But I am invested in at least giving it a shot and
doing it with a bang:'
- sailors, pirates, cowboys, boxers - who are glorified for their sexy,
rebellious appeal. This translated into feminine cuts of masculine wear:
Visit Rigged OUT/fitters at riggedoutfit.com.
Curve
61
>> By
Victoria
A. Brownworth
FightingRape on Campus
THERE'S AN OLD SAYING THAT
in springtime a young man's
thoughts turn to love. But this is a
lesbian magazine - so who cares?
I do and so should you: Love is a
euphemism for sex, arid sex between
men and women is not always consensual. Sometimes sex is rape.
According to the FBI and
Department of Justice, rape is the
most common violent crime after
domestic violence. A rape occurs in
the United States every two minutes,
and though 1.5 million women
report being raped each year, the
DOJ states that only 39 percent of all rapes
are reported. While rapes occur all year
long, rapes on college campuses increase
exponentially in the spring.
The DO J reports that fully 80 percent of
rape victims -are under 30, and that 25 percent of college students have reported being
raped. College rapes are the most likely to be
perpetrated by a man identified as either the
victim's boyfriend (35 percent) or an
acquaintance (75 percent). Given the high
incidence of acquaintance rapes, lesbians on
college campuses are as likely to be victims
as their straight counterparts. Male friends
are as likely to rape as boyfriends.
The fact that such a high percentage of
rapes occurs at the hands of someone known
to the victim makes protecting oneself against
rape all the harder and prosecuting rapists
immensely difficult. On college campuses, 85
percent of women who report being raped
knew their attacker. But the statistics indicate
that when it comes to college rapes, women
are even less likely to report the crime: only
10 percent do. Many young men on college
campuses, as well as many young men on
the streets of America, view sexual assault
on women as not so much a crime as a difference of opinion.
Any man can become a rapist; the average rapist is just that: average. He's not a
sociopath, he's not stalking dark alleys
naked in a trench coat, he's not a serial perp
like guys on CSI or Law & Order.
According to FBI and DOJ statistics, most
rapists are the boy or man next door, men so
ordinary that women don't think twice
about being in their company.
62 APRIL 2006
In addition, particular circumstances can
turn men into rapists. Men are more likely
to rape when they are drunk - 54 percent
of rapes involve alcohol. Young men are
more likely to rape at parties or after a date.
Rapists are also frequently young: More
than 60 percent of rapes are committed by
men under 30.
These facts all conspire against the rape
victim, who rarely receives justice. According
to the FBI, out of all rapes reported, only one
in three is actually prosecuted and only one
in 10 results in conviction. Which leaves a lot
of rapists on the street to perpetrate what is,
according to the DOJ, one of the most
recidivist crimes. DOJ stats show 85 percent
of men did not believe the rapes they committed were actual crimes.
Last spring a couple of basketball players
at a Philadelphia university were charged
with raping a female basketball player at the
same school. The young woman told police
the men raped and sodomized her at a party.
She admitted she had consumed at least nine
drinks, which made her extraordinarily
intoxicated (and thus legally unable to give
consent). She also said the rapes occurred as
she was vomiting into a sink.
The players were tried and acquitted. The
judge deemed the sexual encounter consensual, despite the victim's testimony that it was
not, because the young woman had willingly
gone to the party. The alleged victim reported the incident immediately to campus
authorities, but it was not reported to police
until much later; campus authorities considered it an internal matter. This too weighed
against the woman at trial. The men contin-
ued to play on the basketball team.
The young woman left the school.
A recent survey of campuses
nationwide indicates that most
colleges keep data on campus
crimes hidden; the number of
rapes, for example, would be difficult to ascertain for incoming
freshman. Not knowing the percentage of rapes on a particular
college campus can also mean not
knowing how the university or
college treats rape - whether it
supports a victim or challenges
her. Does the college foster an
atmosphere where rape is considered
acceptable?
Unlike other violent crime in the United
States, rape has not declined in the past
decade, which means attitudes about rape
have not changed sufficiently for either
women or men. Women are still implicated in
their own violation - by themselves as much
as through the system. Rape, particularly of
young women and women who know their
attacker, remains a he said-she said debate
rather than a criminal act. And a woman's
sexual history and social behavior are still
considered factors in rape cases.
When I was in college 30 years ago, rape
was just coming out of the closet as a feminist
issue. But three decades later, surprisingly little
has changed, either statistically or societally,
for victims. It's time to bring rape back into the
spotlight as an issue, since so many women are
impacted by the crime. Just consider: How
many women have been raped while you read
this? Talking about rape and educating women
as well as men about what constitutes rape is
essential to reducing the number of victims
and perpetrators.
Every time a woman is forced to have sex
she doesn't want, that's rape - whether a
stranger held a gun to her head or her best
friend just kept saying, "Oh, come on, you
know you want to try it." "No" really does
mean "no." It's past time that each of us
recognized that and w~rked to eradicate
rape - on campuses, in neighborhoods, <
everywhere. The first step is education, and <co
<
that's something we can all do to help pro- ""
""
tect ourselves and other women from this
<
terrible, violating crime.
Vl
Vl
UJ
Vl
TV to TurnYou On
IMPRESS
DOES THE IDEA OF CURLING UP ON
your couch in front of a mesmerizing widescreen
flat-panel TV turn you on? Well, you're not alone.
Now that flat-screen TVs are all the rage, there are
more options than ever - and more confusion.
Here are some things to keep in mind: Plasma
screens cost less than LCDs (liquid crystal display) but have a lower picture quality. "Burn-in"
affects plasma TVs when a static image (like that
network logo hanging in the lower right corner of
the screen) is displayed for too long, but newer
technologies have greatly reduced this problem. If
you're aiming for the very tip-top of the line,
"1,080p" refers to the highest resolution HDTV
standard you can get. And if the specs don't interest you and you just want to look at some pretty
TVs, here are some of our favorites. - Malinda Lo
EVERYO
E YOU KNOW
If you're a high-tech geek and have no problern shelling out the cost equivalent to a com•
pact car for your TV, get yourself the Sony Qualia 006, a rear projection television with
:
:
a sleek, sophisticated aesthetic. Rear projection TVs once looked like huge, rectangular
black boxes that often delivered distorted or shadowed visuals, but the Qualia 006
•
employs Sony's SXRD projection system (a liquid crystal on silicon display) that elimi-
•
nates nearly all motion distortion. This is particularly important if you're watching sports
•
(we know you love to watch the game)
or action movies (whip out your copy of
•
Tomb Raider to test it out). The Qualia
006 also comes with Sony's S-Master
:
•
digital amplifier and removable left and
right speaker consoles for custom
:
•
installation, and has a screen resolution
of a whopping 1,920x1 ,080. If you buy
•
this baby, you'll never leave home
again, and not just because you proba-
:
:
bly sold your car to get it. ($13,000,
qualia.sony.us)
..
.
.....................................................................................................................
GET FUNKY
WITH THE TUBE
Ever wish your TV looked like a stuffed animal? Well, your wish has been granted by Hanspree,
which offers a line of themed flat-screen LCD televisions that appeal to the kid in all of us. Its
Fantasy line includes televisions dressed up to look like a squishy, spotted cow, an apple, a fire
truck and even a carton of french fries complete with a remote shaped like a ketchup packet. For
the sports fan, Hanspree's deals with the NBA and MLB have produced television sets shaped
like baseballs, basketballs and a special Lakers jersey. Last but not least, lovers of kitsch will
enjoy the Style line, with its retro-futuristic boqb tubes reminiscent of The Jetsons. ($400 and
up, hanspree.com)
...........................................
MOOD
.,
..................................................................
.
LIGHTING
One of the most important elements in creating a pleasurable viewing experience is lighting, and Philips offers a nifty
new way to light up your home theater with its Ambilight technology. The Philips 42PF9830A is a 42-inch flat-panel
LCD that comes with its own mood lighting system, Ambilight 2. Consisting of two
fluorescent lights mounted on the back of the panel, Ambilight reflects different colored lights off the wall behind the panel to create an ambient lighting effect to
enhance picture display. Plus, with the motorized swivel stand, you can angle it up to
30 degrees in either direction with your remote, which makes optimal viewing of the
LCD screen a lot easier. ($2,835, philips.com/simplicity)
......................................................................
BEST BANG
FOR YOUR
BUCK
If you're on a budget but yearn to own your very own plasma TV, check out
Panasonic's TH-37PX50U, a mod-looking 37-inch flat-panel with a resolution of
1,024x720. The TH-37PX50U comes with a digital cable-ready card slot so that you
don't have to use your cable company's bulky box (you just slide the card into the unit
and it disappears), and a built-in HDTV tuner so you can pick up local HDTV broadcasts. Even better, the High-Definition Multimedia Interface connector allows you to connect your peripherals with only
one cable, eliminating the messy tangle that typically comprises a home theater setup. ($2,500, panasonic.com)
Curve
63
MusicWatch. . . continued
frompage59
In the Stacks. . . continued
frompage56
Vertically Challenged, Lady Sovereign
who clearly did her research and cared
enough to get it right. Most impressively,
D'Erasmo easily gets inside all her characters' heads, even capturing what it's like as
Christopher
battles the demons that
threaten to bring heartbreak to his whole
family. If you've been looking for a wonderful lesbian-themed novel to read, put A
Seahorse Year at the top of your list.
(houghtonmifflinbooks. com/mariner)
(Chocolate Industries)
Believe the hype, because this feisty U.K. rap
upstart really is the bomb. Brash and selfaggrandizing like most of her male counterparts, Sov's got the goods to back up her
bravado, as this U.S.-debut eight-track EP
amply proves. The 19-year-old rumored-tobe-bi rapper from a North London housing
project epitomizes the U.K. grime scene,
which is a distinctively British variety of rap
derivative of U.K. garage, jungle, dancehall
and reggaeton sounds. A product of '90s
youth culture, Sov's a do-it-yourselfer who
gained popularity via Internet-released
rhymes picked up by pirate radio; eventually
a performance last summer in New York
brought her to the attention of U.S. rap king
Jay-Z, which resulted in her getting signed to
Universal Records (her album is due out this
month). Her delivery is rapid-fire and
tongue-in-cheek, and her hybrid, danceable
sound recalls British Sri Lankan female
emcee M.I.A., especially on the lead-off cut,
"Random." Beastie Boy Adrock also contributes a remix on "Little Bit of Shhh."
(ladysovereign.com)
Otherlicks .. . continued
frompage59
Change It All, Goapele (Columbia):
Conscious R&B, hip-hop and neo-soul
from the Bay area-based multi-culti
singer on her outstanding sophomore
effort, including a down-tempo collaboration with dyke producer Linda Perry
("Darker Side of the Moon").
(goapeleonline.com)
Timeless, Sergio Mendes
(Concord/Hear Music): Black Eyed
Peas' songwriter and producer will.Lam
updates the classic Brazilian pop-jazz
king's sound, merging hip-hop with
samba and bossa nova, and including
contributions from Erykah Badu, Jill
Scott, Stevie Wonder, india.arie and
more. (concordmusicgroup.com)
The Pomegranate Seed, Cosy
Sheridan (CMS): The soundtrack to
the nationally acclaimed singer-song·
writer's one-woman show about body
image, dieting and eating disorders is a
sparkling acoustic-folk journey from
beginning to end. (cosysheridan.com)
Singles and Sessions 1979-1981,
Delta 5 (Kill Rock Stars): Timeless and
decidedly feminist garage-punk from
the groundbreaking U.K. co·ed indie
band that sounds like a musical cross
between early Joy Division and con·
temporary the Gossip.
(killrockstars.com) - MC
64 APRIL 2006
Confessions of the · Other Mother:
Nonbiological Mothers Tell All, ed. Harlyn
Aizley (Beacon)
This important anthology is a good first
attempt at addressing the many issues that
nonbiological mothers have in two-mommy
families. Common themes that emerge
throughout the collection include feeling left
out during a partner's pregnancy (especially
if the nonbio mom herself had first tried
unsuccessfully to conceive); how to find
recognition as a parent (many nonbio moms
insist on always carrying the baby in public
to assert their parental status); and what to
call oneself as a nonbiological mother or
other parent. These names, which vary
depending on family status, as well as on the
gender identity of the other parent, include
lesbian father, dyke daddy, mommy or
mama, Ima, Baba or, especially in a family's
first days, simply nothing. As contributor
Shira Spector writes, "An ancient rite of passage ... has finally happened right in front of
my eyes. It has left me not a father, not a
birth mother, not even really an adoptive
mother ... I am totally transformed with no
name for myself that doesn't begin with a
lack. Consider nonbiological mother, nonbirthmom, and the other mother."
Harlyn Aizley, author of the nonfiction
book Buying Dad, which chronicles her journey with her partner, Faith, toward parenthood, is a knowledgeable editor. She has
culled some of the stand-out names in this
subset of parenting literature, dividing these
pieces into sections of nonbiological parents
partnered with a lesbian biological mom (her
partner's "Betsy Lobes Bobbies" is included
here); mothers who have been both the nonbiological moms as well as the birth mothers
of children in their families (see Casandra
McIntyre's "Two Ubermoms are Better than
One") and a third section with a lone piece by
a lesbian stepmother. Other authors included
are Suzanne M. Johnson, Judy Gold and
Nancy Abrams, who published one of the
first book-length works about the trials of
being a nonbiological mom, The Other
Mother, back in 1999. In her essay here, "Mr
Anonymous," Abrams updates us on her
relationship with her nonbiological daughter,
who is now a rebellious teenager.
Among the other pioneers in the book are
Robin Reagler, who publishes the enjoyable
blog, The Other Mother (theothermother.type
pad.com), detailing her life with her partner,
Marcia, and their photogenic daughter Pearl,
as well as Polly Pagenhart, who is writing a
book about lesbian fatherhood and supplied
one of this collection's most revealing and bestwritten essays. Pagenhart writes, "In the days
and weeks to follow the birth, though we
shared an experience, the birthparent and nonbirthparent recover from and adapt to very
different facets of it: the birthmother bore the
child, and we bore witness." Given how many
lesbians are conceiving children together, this
collection will fill a much-needed space in the
queer parenting canon. (beacon.org)
DykeDrama... continued
frompage61
where the junkies could get to it, so I used to
drop it off at my girlfriend's place and hide
it in this old briefcase I had picked up at a
thrift store.
This girlfriend was not a very good girlfriend. In fact, she was a crab-ass know-it-all
who thought everybody should be in recovery. You regular readers will know her from
previous columns as Miss Tan, due to her
five-tans-a-week booth habit. After months
of melodramatics, I finally decided to get out
of the relationship. (OK, she dumped me, but
I decided not to fight it this time.) It felt great
knowing that I would never see her again ...
until I remembered the briefcase. I had to call
her. Luckily, she thought I was using the briefcase as an excuse to get her to come over and
then beg her to stay with me, which is why
she agreed to bring it to me. When she
arrived, I left the chain on the front door and
snatched the bag through the small gap like
Carrie grabbed her victims from the grave.
I got my money, the junkie moved out, and
I got rid of Miss Tan - finally a happy ending.
Incidentally,Miss Tan was not lassoed into my
social circle after we broke up. None of my
other exes could stand her, so she had to go.
Ex-lovers and my inability to separate
from them have been the source of much of
the drama and humor in my life. Obviously,
clean breaks are not my specialty. But then
again, even after a clean break, you still have
to wear a cast.
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~E_N_:_ReasoosWe Love Dana Goldberg
COMEDIAN
DANA GOLDBERG IS
on the verge of something big. She's been
touring the country, competing in festivals
and making people laugh from here to
Scotland. Born and raised in New Mexico,
this bartender with a dream finally decided to
follow her heart, and here's why we think
she's the best thing since . . . homo milk?
- Amy Silverman
After a close
friend was killed in a plane crash, she decided
to stop wasting time and pursue the one thing
she'd been too afraid to do since winning her
high-school talent show 10 years ago: comedy.
forming, her first gig was at a fundraiser for
the Lesbians for Change Foundation, whicb
raises money for higher-education scholarships for lesbians. She has also performed at
HIV-AIDS benefits and helped to raise
money for needy children in New Mexico.
material to Olivia Cruises, she finally received
that phone call. Her persistence paid off, and
she got a gig at the Columbus Isle II Resort
(scheduled for December 2006), where
she'll perform with fellow comedians Kate
Clinton, Karen Willic1msand Jennie McNulty.
• • • She's smart,
cute and seriously funny - what more could
you ask for? Goldberg is not afraid to make
her audience think and frequently uses "call
backs;' which means she references previous
jokes later in the show. It's her way of keeping audiences on their toes.
Maybe, she theorizes, this
whole gay thing is in the milk. After all, her
brother is gay and her straight sister is
lactose-intolerant, which clearly points to
only one conclusion.
Her response to Spokane's ex-mayorJames E.
West's reluctanceto resign after getting caught
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you don't want to quit. You can't get hired
because of all the legislationyou passed!"
down comic in the nation:'
Politics are an important part of her act,
and whenever George W. Bush gives a
speech, she gets ready for some new material.
72 APRIL 2006
knot with her girlfriend. And because performers always take material from their own lives,
her wife gets the final say on whether a joke
makes it into a show. Not only does Goldberg's
wife go on the road with her whenever she can,
she's also her most trusted critic.
ideal gig would be an HBO special, and she
dreams about "knowing that I can sell out a
10,000-person auditorium:' That said, she'd
also really love a guest spot on The L Word.
(Ilene, are you reading this?)
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