"Look Out, Here They Come!" Review of Episode 2

Women in Prison: Tattooed Violent Lesbians, Oh My!

The prevailing issue for me in this episode was the representation of women in prison. First, kudos for the presentation of bodies in the shower scene. We saw a nice variation of female bodies in this scene, as opposed to the bird-like frame and accentuated rib cage that all the other characters on the L Word typically sport. It was nice to see bodies with more weight on the bones, shapely hips and thighs, sagging breasts, blemishes, subcutaneous fat. You know, the reality of many bodies in the world. And the scene was so confident and not unnecessarily apologetic for these presentations. Now, when will people with these bodies be cast as main characters? And I know, some of you are probably saying, what about Kit? Well, yes, but that's Pam Grier; enough said!

Now for the downside of the show's representation of women in prison: All the women are suggestively lesbian, scary, and tough in contrast to the dainty, wimpering Helena. Not only is this overkill of a stereotypical representation of inmates in prison in general, but it's an unfair representation of the population of women's prisons. First, not all women in prison are lesbians, obviously. Yet, when Shane walks through the corridor (episode 1), she's stopping to flirt with prisoners who are reaching out to her through the bars. Then, when Kit walks through that same corridor, we again see arms flailing through the bars for just one touch, on top of all the cat calls we hear, like "I want me some of that!" Then there's the somewhat erotic threat to Helena in the shower scene, and her consequent hookup with her cellmate, Dusty, that evening. Okay, I'll give them the cellmate hookup; it makes for a good story line, and it's plausible that Helena could end up with a lesbian cellmate, sure, because although not every woman in prison is a lesbian, some undoubtedly are. But the whole soap thing; WTF? It's not even that comical. It was funny when Alice told Helena not to drop the soap just because it played off that whole thing about anal rape in prison and it confused the sex lines by offering that advice in a women's prison, but it just went too far with the shower scene. Now, I've never been in prison, so maybe I'm wrong about this whole soap thing, but it seemed ridiculous to me. I think the intention behind the "dropping the soap" bit was to eroticize the attack on Helena, especially with the knife blade along the thigh, and with the close face to face contact. This eroticization reinforces the lesbian stereotype of women in prisons as well as contributes to an equation of male to male sexual violence with female to female sexual violence, which are two very different types of sexual violence, both in the circumstances under which they occur, and also in the actual acts that occur.

Moving on to the tough guy representation of all the women in prison (except for Helena, since she's the sharp, whiny contrast). This whole badass tough guy thing reinforces a hardened criminal stereotype, when in reality, all types of women are imprisoned. The problem with the hardened criminal is that it fails to acknowledge what various women in prison really look like, and also, it denies the reality that many women are unjustly imprisoned for crimes they did not even commit, or for self-defense "crimes." This representation also lends itself to the assumption that these women all committed some horrendous crime, like when Helena assumes Dusty killed someone, but we find out that she's in for tax fraud. Tax fraud! Yet, Dusty is portrayed with muscles, tattoos, and a don't fuck with me attitude. Why? I mean, I could easily go to prison for tax fraud (I'm not implicating myself here, but I'm just saying that it could be a very real possibility), but I'm not that scary. Well, I can be pretty tough and sometimes I frighten people when I flex my biceps, but really, Dusty is unnecessarily represented as a "hardened" prison inmate simply to perpetuate a stereotype of what people in prison look like. This is a perfect example of where the writers have the potential to use the success of this series and their position to debunk these myths rather than reinforce them, but instead, they go for sheer entertainment value. Let's see how Dusty's character continues to develop...

"He's not gay anymore" : Gender and Sexual Orientation

This is related to Jodi's interpreter's attraction to Max. When he points Max out to Alice, Bette, and Jodi, there is an obvious discomfort in the way Bette and Alice talk about Max's sexual orientation. Finally, Alice says, "He's not gay anymore . . . he used to be a lesbian." Then Bette explains, "He's a trans man." The interpreter's (who has yet to be named, I think) reply: wide eyed "Oh my god, I had no idea." End of scene. Hmm . . . a LOT going on here for such a short scene. Questions of how we link gender to sexual orientation. Does it necessarily have to be linked? Well, no, but does it make sense to do so sometimes? I'm not sure, maybe. What does it mean for a continuum of gender expression and sexuality? To what extent does one really stop being "gay" or a "lesbian" and start being something else? Do these temporal boundaries around identity really exist? As I understand in the description of episode 3, something could potentially develop with the interpreter, so I hope in the exploration in that relationship, there is some discursive development around these questions. This could be reflected in Max's "pondering" of the "mutual attraction" to the interpreter as well as in Max's interactions with Alice. I just hope, again, that the writers didn't follow their usual trend of raise an issue and drop it with no resolution.

Three Sexual Excursions at One Wedding and No Safer Sex!

Okay, so, yeah right! Shane does hair at Tina's boss' daughter's wedding and ends up sleeping with the bride's two sisters (separately), nearly seduces the bride, but exercises some tact, and then sleeps with the bride's mother. A big whatever on that one, but I just have to say, fucking three different women in one day at one event without any safer sex methods really calls for an STI test. Of course, I don't count on that happening on the L Word, so looking ahead, episode 3's description suggests Shane's new commitment to celibacy. I'm willing to give the writers the benefit of the doubt (why, I don't know), but I suspect that I will be ripping that whole idea to shreds. My predictions: a trivialization of what it means to commit to celibacy, a tragi-comical representation of a hyper energized Shane, who suddenly doesn't know what to do with herself without sex being so present in her life, which I think will result in a detrimental effect on asexuality because it will cast a non-normative light on a lifestyle devoid of sex. These are predictions, mind you; I could be entirely wrong. In fact, I would be happy if my predictions are wrong, and there is actually something praiseworthy and positive to say about about the representation of celibacy (which, I might note is very different than asexuality, but I see the connection in the normative representation of the centrality of sex to the human lifestyle -- more on that next time, possibly).

In Closing

I had also intended to write about Tasha's comments regarding her investigation and Alice's unwavering support despite her difficulty in understanding Tasha's position, but I think I'll let that go until the investigation develops some more. From what I understand of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy based on conversations I've had both with a marine and with a naval officer, the show is doing a pretty decent job at representing the tensions that arise, and I foresee an accurate representation of some of the incongruities in the policy and procedure to come. Until then, I decided that I might start ending these blog posts with a big WHY? Why are we now 4 seasons deep in that wretched opening sequence and theme song. I have a brilliant idea: hold a contest for a new song and opening credits! The fans would love it, it's interactive, and brings lots of attention and publicity, and we can scrap that annoying list of L words and "LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" ew.