Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Femme undone. Self Portrait Tuesday.

just me
Lipstick lesbian. That's what I am. I suppose. Though I hate labels. Dyke. Butch. Femme. Gender queer. Stone butch. I'm blanking on the others. But there's a ton. The L Word is throwing the topic around. Not through the words so much (though there was Moira's reference to Shane, "Come on, we butches can get it" referring to the heavy carrying of luggage), but the differences within the lesbian community are just as vast as any other spectrum or grouping in society. A lot of it is exposure, small town, big city, rural, and socio-economic: we know what we know and live within our bubbles. I identify as queer moreso than lesbian. But on the exterior, I'd probably fit the lipstick lesbian scenario: I like dresses, perfume, make-up, and anyone who knows me knows I like to do my hair. Hell, I think everyone in my blogosphere knows about my hair.

But on the weekends, during the day, I don't wear make up. I wear my hair in ponytails.

Kind of like this when I was 10:
DSC02939.JPG

So there's Self Portrait Tuesday, peeps. Until next week...

9 comments:

Kathryn said...

Great post, great picture.
I like the L Word exploration of the butch/femme/identity dynamic. People call me a lipstick too, but sometimes inside i feel really butch. I think we are different aspects of ourselves at different times.

Zoe said...

Great post. I've been thinking about this a lot as of late, in part because of the L Word and in part because a post my friend purlewe had on her blog about being bisexual. I've never really thought of myself with a label, I'm just me. Sticking to my true gemini nature I always fall right in the middle, so I'm going to say I'm kind of androgynous.

Rigo said...

Damn girl, that's a seriously awesome black and white. Maybe we should all throw away labels and just be.

LeLo said...

RSG: I agree. Fluidity is certainly a part of me. When I'm dirty and muddy and all junked out working in the garden, I certainly don't feel girly and femme!

Zoe: I have been thinking and talking about this with friends, as well. Funny how a television show, when we are ***finally*** represented and can see ourselves in popular culture like tv, gives us opportunity to talk about issues like this.

Rigo: I learned long ago that labels are not something I need, but are something others need in understanding those that are different from themselves. I try hard to live label free! You do too!

Rozanne said...

Two *great* photos and a great post.

I really like the B&W and the way you chose to compose the sans make-up photo.

Yeah, labels. Why do people feel they need to put everyone in a little cubbyhole--define someone by one teensy aspect of their identity (one that may or may not even be accurate)? It's so limiting.

bemused said...

Labels=cubbyholes with baggage. Descriptive terms are fine - hair, eye and skin color, height, weight, etc describe the person, not necessarily assign them to a cubby, although skin color does that in some people's eyes, I suppose.

But labels, ugh, they leave me cold. I live in the suburbs because we wanted to be close to hubby's work and to my aging parents. It was location not personality driven. By someone who did not know me at all (although he thought he did), I was described as a SUV soccer mom, Martha Stewart type. He meant it as an insult. Boy, did I have a big laugh about that one but I let it slide. He wasn't the type to listen to the truth. "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up." And frankly, I didn't care what his opinion of me was.

Awesome photo, lelo. How do you take those self portrait shots? When I try, I end up cutting part of my head out of the shot. One shot was sans head completely, although that would make an interesting self portrait.

Anonymous said...

Love the black and white and especially LeLo at 10... So Darn Cute! Hmmmm... I recognize the shirt, baseball cap and ponytails. I bet I saw you in line at the Carriage Square movie theatre waiting to see Disney's "Escape from Witch Mountain" or "Herbie Rides Again". Or maybe chillin' at the Esplanade Mall at Judy's. I was the one in the tight corduroy pants, OP shirt, belly appropriately covered of course, and bushy hair parted in the middle. Um.. TMI. Lovin' Ya. Manny

pack of 2 said...

I'm a a tomboy but not overly so.
I don't really like lipstick though...LOL...guess I couldn't be a lipstick lesbian then.
S

Anonymous said...

great b/w photo and your kid photo too! you look great without labels :)

this post is great, but I was totally stuck on "queer moreso" - thought it was some Portland Spanglish that I hadn't heard in Indy. Then I put on my glasses and read again...

(now you can laugh at the corn-fed Indiana chick for the rest of the day)