Oct 25, 2022Buck Up, Babes. Some of Us Can’t Unbuck.This year, I began the nebulous process of wresting back my body from whatever foiled me during the pandemic, only to find the human that I once was woefully inadequate, while the one I had a vague hankering to become felt strange and unarticulated, a Persian miniature forbidden by the…8 min read8 min read
Apr 4, 2021YouTube Archive №1: “Our Trans Tube”; Discussing Feminism in 1994Several years ago, I felt inspired to contribute a “Heresy” — a fan-type piece on a cultural artifact, more or less lesbian, with which one is obsessed — to the Brussels-based feminist magazine Girls Like US / GLU. As with writing for “community” legacy publications and presses like Cleis Press…Literature4 min readLiterature4 min read
Mar 9, 2021So it’s strong women you want | What to watch, March 2021Rape reckoning and revenge aplenty; the lesbian Civil Rights activist you’ve been dying to meet; Billie Holiday’s middle finger; Jane Fonda, uncensored. Follow list of March 2021 recommendations on Letterboxd. ☐ F.T.A. Director: Francine Parker Writers: Michael Alaimo, Len Chandler, Pamela Donegan, Jane Fonda, Rita Martinson, Robin Menken, Holly Near, Donald…Film9 min readFilm9 min read
Feb 13, 2021The New Lesbian SubtextAll my experience concerning masturbation in little girls has related to the clitoris and not to the regions of the external genitalia that are important in later sexual functioning. …18 min read18 min read
Jan 19, 2021Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Her Smell’‘Her Smell’ is largely set in the labyrinthine underworld of punk venue green rooms. The already warped strain even further under the weight of audience hunger and the an opening act’s reverb. Alex Ross Perry’s latest dizzies and asphyxiates the viewer with the minutiae of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n…Elisabeth Moss4 min readElisabeth Moss4 min read
Jan 15, 2021The Truth Amid JT LeRoy’s FictionsJT LeRoy, Justin Kelly’s new biopic on the creation and exposure of the cult author of the same pen name, opens with an Oscar Wilde epigraph: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. This sentiment, repurposed from a puckish 1890s play to introduce Kelly’s film on punking 1990s celebrity…Jt Leroy7 min readJt Leroy7 min read
Dec 8, 2020A Candy-Colored Cult Sweetens at 20‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ comes of age. Bursts of orange as tempting as pre-pandemic citrus palomas with friends. An excess of sporty pinks that make Legally Blonde seem like child’s play. Nursery room blues that confirm that ‘blue’ is not only the warmest color, but most fun. A cult…Jamie Babbit6 min readJamie Babbit6 min read
Nov 24, 2020All in the FamilyFilm history is rife with dream teams, all too frequently auteur-muse in nature: von Sternberg and Dietrich, Godard and Karina, Tarantino and Pitt. But few have surpassed Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards in talent, daring, or capacity for mischief. After falling in love on the set of Edwards’ ill-received and…Julie Andrews5 min readJulie Andrews5 min read
Oct 24, 2020Georgie Tatum Took an Axe and Gave His Urszene 40 WhacksRomano Scavolini’s 1981 slasher flick Nightmare is certain about three things: One, little George Tatum, well-mannered and pure, walked in on a dominatrix straddling his father and the experience irreparably destroyed his sanity. Two, despite his persisting fear of feminine wiles, George managed to have a son, C.J., who has…Horror5 min readHorror5 min read
Aug 13, 2020On finally comprehending the allure of Annie ClarkWhile I have been repeatedly ensnared by “Chloe in the Afternoon” (the tenderest of hotel rendezvous anthems) and “Your Lips Are Red” (“Your lips are red / My face is red from reading your red lips”), it was not until the fitful static of April that I really began to…3 min read3 min read
