The L Word is Terrible Press for Lesbians

I just finished watching the first episode of season six of the L Word, and want to express my disgust at the abhorrent behaviors it deems as typical amongst lesbians. First of all, the thrill in writing this post is the fact that I personally have never followed the L Word, primarily because my girlfriend is absolutely against it, and would probably break the TV if I tried bringing any of the seasons home to watch around her. I am happy to be writing this sans any biases towards the show or any attachments to the characters.

The first thing that I was upset to hear on this episode was the comment that Alice made about lesbians about to break up. Alice and her girlfriend were having problems with their relationship, resulting in a physical distance between them. She said that if she were like most lesbians she would have already cheated on her girlfriend. I hated the accusation in her words. Accusing most lesbians of wanting to sleep around when their relationships are not fairing well is a slap in the face of the lesbian community. I think it would have been more acceptable if she said something to the effect of "oh, some girls would have broken up by now and have moved on" or "most girls or lesbians would not have waited this long without breaking up".

Another thing that I hate on the show is Shane for being infamous for sleeping around and trying to destroy relationships. I hate how this show revolves around a cheating lesbian. Before I ever saw an episode of L Word, the only thing I knew about it was there was a character named Shane who was charming and a cheat. In the episode I just saw, Shane goes down on Jenny's girlfriend in public, and did not show much remorse for her actions. Later in the episode Jenny claims it is Shane's modus operandi to want to make every girl like her. What a pathetic modus operandi for a main character of the most prominent show on lesbians! How dare TV epitomize lesbians as only wanting to sleep around or make other girls like them.

If I were to create a show about lesbians, it would be more politically oriented without the rampant cheating crap that goes on in the L Word and it would include more women representing the different subcultures of the lesbian community including butches, dykes, boyish as well as the over rated lipstick lesbians rampant on the L Word. My show would also include more realistic clubbing scenes and day to day interactions between lesbians. The one clubbing scene I saw on the L Word was pathetic. All the women were dressed like they were going clubbing with Paris Hilton at some ritzy night club, given the demographics of most lesbians that scene was completely unrealistic. Here in Toronto, the largest gay city in Canada, we have two bars for lesbians only, and if you were to drop in to dance on a Saturday night, you would see that ninety percent of the girls were dressed more casually, not in fancy clubbing dresses, and you would notice that the majority of them were boyish to one degree or another. As well, most of the do not have bucket loads of money to spend on ritzy clothes or clubs--that is just unrealistic.

Also, if I had a show, it might focus on some of the immature drama that the L Word seems to thrive on, but that would only exist amongst younger lesbians (i.e. college age).

The L Word makes all lesbians look like cheating whores, who only care about seducing girls for one night stands. And the plethora of sex scenes puts a horrible focus on lesbian's sexuality rather than them as humans and lovers and contributors in this world. Why cannot we have a lesbian version of Frasier, Seinfeld or even Will and Grace? Why does the only major lesbian show in North America have to be about sex hungry, pussy munching, cheating and primarily "straight" looking lesbians aka lipstick lesbians that really have nothing to do with lesbian culture or reality?

The L Word is over rated, terrible press for lesbians, and an insult to lesbian culture and reality. Someone with balls needs to come up with a new script for a show that will empower lesbians in our world and our culture.