Forget homohop, meet lesbo hop. Originally published at the New Statesman.
God Des and She holding non-suggestive objects
You haven't lived until you've seen a lesbian hip hop duo rap about best pussy eating technique to three hundred excited women. Best known for their appearance on lesbo-drama TV series The L Word, hip hop act God Des and She enchanted the crowd at long-standing London queer night Bar Wotever last week. Bringing a signature mix of rapped swagger and ovaries-busting soul - “You and me together we got that vibe/Plus I'm a ten and your girl is a five” - they ensured there wasn't a dry seat in the house.
Yet despite being regarded as queer hip hop “pioneers” by EvOn, another lesbian rapper and writer of the LGBT Underground blog, many in the audience of dykes, queers and assorted misfits had only vaguely heard of them before the show. Read More.
Winning at the unspoken 'best sign at the protest' competition
I also got sent to report on the anti-transphobia protest that took place outside the Observer in the aftermath of Burchill-gate. Having got some brilliant quotes from people who were there, I wrote it up in feature form:
And there is more news about cervical cancer, in that the BMA say young gay men should be given the vaccine as well as the school-age girls who currently receive it.
Finally, in a case of interns being given the most important news of the day, some bloke from Glee did an interview with the Metro newspaper. I was at the scene (of being able to read the Metro and rewrite what was said):
Credit: GSN website. I hope they don't sue me or sack me for stealing this image.
I'm doing a stint of work at Gay Star News, which is a website reporting international LGBT news. This means that instead of simply writing biting, funny and insightful commentary, I get to REPORT the NEWS. The real live events that are happening as we speak.
Over the next two weeks I'm going to post my stories up here daily. If you would like to know what's happening to queer people around the world (supposing you believe in global queer identity/ies) then I suggest you keep checking back.
Here is a selection of stories I wrote today:
1. Ghana Christian group slams pro-gay gender minister
Essentially, Ghana's new Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection is being badmouthed by a group of homophobic Christians:
2. Calls for Burchill to be sacked over 'disgusting' anti-trans rant
I don't think there are any members of the British commentariat who haven't written an opinion piece about Burchill-Moore-gate over the past two days. But this is NEWS, and therefore bears reporting. The story is about how former Minister for Equalities Lynne Featherstone tweeted that Burchill should be sacked. It also has some other juicy info.
This is a sad one. It's also the most interesting story I wrote today. Dolan Badger, the man who was murdered, had previously written a really exciting piece about two-spirit identities and his struggle with different kinds of oppression: race, gender, indigenous heritage and so on. I linked to it in the report.
4. Judge says UK civil partners can divorce like married Canadian couples
Some men who were civilly partnered in Britain were allowed to divorce in Canada. Because their partnership amounts to a marriage. Good news for people in favour of equal marriage. Actually, it's great for one of the guys involved because he can get a divorce settlement and rights and so on. Excellent.
If you fancy a brief meditation on the sheer wretchedness of humanity (or that represented below-the-line on Cif, at least), have a look at the comments. Suffice it to say that my choices of interesting young artists were, according to one delightful commentator, examples of:
"No skill, artless, derivative nonsense. Dishonest"
In any case, I totally rose above it by lying on my bed for much of the day feeling sorry for myself, resolving never to step outside the comfortable territory of gender related sarcasm ever again.
My first print publication is out! It takes the form of a chapter in a book entitled Regeneration, mainly edited by Guy Shrubsole and Clare Coatman, but edited a bit more by Ben Little and Shiv Malik. It's primarily a book about intergenerational justice - proposing solutions (to pervert a favourite Tory phrase) to 'this mess we've inherited'. The first print run has already sold out, which suggests to me that it's bloody good.
My chapter is called "The Feminist Evolution: Queer Feminism for the Next Generation". It has little to do with intergenerational justice, but much to do with how feminists might - and are - reconfiguring the movement in opposition to both new and old problems.
To adopt a queer approach to gender is to recognise that transgression, subversion and play are kinds of anti-normative political activism that can also disrupt existing gender hierarchies. One person born with a body called ‘female’ assuming the trappings of masculinity is unlikely to change any government policy about women as a class, but neither was the vote won by one women chaining herself to the railings of Westminster. In time-honoured suffragette style, the more people who, by manipulating gender, expose cultural dogma about men and women for what it is – arbitrary and abusive – the more the binary line dividing ‘M’ from ‘F’ trembles.
My chapter is on p.70 - but the whole book is very much worth a read. Feedback on my ideas also very much appreciated.
The twitter war against @mocktheweek has finally ended. It could most closely be described as akin to a battle in which cannonballs are fired at a person who, protected by an imaginary brick wall, simply denies that the cannonballs, the wall, gravity, or any form of Newtonian law exists.
The social media face of Mock the Week, known only as "@mocktheweek", refused, in the face of all reasonability, to accept that there is anything sexist about a panel show in which women comedians are a: rarely booked and b: hate appearing when they do get booked. I can't be bothered to explain, again, why it is very, very, very, very, very sexist, so I will simply recall here that the all-female episode of Whose Line is it Anyway was one of the funnier ones. Just saying. Four comics who were women did comedy on a stage and it was funny. Anyway, if you are confused about why Mock the Week is very, very, very, very, etc, sexist, go on twitter, search 'mocktheweek', and scroll down the exchanges. I'm not linking.
Anyway, and instead, let us feast our ears on a compendium of comedians who, if they were men, would probably be Mock the Week regulars/would by now have their own road-shows and a pile of free money gifted to them by the BBC:
1. Isy Suttie:
In exhibit A (above, literally just above) we see a comedian making funny jokes to a large audience of people who are laughing. That comedian happens to be a woman, and therefore either a: will not be booked to appear on Mock the Week, or b: will not appear on Mock the Week because it is a particularly nasty atmosphere for women comedians - see Jo Brand.
2. Sarah Kendall [Edit 22/1/12: transphobia warning at around 11.30 mins]
One of my favourite comedians who probably won't ever be on Mock the Week. Unlike Russell Howard, who gets to be a regular in virtue of having a real penis, probably. I hope Sarah Kendall does go on it, but if she is her jokes will probably get edited out in favour of some look-at-me-mummy-i'm-clever-now nonsense.
3. Shazia Mirza
Bit of an obvious choice, but also, why the hell doesn't she already have her own show?
4. Josie Long
Pretty well known and stuff. Pretty funny. Probably hasn't been on Mock the Week, and I hope she doesn't go on it. I have a suspicion her style would get lost in the celebratory cockfest. She's spot on with the bit about turning 'go on then, make me laugh' guests into 'I like drinking water out of sponges' guests.
5. Here, to finish, is a trailer from the Funny Women awards of 2010. What's that about female comedians just 'not existing'?
Oh hi there. I am now back from my sojourn in San Francisco. In honour of a return to the mundane, here are some interesting bits and pieces I've picked up over the last month.
Heart playing Crazy On You live in 1977. Everything about this is incredible. The intense fingerpicking solo intro, the singer's voice, the lead guitarist in open chested white silk blouse and wiggling snake hips, the bit where they unexpectedly all start singing together, the triple harmonized solo, and to top it all THE FUCKING HIGH KICK AT THE END. I can't get over how great this is, must be one of the greatest performances of all time. I have to watch it again right now.
Jenna Marbles chats shit for a while, on the topic of "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking". I like her unashamed brashness. Recommended to me by a friend I made in San Francisco: http://youtu.be/OYpwAtnywTk
Cool thing about underrated actresses: click here!
I met the author of this blog about male submission the other day at a sex discussion group (I'm that cool) at the Center for Sex and Culture, also run by Carol Queen, who is clearly a fixture of this sex-positivity theme. Here it is: click! Warning: NSFW, depending on your place of work.
Can't wait to see Meryl Streep taking on Thatcher in this. Who wants to come and see it with me?
Finally, it just popped up on my twitter that Brody Dalle has given birth.
Awesome/Outrageous:
One of the only articles I have ever read where I agreed with every word more than life itself. This is a victory for common sense, feminism, standards in academia, and not reporting slavishly when someone is clearly wrong. Have already tweeted it, but here again: click here
Lady Gaga's new video: You and I. Awesome only for the presence of Lady G in drag, then Lady G in drag making out with Lady G not in drag. Outrageous outfits, some of them. I would recommend watching it with the sound off.
I can't even begin to deal with the stupidity of this: http://www.springerlink.com/content/w6t8284q7123w214/. Please pay particular attention to the last sentence of the abstract. If it makes you want to run through the streets screaming and banging your forehead with an anvil, well, me too.
*Comments like: 'Yeah you may be in San Francisco but why are you sitting in your hostel blogging and waiting for your laundry when you could be out having fun?' will not be appreciated. Or even acknowledged.
Number 1 on this list is so outrageous I won't even link to it. Go to google and type in 'Dietlieb Felderer'. Go to his website. WARNING - holocaust denial, graphic pornography, denial of all other reasonable truths, etc. But it's so outrageous that it becomes funny. In some ways. Like, it's so awful it's interesting.
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