I saw this short documentary film on Showtime's "Black Filmmaker Showcase".
This short essentially consists of 33 minutes of talking heads, that is, closeup clips of the nine interviewees talking to an unseen and unheard interviewer. There's no setup, introduction, conclusion, graphics, interludes, etc., although there are some old pictures and recent video clips of the interviewees shown as they talk.
The nine African American butch (masculine) lesbians individually talk about various aspects of the butch lifestyle and their own personal lives. Topics include their look (clothing, hairstyles, lack of makeup, etc.), their realizations that they were "different" and their eventual coming out, their relationships with various family members, their partners, and other societal groups (straight men, gay men, straight women, femme (feminine) lesbians), the perceptions of society, the origins and meanings of "butch", and the attitude and mystique of the butch lifestyle.
Some of the insights were not new to me. For example, most butches reject "girly" things and become tomboys at a fairly early age. Other revelations were new to me or were things I had simply never thought about. For example, going to a public restroom can be a tricky situation if you are a woman who looks like a man, regardless of which bathroom you choose. And being a woman who looks like a black man is especially problematic when living in a mostly white society which fears black men. And it was interesting to learn that many butch lesbians oppose any sexual penetration, not just from a male member but even from their female lovers, seeing it as a loss of power.
Moderately interesting.
This short essentially consists of 33 minutes of talking heads, that is, closeup clips of the nine interviewees talking to an unseen and unheard interviewer. There's no setup, introduction, conclusion, graphics, interludes, etc., although there are some old pictures and recent video clips of the interviewees shown as they talk.
The nine African American butch (masculine) lesbians individually talk about various aspects of the butch lifestyle and their own personal lives. Topics include their look (clothing, hairstyles, lack of makeup, etc.), their realizations that they were "different" and their eventual coming out, their relationships with various family members, their partners, and other societal groups (straight men, gay men, straight women, femme (feminine) lesbians), the perceptions of society, the origins and meanings of "butch", and the attitude and mystique of the butch lifestyle.
Some of the insights were not new to me. For example, most butches reject "girly" things and become tomboys at a fairly early age. Other revelations were new to me or were things I had simply never thought about. For example, going to a public restroom can be a tricky situation if you are a woman who looks like a man, regardless of which bathroom you choose. And being a woman who looks like a black man is especially problematic when living in a mostly white society which fears black men. And it was interesting to learn that many butch lesbians oppose any sexual penetration, not just from a male member but even from their female lovers, seeing it as a loss of power.
Moderately interesting.
