Face to Race

11     The focus group participants were a diverse group of women, all identified as lesbians or bisexual. Six informants classified themselves as Black and one informant as White. Informant number one, Devon, is a 27-year-old third grade teacher. Informant number two, Maxine, is a 33-year-old corporate lawyer. Lisa, informant number three, is a White 24-year-old bisexual, non-profit program manager. Informants four and five, Pam (31), a fourth grade teacher and Toni (32), a chef, both identify as studs. Natalie, a 29-year-old middle school teacher, was informant six. Finally, Tracy is a 30-year old elementary teacher. We tape recorded the 3-hour conversation and then transcribed it. We utilized open coding to develop a variety of codes. From these codes, a variety of themes emerged. Some of the themes fit within our own analysis about the text and some were new ideas to us. We will include focus group data throughout the body of the paper to enhance our argument and to illustrate diverse perspectives of The L Word viewers.

Do Black Lesbians Really Exist?

12     Since the inception of lesbians on television, Black lesbian characters have been limited. This section will explore the presence/absence of Blackness in general and Black lesbianism in particular. The L Word's absence of Black lesbianism privileges the experiences of White lesbians, and attempts to construct those experiences as normative. By doing so, The L Word as a text undermines the presence of Black lesbians as well as other lesbian 'minority' groups in the United States. Although we argue The L Word helps to make Blackness and lesbianism invisible, we recognize that viewers actively make meaning of the texts and can negotiate ideologies.

13     Jennifer Beals, and her character Bette Porter, is the quintessential example of the presence/absence of Black lesbianism. Beals is of mixed racial heritage: her father is African-American and her mother is Irish. Therefore, her portrayal as Bette, a biracial (African-American/White) woman, is a natural role for Beals. Our examination of The L Word indicates that, aesthetically and socially, Bette does not identify with African-American culture. For example, Bette has been in a long-term relationship with a White woman, Tina, for a number of years. Bette's ex-girlfriends of whom we, as viewers, are aware are also White women. The viewer is left with the impression by Bette's previous relationships that she exclusively dates White women. Bette eventually engages in an affair with a Latina (season two) but in subsequent seasons dates White women.[8]In season 2, Bette has a biracial (Black/White) child with Tina. The addition of a mixed race child forces the issue of race in particular ways. While this is important to analyze, we do not have the space in this manuscript to examine Seasons Two, Three, and Four. This choice to date only White women legitimates her Whiteness because Bette is, therefore, never called upon to identify with her Blackness due to her limited interaction with Blacks romantically or socially. Furthermore, Bette's Blackness is invisible to her fellow lesbian characters. For example, Bette does not discuss her biracial 'lived' experiences or openly acknowledge her Blackness with her friends; the only signifier of Bette's Blackness is her half-sister, Kit (Pam Grier), an easily identifiable Black woman. This subsequently makes her Blackness invisible to the viewers who watch The L Word.

14     The most glaring example of Bette's assimilation to White culture occurs in an early episode of The L Word. Bette and Tina attend a therapy session for people interested in parenting. In the session, an easily identified Black woman, Yolanda, challenges Bette to assert her own Blackness. This occurs when the group discusses adoption. Yolanda says to Bette, "it is only hard to adopt as a lesbian if you want a White baby." A Latina responds, "What is wrong with a White person wanting to adopt a Black baby?" Bette does not correct the mistake. Yolanda says to Bette, "You talk so proud about being a lesbian but you never once mentioned you're an African American woman." This example, while making clear the absurdity of biological notions of race, reminds us how often we use cultural knowledge to assert race as an identity. Sometimes, race is not clearly visible through skin color and other physical traits (as in the case of Bette). If she wants to be identified as part Black, then she must assert herself as such.

15     As academics, we believe that people should be able to define themselves and, thus, we are not arguing that Bette must define herself as Black. We understand the ways racism has infiltrated understandings of race and miscegenation and invited the 'one drop rule.' Race is socially constructed. Some people, however, have fewer choices as to how they will define themselves. Bette has a choice and it bothers us that she chooses to privilege her Whiteness over her Blackness. In the above example, Bette becomes offended when she is accused of not living Black racial embodiment. She tells the woman, "You don't know how I've walked through the world." As viewers, we are tempted to believe that Bette has struggled to maintain an identity as a Black woman. The text up to this point, however, has yet to reveal this. As viewers, we are left wondering how exactly Bette has walked through the world.