Face to Race

36    Although Lisa's character certainly complicates the otherwise homogeneous portrayal of lesbians on The L Word, we are not completely satisfied with how The L Word has dealt with identity politics within the (White) lesbian community It is not accidental that all of the characters ofThe L Word embody versions of femininity. As we argued earlier, the characters are feminine in order to attract a heterosexual male audience. This tactic, we thought, might maximize profits of The L Word by encouraging a larger viewing population. Upon reflecting on media interviews with the producer of The L Word, it became clear to us that her reality is a world of rich White feminine lesbians. The characters she has created are women she claims live in Los Angeles. We, however, argue that these may be the women who live in the producer's reality of Los Angeles but they do not represent the lesbian population (in LA or anywhere else).

37    We have already discussed the lack of racial diversity on the show. We also are displeased with the lack of stud, butch, and dom identities. Of the seven focus group informants, two identified as 'stud' while five identified as 'femme.' When the topic of Shane (the 'butch' character) came up, it sparked a lively discussion:

Shane was still kind of girly. . .She was really just about sex and she wore tight clothes and she still revealed her body a lot. My friends who are in the butch category aren't like that. (Devon)

I think there should be a whole different butch, like stud type [represented on the show]. (Toni)

She doesn't represent me. She doesn't represent most doms who I know. Not the ones in here. I don't know many doms or people who consider themselves to be doms who have the tight clothes. (Pam)

Naked. (Toni)

She's naked during sex. I mean she looked like a femme when she was [having sex]. (Pam)

38    Our stud/dom participants made decisions about whether they believed Shane represented them based on her appearance and her role during sex. By examining Shane's role during sex (active versus passive) to determine her identity within the category homosexual, our informants illustrate the various ways sexuality is gendered.[14]Kulick, 1998. Shane wore tight women's clothing, which contradicted the look of our stud/dom participants who opted for loose fitting men's clothes. In addition, Shane was naked during sex, which contradicted the lived experiences of our participants as many believed the stud/dom should keep on some of her clothes. The L Word portrayed Shane as sexually voracious. She is afraid of commitment and moves from one woman to the next.[15]In Season Three, however, Shane does fall in love with a Mexican femme, Carmen. Although Shane cheated on her, they eventually scheduled a commitment ceremony. Shane, however, stands Carmen up at the altar. Her representation as a butch is not complex as she seems to portray what are traditionally considered "masculine" values about sex. The L Word has not troubled what it means to be a butch in a heteronormative world. How do butch women negotiate their identities when they are perceived by the larger heterosexual population as being women who want to be men or at least have some of the perks of heterosexual men? This remains unproblematized by the show.

39    Although butch/femme identities have been conceptualized within the academic world as a class phenomenon, we believe there is an important racialized aspect to these identities. We know many middle class and upper-middle class professionals (educators, lawyers, physicians) of color who live out stud/dom/butch/femme identities. These identities are integral to "The way that we live."[16]"The Way That We Live" is the theme song for the series. Elizabeth Ziff, "The Way That We Live," <em>The L Word: The Second Season Sessions – Original Score</em> (Tommy Boy, 2005). Though we cannot in the space of this paper deal with the complex issue of butch/femme identities, we want to voice that femme/femme couples (or stud/stud) are a rare occurrence in the lesbian worlds we inhabit. We encourage the producer of the show to expand her knowledge base about diversity within the lesbian community across race and class. Maxine posed the question, "What obligations does this White creator have particularly to this show? To present us?" Tracy persuasively responded:

I can't get offended anymore. . .I just look at it as, 'You don't know who I am. You don't know my background. You don't know my people. So, therefore, you need to go do some research before you can go speak on me. . .I cannot expect a White person to know who Black people are fully to represent them. So, what they see is on television, what they hear from their friends, what they read in the newspaper. That's what they're going to [think] unless they do some real research. And, I was surprised that Blacks were not represented on [The L Word] because there are a lot of Black people in the lesbian community. The writers could have gone out and interviewed a few people, just like you guys are talking about the show. They could have went out and done that and even gotten input from gay Black people. And been like, 'Okay, what do you think? How should this be represented and happen in the show?' But then again, it could not happen really for us.

We would like to end Tracy's words because they summarize the power of popular culture representations. It is obvious from the lived experiences of the informants as well as the cultural theorists we have cited that representations matter because they teach us about ourselves and others. The L Word is a site that teaches about race, gender, class, and sexuality and, thus, it cannot be ignored.

40    Since we first began writing this manuscript, The L Word has aired Seasons 2, 3, and 4. Of course, a cultural studies analysis of these texts is necessary. We believe, however, that Season One is important to examine on its own. It was advertised as the inaugural response to gay men's Queer as Folk, also produced by Showtime. We suspect countless viewers may have watched Season One to get an idea of what the lesbian lifestyle is like. However, many viewers, like our focus group participants, may have discontinued their viewing because they could not find something with which to identify. There are also the viewers who remain riveted by the series' storylines and learn, with every episode, how a group of White middle-class lesbians 'live and love.' This living and loving is a narrow representation and is, therefore, in need of continual cultural critique.