...or so she was described in Sunday's issue of the New York Times.
Now, I'm a clueless Mormon, so I need a term defined:
"lipstick lesbian"- What does that mean? She never appears in public without a touch of color on the lips?
Boy, if the guys in DC marketing thought up of that description, and not some reporter...
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Batwoman's lesbian?! Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Wait . . . I know who Catwoman is, and I know who Batgirl is . . . who's Batwoman?!
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Wow, the trivia I retain... letsee... Batwoman was a '50s character I think, she was a female version of Batman, and always trying to get Batman to marry her... think she also had a sidekick, Batgirl, who was different from the later (Commissioner Gordon's daughter) Batgirl.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
This is described as a new character using an old name.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:A lipstick lesbian is a slang term for a feminine homosexual woman who is attracted to another feminine woman, rather than a lesbian who is attracted to a more masculine woman, such as in a "butch and femme"-type relationship. The term is thought to have emerged in the early 1990s.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Hmmmm.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
I remember after Ellen came out, her character referred to herself as a "chapstick lesbian". I think I'd probably go for that one as well.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Wouldn't that depend on the flavor of the chapstick in question?
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
I think a lot of women who happen to be gay are a little (or a lot) tired of the "masculine/feminine" thing. If I told you how many well-meaning (and not-so-well-meaning) people have asked which of us is the "man" in our relationship... well, it's just annoying.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
And cherry. No jokes, please.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
quote:DC's first "buxom lipstick lesbian" super-hero
"Buxom" -- now that's an unnecessary word. As Chris notes, ALL superhero women have basketballs under their spandex.
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
Well, they've certainly hooked me.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote:Originally posted by starLisa: And cherry. No jokes, please.
quote:Originally posted by starLisa: I think a lot of women who happen to be gay are a little (or a lot) tired of the "masculine/feminine" thing. If I told you how many well-meaning (and not-so-well-meaning) people have asked which of us is the "man" in our relationship... well, it's just annoying.
I've always gone with the if-you-can't-tell-don't-ask-hell-don't-ask-even-if-you-can-tell school of thought on that one.
Would a lipstick lesbian be the female equivilant of a bear?
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I'm really glad I clicked that link, vonk, or your last sentence would've had me REALLY confused.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
Well, I don't believe the part about 52 being published as a graphic novel. That's 52 issues, and even if you take out the History of the DCU that's appearing in the back from issue 2 onwards, that's way too much for a single volume.
I expect they'll be putting out 52:Q1, 52:Q2, 52:Q3 and 52:Q4, or something of that sort.
I don't ever read the Bat comics. It's been way too dark for my taste ever since The Dark Knight Returns. So I'd never heard of Renee Montoya (who apparently started in Gotham Nights, a book I don't read because of its Bat-associations).
Someone over on Newsarama commented on this whole Batwoman thing:
quote:Isn't it just so quaint that the mainstream press still thinks this is a big deal. We've had characters of different race, ethnicity and sexual preference in comics for a while now. Even with it being DC, who people probably think of as being very conservative, we've had heroes of different types. We've had gay characters (Pied Piper, Maggie Sawyer). We've had Hispanic characters (Gangbuster, Vibe, El Diablo and not long ago it was revealed that Kyle Rayner is half-Mexican). We've had Black characters (Steel, Vixen, John Stewart, Cyborg). We've had Asian characters (Dr. Light, Katana). We've even had rather multi-racial heroes (Connor Hawke is 1/4 Black, 1/4 Korean and 1/2 White). In fact, I think comics may have surpassed real world acceptance of minorities with it's use of "Alien-Americans" and "Android-Americans" as well as "Mutants" and "Meta-Humans".
It's just so cute when the mainstream press makes a big deal out of something we've known and understood for decades.
I thought that was well said. It's just not news to anyone whose been reading comics for very long.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
quote:Originally posted by vonk:
Would a lipstick lesbian be the female equivilant of a bear?
When the hotel I used to work at decided to throw out the bar that was leasing space and open their own they titled it "The Bear's Den". The name didn't last too long.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by vonk: Would a lipstick lesbian be the female equivilant of a bear?
I don't think there are really any parallels between gay men and lesbians. I mean, people lump us all together under the category "homosexual", but that's more for their own convenience than anything else. I think we each have more in common with heterosexuals than we do with each other. I can empathize with a het relationship to a degree, I mean. There's a woman involved.
Some women are more feminine than others. It has nothing to do with femaleness or orientation. The masculine-feminine scale, the male-female scale, and the straight-gay scale are independent scales.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Well sure, regardless of orientation, there are going to be people that are very masculine or very feminine. I figure most people fall somewhere in the middle.
But society has always enjoyed creating labels to file people under so that we don't have to think of people individually, but in groups, and that's easier. I know that 'bear' is a self proclaimed label, but I don't know about 'lipstick lesbian.' Most people probably don't fit perfectly into their neat little stereotype, but if we just squint a little, and use our imaginations, we can make everyone into exactly what we want them to be.
So I'm gonna go with 'bear' is to gay man as 'lipstick lesbian' is to gay woman, and if you don't like it, you can just change.
[/tongue in cheek]
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote:Even with it being DC, who people probably think of as being very conservative, we've had heroes of different types.
My understanding is that Marvel is the conservative house.
In this case, that means that the word 'damn' didn't appear in Marvel comics until sometime after 1995.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I'll put this way: DC has been publishing high profile projects featuring characters of all sexual stripes (many of them under the Mature Readers only Vertigo label, granted) since the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Marvel?
Their highest profile project in recent years on this subject was "The Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather" about a cowboy who smoked cigarettes from a golden case and gossiped about celebrities.
A lot.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Hey, now, they did out Northstar. Eventually. In an issue oozing with political correctness, AIDS, and violence that ended with Northstar in a bar drinking beer with Wolverine and Puck, just one of the guys.
That was one of the saddest things I've ever read.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
They outed Northstar, then in recent years he was subjected to being written by Chuck Austen, then used as cannon fodder by Mark Millar.
Written crappily, then killed off as an afterthought. How auspicious.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
And it's ironic, you know. Marvel has always trumpeted itself as the more "realistic" of the two. I guess they got angst confused with realism.
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)