Ellen Degeneres, the "lipstick" lesbian

[ccharles000]

http://www.feministing.com/archives/011135.html

Ellen just confirmed rumors that she will be the new Covergirl spokesmodel on her show recently. You can see the clip where she makes the announcement here.

There's been a lot of progress for butch celesbian's lately. First, we have Dani Campbell, the arguable star of the pretty terrible show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila (come on, Dani was the only reason I watched the damn thing) who brought really hot butch (actually, she identifies as futch, but more on labels in a minute) lesbians to the mainstream. Then Ellen gets married to partner Portia de Rossi in a tasteful and well documented affair a few weeks ago. Then, we've got the also quite attractive and rather butch Rachel Maddow getting her own new show, which has been getting fantastic ratings. Now Ellen is the new CoverGirl?!? What's next? A butch lesbian for president? I won't hold my breath on that one.

So before I continue, a word on language. I don't actually know if any of the aforementioned women identify as butch. Butch is a term primarily used in the lesbian community (although gay men use it too) to refer to a lesbian woman who is more masculine/boyish in their gender presentation. I would say that being butch can be seen as a form of gender non-conformity, that is, presenting yourself in a way that goes against traditional ideas of femininity. Oh, and futch, as Dani self-identifies, a term she coined to describe someone who is neither femme nor butch. It can get quite complicated, and becomes extremely personal to everyone's self-definition. Also, lipstick lesbian is a term that has been used to refer to more feminine-presenting lesbians. Femme is also a term for this, but not all femmes wear lipstick, or would call themselves lipstick lesbians.

I have to say, first off, that I wasn't super-excited when I saw the news about Ellen. In some ways, this makes me feel like we're taking a step backwards when it comes to gender diversity. The message these ad campaigns send is, look, even a lesbian is really still a woman, lipstick and all! What would be really progressive, to me, would be to have a more feminine identified man, who wears lipstick in his everyday life, as a CoverGirl. You know, like the male bodied people who work for Mac? Now, it's totally possible that Ellen does put on make up, even when she's not on camera. But something makes me think it's very possible this isn't the case.

[Zuiderelle]

1. You know what I find super ironic?

The banner at the top of the page with this picture.



What is that telling us, that women have to have perky breasts and long thick hair and tiny feet and a tiny waist and slender arms and ankles (and oh yeah, naked)?

Seriously, What the hell? Having an out lesbian as a cosmetics spokesperson is a STEP BACKWARDS? Oy vey.

Go ELLEN! Congratulations and we love you!

:toast:

[MichellesBFF]

2. The next Covergirl after Ellen

should be Eddie Izzard. (Love him!)

[LostinVA]

3. She's over 40, gay, and not an implanted, nipped and tucked woman

Good for her!

[indigo32]

4. thats what I thought too

you go Ellen

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. all these butch girls on TV have been remarkably unbutched

ellen wears almost as much make up these days on tv as i do

rachel looks positively uncomfortable in her low cut shirts. if anyone knows butch girls, every last one i know is unconfortable is low v necks.

dani is futch and not butch by her own label

queerness made straight friendly. on the one hand i like that there is some representation of queer culture on tv on the other hand, the girlifying of butch girls makes me roll my eyes.

[Zuiderelle]

6. True enough. Rachel is HOT either way, but I prefer her butch.

I'm just futch myself. :)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. you're cute either way.

[Zuiderelle]

8. You're too kind.

:D