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Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

Ooooh, that's a good article.

The author alludes to this with the "work wife" section (and here: that leaning, the bodily closeness of it, is elevated, more pure, more innocent for its lack of want), but so much of the idealized friendship between women not only erases but is dependent on the exclusion of gay and bi women. I feel like this becomes especially clear in a group context (I'm going to anecdote here but it's all anecdote in the articles too) - I've been slowly watching my girlfriend get pushed out of an all-female theatre/movement ensemble she's worked with, to the point of being let go from a play about lesbians as the only lesbian in the cast, because it seems like lesbianism is some great metaphor for female closeness and bonding up until it's not an abstract metaphorical representation of the great depths of straight female friendship but actually someone in the room during your half-naked floor-crawling exercise who might be physically capable of being attracted to you. Having lesbian and bi women around removes the possibility of using lesbianism and its expressions to show how close to your friends you are, and we can't have that.

Also:

everyone I was introduced to talked about their “partner,” and it was a guessing game every time whether they meant a long-term, serious relationship with another queer person or a long-term, serious relationship with another straight person, but one who wears flannel and cares about justice and reciprocity and shit

Or another straight person they've been dating for two fucking months but don't want to let you know that they're a square, haha.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, jeez, that's so shitty for your girlfriend, I'm sorry. And yeah, it's like straight girls are in a giant game of intimacy chicken where everything is OK (nudes, declarations of eternal devotion, full on making out) as long as nobody actually means it.

I'm reminded of the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend scene where Rebecca tries to make out with Valencia and her reaction is "ugh, I don't mean real kissing! I mean cute kissing!". Heterosexual female intimacy now often has to be "cute" and therefore defanged of sex or seriousness (like, Actually Really planning to move in with this girl forever and ever).

Of course, Valencia in-show actually does get together with a girl, and some "straight" girls indulging in explorative intimacy actually do end up recognizing a queer identity, but... a lot of it feels like it's meant to reinforce heterosexuality, i.e. perform a cute nonthreatening version of femininity.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

DA was thinking of that episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Like, it tries to subvert the trope with the song? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaYug9IZDz8 for those who haven't heard; mildly NSFW) But it also just is the trope.

That's really one of the weakest episodes, IMO, just because of that.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

D DA who linked the song elsewhere: yeah, I love the song/video but I kind of have to divorce it from its context in the episode.

IDK, I have a lot of Valencia feelings. I think it's hard to read something more into Valencia's reaction in the context of that specific episode. But we also know that Valencia has serious issues she's not dealing with at that point in canon, that she doesn't know how to have female friends or genuinely connect to other women, and that she does eventually get out of her toxic relationship, work on herself, and end up with Beth... and I also do think we're meant to think that Valencia connecting with Rebecca as a friend is part of the reason Valencia moves towards that. (e.g. Valencia watching how-to-be-funny videos on the internet to connect with people comes up in her first meeting with Beth.)

Separately from all of that, I think the canon is seriously short-changing Valencia and I want them to actually give us something more than a meet-cute with Beth in the final season.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I have SO MANY feelings about Valenica, especially about how she's juxtaposed against Rebecca in the narrative. Valenica starts out as "the other woman": she's hot and snobby and bitchy. But she turns out to be kinda nice and kinda awkward and the Heather & Valencia & Rebecca friendship is one of my favorite things about the show, as is Valenica's scoffing and wanting nothing to do with Rebecca's ~feelings~ about Josh. I'm so salty that we know nothing about Beth! And that we didn't get to see them get Valencia's wedding planning business off the ground! I know why the timeskip was necessary but ughhhhh I wanted more.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I KNOW, RIGHT. We didn't even get enough of Beth for me to feel like I've got a handle on her to write fic about her and that part of canon.

I kind of wonder if they were considering a Valencia/Rebecca endgame at one point, because that would have been amazing.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

NA

Valencia is so fascinating to me too! And honestly I would have loved for the show to dig into her relationship with Beth (...I really don't care about Nathaniel, and so a lot of the second half fell flat to me)

There's a lot of comp het stuff around everything to do with her relationship with Josh, and the way Rebecca sees her through this exoticised perspective, and basically I just love Valencia a whole lot

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

I'm also just sad that they never really went anywhere with Rebecca being into Valencia. I'm glad Valencia got a girlfriend (she's so happy to connect with women finally!) but as of S1 I would've said that it was more plausible for Rebecca to be kind of queer. Plus I'm kind of into the twisted way she wants to be/be with/kill Valencia in the song.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

Is it actually any surprise that a show named Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is occasionally full of crap, though?

Just the title/general premise is a major turn off for me.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

DA

Considering that the title is usually the worst thing about the show? Yeah, it is kinda a surprise. It's a pretty decent show that deconstructs the trope of the "crazy ex-girlfriend", has great depictions of female friendship and mental illness, and actually had an abortion subplot where the abortion was treated as a reasonable and responsible and normal decision, among other things.

Even this was more of a stumble than a major misstep.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

Plus, the title of the show is usually determined by the network, which is why some actually pretty good shows (Selfie, apparently Cougar Town but I've never watched it, Don't Trust the B-- In Apartment 23) have horrible titles.

Re: wank containment area

[(Anonymous)]

DA And Trophy Wife.

/fan of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Don't Trust the B, Trophy Wife, AND Selfie