So Jodie Foster gave a speech at the Golden Globes this year. Some people loved it. Some people hated it. Lots to love: She acknowledged she was lesbian. She acknowledged the support of her former partner and co-parent. She was clearly frightened and did it anyway. Yay!
Lots to not love, too. She never said the word “gay” or “lesbian.” When she talked about coming out “a thousand years ago,” she did not make it clear that she had remained professionally closeted for decades after that. And then, of course, there were the cutaway shots to her best buddy Mel Gibson, gazing adoringly at her, during her speech. Mel Gibson, whose record for unrepentant domestic violence, and anti-Semitic and misogynist epithets have made him anathema to most folks with a conscience.
Lots to not love, too. She never said the word “gay” or “lesbian.” When she talked about coming out “a thousand years ago,” she did not make it clear that she had remained professionally closeted for decades after that. And then, of course, there were the cutaway shots to her best buddy Mel Gibson, gazing adoringly at her, during her speech. Mel Gibson, whose record for unrepentant domestic violence, and anti-Semitic and misogynist epithets have made him anathema to most folks with a conscience.
Jodie in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Folks have asked me what I thought of her speech. I don’t have too much to contribute. It’s the half-empty/ half-full thing. But there is one question I would raise:
What if Jodie Foster is a butch? Yeah, I know, “Have you SEEN the woman?” But to that I say, “Have you seen her in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore?” Have you seen her pre-Taxi Driver? And then I would ask, “How much do you understand about butch identity, butch culture, and butch oppression?” How many butch celebrities have there been prior to Ellen, and even now?
What if Jodie Foster is a butch? Yeah, I know, “Have you SEEN the woman?” But to that I say, “Have you seen her in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore?” Have you seen her pre-Taxi Driver? And then I would ask, “How much do you understand about butch identity, butch culture, and butch oppression?” How many butch celebrities have there been prior to Ellen, and even now?
What would happen to a lesbian butch girl, not only growing up in Hollywood, but coming of age, after a series of tomboy roles, with a turn as a pre-teen prostitute at the age of fourteen—and getting nominated for an Oscar? And then discovering that one’s performance in this role attracted a stalker who shot the President in a bid for her attention? Artificial worlds with incredibly narrow and highly incentivized gender roles. And then massive, public trauma around that gender role, even as one received a nomination for the nation's top award for it? Confusion much? And this was an era before “gender dysphoria” was a thing.
Another thing I find interesting about Foster is her choice of adult roles. Lots of female avenger/protector roles. And then there was Nell. For all the mockery, Nell was not of this world. She was someone whose identity had evolved free from gender roles. She spoke her own language. Hollywood, of course, femmed her up… but the story… ! The story is an intriguing one, and the film might have had more integrity if it could have committed to the androgyny that, at least to this viewer, would have been intrinsic to the situation.
Foster at Yale The butch identity, when not disparaged, is erased. Butch oppression is subsumed under the rubric of homophobia. There is no language for the multiple dissociations that occur when a lesbian butch lives a publicly closeted life and has an appearance that can be mistaken for a heterosexual femme icon… or when she tries to adopt a public persona to go with that.
But there are clues. For instance... one might be giving an acceptance speech in which one has difficulty figuring out one’s audience, or the tone one should adopt… resulting in a confusing monologue in which voice and focus alternate wildly. One could find it easier to split off alarming aspects of another person’s identity also… such as a history of domestic violence. One could make comments that indicate a certain dissociation from one's own body or appearance. One could be insanely uncomfortable.
But there are clues. For instance... one might be giving an acceptance speech in which one has difficulty figuring out one’s audience, or the tone one should adopt… resulting in a confusing monologue in which voice and focus alternate wildly. One could find it easier to split off alarming aspects of another person’s identity also… such as a history of domestic violence. One could make comments that indicate a certain dissociation from one's own body or appearance. One could be insanely uncomfortable.
I have no idea about what's going on with Jodie Foster. But butch invisibility is something about which I do care, as a lesbian playwright whose work features butch women. Not all tomboys are just immature fems. Some of them are butches, and that road is not an easy one. And let us just imagine a different Hollywood. What if an actor like Foster could have moved into a canon of adult roles featuring grown-up, tomboy women? What if she could have had celebrity cachet as a gorgeous masculine woman? Would she have gone for it? And how might that have changed everything?
Here’s hoping that future, with all its options, becomes a reality for other tomboy girls.
Thanks to Kathleen Carbone for her insight and inspiration in writing this blog.
Here’s hoping that future, with all its options, becomes a reality for other tomboy girls.
Thanks to Kathleen Carbone for her insight and inspiration in writing this blog.
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