http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/...nstream-movies
Straight actors steal lesbian sex scenes as Hollywood embraces gay romance
With Black Swan and The Kids Are All Right vying for Oscars, it seems Hollywood is growing up ... but the best roles still go to straight women
from the article:
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The two favourites for the 83rd Oscar for best actress are Natalie Portman and Annette Bening and, if either of them wins, the ceremony will also mark a momentous night for many more women: it will be the night when lesbian sex scenes became part of the cultural mainstream.
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The casting of Portman, Moore and Bening, all straight actresses, in the roles of women who are bisexual or lesbian has provoked acrimony in Hollywood's gay community. Some argued that only well-known heterosexual stars were happy to take gay parts because they could be confident their career would not suffer. This view was dryly echoed by gay British novelist Stella Duffy this weekend. "It seems it is always fine for straight women to play lesbians – in fact, they quite often get Oscars for it," she said.
Casting gay women in straight female roles is more of a problem. Several well-known Hollywood leading ladies are thought to be lesbian, but have decided to keep it quiet. Just as gay actor Rupert Everett recently admitted to the Observer that he "would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out", so female starlets who want a shot at the A-list must still lead a double life.
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Historically, lesbian characters in film are often portrayed as threatening. Just as homosexual or effeminate men are viewed with suspicion in many screenplays, so gay women are associated with predatory obsession.
From the Beryl Reid character in The Killing of Sister George, to the malevolent and deluded teacher who is played by Judi Dench in Richard Eyre's film of Notes on a Scandal, cinema's crop-haired lesbians are clearly to be avoided. Beautiful young ballet dancers, however, can at least expect to be granted a sex scene.
This sort of unbalanced representation of gay women in mainstream show business is inevitable, Stella Duffy is convinced, as long as Hollywood is controlled by male bosses.
"The reason we see a lot of gay female sex on screen now is because straight men tend to get off on seeing gay women on screen and they don't get off on seeing gay men. And men are in charge. It is as simple as that," she said.
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I thought this article was interesting.
Do you think Gay/Bi/Trans actors should have first dibs on playing gay/bi/trans female roles?
What is your opinion on the culture of homophobia among Hollywood film makers? The encouraging of young actors to remain closeted for the sake of their careers?