Jezebel: Lezebels

Top Models In Amsterdam Dip Fingers In Dykes

Tracie — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT

On last night's episode of ANTM, the girls went to Amsterdam which, according to Tyra, is a quickly becoming a fashion capital…of Holland. What immediately comes to mind when thinking of Amsterdam is LEGAL WEED. But I'd bet dollars to donuts that the girls didn't get to partake in any coffee shop tokes on this trip, because while smoking pot is legal there, it's just not something Tyra would think a Top Model should do. (Although, we know from first-hand experience that's not exactly true.) And although getting legally stoned wasn't sanctioned, posing like the prostitutes in the city's red light district was. Once again, the rules of what is and isn't appropriate Top Model behavior are as murky as that bathwater Marjorie, Elina and Annaleigh shared while they shaved each others' pubes, lezebel style. Clip above.

Earlier: Top Model Alums Give Advice On Sex (Animal And Otherwise)

Tyra Banks Has Lezebel Fantasies About Angelina Jolie

Tracie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:40:00 EDT

Paris Hilton was a guest on Tyra yesterday to promote her reality show Paris Hilton's My New BFF. Tyra asked Paris what celebrity she'd be friends with if she could. Paris said that she'd want to be friends with Angelina Jolie, whom she says she never met, because she's "beautiful and does a lot of good things for the world." Tyra agreed with the choice, saying that Angelina is seemed like she'd be a good friend because she'd be good in a fight, and because "if you have lesbian dreams, she's the one that you want to sleep with." Wha!? That sounds less like a friendship and more like a scene out of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Clip above.

Straight Women Who Kiss One Another For Attention Are Problematic

Tracie — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Yesterday's episode of Tyra was about "barsexuals," straight women who kiss other women in bars for "fun and attention." I've always been put off by women who put on such displays for attention rather than for their own pleasure. The annoying thing was that the women on Tyra's couch explained that they make out with other females for attention or free drinks, but are offended and disgusted that guys admit to buying them drinks because they want to have sex with them. Like Tyra said, "Are you doing this so they will respect your mind and your intellect?" Mostly, I'm just annoyed that these ladies made me agree with Tyra on anything regarding women's sexuality.

Tyra Asks: Which Kardashian Is Most Likely Go Lezebel?

Tracie — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT

The Kardashian sisters were on Tyra yesterday, and TyTy played a Newlyweds-type game with them. One of the questions: which Kardashian would be most likely to kiss another girl? (God, Tyra's really been on a girl/girl kick lately!) Anyway, all three sisters agreed it would be Kourtney. When Tyra asked why, Kourtney's answer was absolutely perfect: "Because I went to college." Ha! Clip above.

Wendy Williams Implies That Missy, Latifah, And Mariah Carey Are Lezebels

Tracie — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Have you been watching The Wendy Williams Show? If you're not (and you're home at 10 AM every weekday), then you should be. It's the talk radio star's live, morning talk show where she pretty much does the same thing she does on the radio — i.e., gossiping and butting into the business of celebs — but sporting nicer clothes and hair. Anyway, today while discussing gossip items about Missy Elliott (being afraid of natural childbirth) and Da Brat (she might have to serve time for assault), she basically outed them as lesbians, winked about Queen Latifah being the same, and then implied that Da Brat was more than just friends with Mariah, pre-Nick Cannon. Clip above.

Flashback: Madonna And Sandra Bernhard On Letterman

Tracie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EDT

I'm totally on a Sandra Bernhard kick right now. Remember when she was all best friends with Madonna in the late '80s until they had a huge falling out, (reportedly over Madonna stealing Sandra's GF Ingrid Cesares, DYKE DRAMZ!)? Here is their infamous 1988 appearance on Letterman, where the two are wearing matching outfits, and Sandra talked about sleeping with both Madonna and Sean Penn.

ANTM: Marvita Is Our Favorite Lezebel

Tracie — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Doesn't it always feel like we're robbed when Tyra springs a recap episode on us? I was totally excited to see if Fatima got deported and which one of Lauren's fingers got chopped off, as was promised in last week's "coming up" teaser. But no dice. However, the good thing about ANTM clip shows is that they include unaired footage of the inanity in the house, giving us a better glimpse at the girls' real personalities — particularly Marvita, who is a lot more awesome than editing had previously made her out to be. If I were living with 12 hot male models I wanted to bone, I'd probably behave the same way Marvita did in the ANTM house: Wrestle as foreplay, feel them up by giving massages, and show them my vagina. Clip above.

The Bad Girls Act Like Lezebels

Tracie — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Cordelia likes her new roommate Andrea — really, really likes her. On last night's episode of Bad Girls Club, the two bonded by performing sexual acts on each other as a way of entertaining their boss Although it's nice to see Cordelia finally have a friend in that house, her enemies act just as Sapphic sometimes. Neveen was so "disgusted" that Cordelia was sleeping naked one night, that she felt compelled to take a picture. Clip above.

Harriet The Spy: Iconoclastic, American Lezebel Icon

Jessica — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:30:00 EST

NPR's "Morning Edition" ran a segment this morning on what a groundbreaking work of young adult fiction Harriet the Spy was when it debuted in 1964. According to NPR correspondent Neva Grant, heroine Harriet M. Welsch was considered controversial because "Harriet saw too much, said too much. She even had to see a psychiatrist." Some schools banned the book, explains Grant, and some critics hated it, but readers, especially those who felt that they were outside the mainstream, appreciated that Harriet loved herself, disheveled hair and all. (You can get some more Harriet love in last Friday's Fine Lines column). Readers like Kathleen Horning, now a librarian in Wisconsin, liked the fact that Harriet was a tomboy who, unlike many 50s and 60s heroines, didn't have to go through a girlified redemption by the end of the book. In fact, as Grant reports, like Harriet, Horning was a "tomboy who didn't want to reform." Later on, Horning realized she was a lesbian.

"We felt like outsiders," said Horning, but "[Harriet taught us] we could be ourselves and survive." That message was an important one to young readers, and parenting blog Babble points out that Harriet paved the way for "beloved, fiesty girls" like Ramona Quimby, Eloise, Olivia, and Junie B. Jones. (But don't call them "tomboys." Apparently that term has term has been proclaimed sexist by a professor at Sarah Lawrence). The thing is, Babble writer Hannah Tennant-Moore then claims that "There remain few correspondingly gender-bending role models for boys. While it's become much more acceptable for girls to do traditionally masculine activities like play sports and crack smart aleck jokes, it remains largely taboo for young boys to play house, dress up, or quietly play with dolls."

I have to disagree with her. What about all the Roald Dahl heroes? I don't remember Charlie Bucket as a stereotypically wise-cracking main character. He loved his grandparents, wanted to help his mother, and was almost painfully earnest. What about James and his Giant Peach? Can you think of any other "gender bending" male young adult mainstays?

Unapologetically Harriet, The Misfit Spy [NPR]
Gender Roles In Children's Literature

Earlier: The Long Secret: CSI: Puberty