Rachel Maddow's Sexuality Is Material For The Uninspired

Cerebral Itch has created an entire line of Rachel Maddow-inspired e-cards, most of which — like this one — revolve around Maddow’s sexuality more than her brains or personality. You know, because she’s a lesbian.

Can you imagine a straight anchorwoman — like, say, Campbell Brown — portrayed this way? Would it be a sly little joke if the opening was thinking about Campbell Brown and two men? No, right? Because Campbell Brown’s sexuality and her hetero-marriage aren’t part of her persona. It’s accepted, like the fact that she’s brunette or white, as part of background information. And yet, for Maddow — who is exactly as matter-of-fact about her life partner as Brown is allowed to be about hers — the rules are different.

Her sexual orientation has been discussed, debated, and made her an object of lust for both men and women. And although she rarely discusses it as An Issue, by sheer virtue of the fact that she’s not trying to hide it, it’s super-interesting to people in a way that Brown’s heterosexuality isn’t. It pains me to say, but the fact is that in our society to this day, there’s still this tacit belief that gay men and lesbians are somehow more sexual than the average hetero-American. People seem to think that while hetero-marrieds lie in bed at night and wonder why they’re not having sex, or argue about it, or sleep soundly without ever thinking about it, gay people are making constant whoopie, free from the social constraints surrounding sex. Being an avowed homosexual in this country practically means that many people think that your sexual orientation is more of a part of your consciousness and conscious behavior on a minute-by-minute basis than the average breeder.

And maybe because, as a homo- or bi-American, one is subject to discrimination and hate based on who one loves or chooses to have intercourse with, one’s identity is more a part of one’s daily consciousness than for a hetero-person — just as one might say that some women are more conscious of the social meaning of gender in this society than some men, or many people of color are more conscious of the social meaning of their skin color than the average white person. But that’s not why Maddow is memorialized holding a drink and inviting the recipient to consider a sexual act. It’s because when many people think “lesbian” they think “sex with women”.