"Dude...lesbians!"

While not experiencing this discrimination myself, I am aware of the legal and social obstacles posed to lesbian individuals in American society. With this knowledge I was surprised to read the section in Lynn Peril’s book College Girl entitled “Crushes, or Making the Appropriate Adjustments” (87-92). Peril writes of crushes that developed between women at all-female institutions spanning from the 1850s to the early decades of the 20^th century (Peril 90-91). A crush was defined as an intense affection, which may or may not include romantic feelings, toward a close female friend (Peril 87-89). These same-sex relationships were widely accepted “due in part to the long-accepted ideal of romantic friendships among women…Women filled in the empty emotional spaces in each others’ lives, even after marriage and motherhood” (Peril 89). Still, these friendships were prevented “from going further than what was deemed socially acceptable” especially with the psychological developments of Freud and early sexologists who deemed “certain feelings and preferences that had before been within the spectrum of ‘normal’ female [experience]…outside the pale of acceptable female behavior” (Peril 88, 91).

With that historical basis, the pseudo-lesbian and college girl-on-girl action has become increasingly sensationalized in current films, television shows, and music. I use the term pseudo-lesbian because two females engaged in a physical relationship are only acceptable as long as it is pursued publicly and in the presence of heterosexual men. Actual homosexuality is one of the main enemies of True Womanhood and Pink Think, “…a set of ideas and attitudes about what constitutes proper female behavior” (Peril 7). If a college girl dabbles here and there in same-sex relationships, it is assumed as college experimentation and even at times encouraged or seen as “trendy”. Alice Pieszecki, a character from the popular Showtime television show “The L Word”, retells her coming out story (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnWX0itv-C8 ). This includes Alice making out with the other female member of her rock band while on stage at a show; Alice’s now former boyfriend watches this public display of affection and nods his head in approval. He is neither angry nor upset that his girlfriend is engaging in a physical relationship with someone else; this displays perfectly the way lesbian relationships are discredited in popular culture, especially those that occur or develop in college. As long as the relationship is short-lived, performed in the company of others, and not continued after graduation, a woman is still adhering to Pink Think (Peril 7).

I would be shocked if even one person in college has not heard Katy Perry’s song “I Kissed a Girl”; this song is another prime example of how lesbian relationships are not considered actual romantic relationships (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs ). Perry sings: “I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it/ It felt so wrong/ It felt so right/ Don’t mean I’m in love tonight/ I kissed a girl and I liked it” (http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/k/katy_perry/i_kissed_a_girl.html). Clearly, Katy Perry is not a lesbian, referencing her boyfriend, and understands that her actions are deviant. Author from the late 1800s, Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, who discouraged overtly affectionate female friendships, would most likely describe Katy’s actions as a sign of “a sort of perversion, a sex mania, needing immediate and perhaps severe measures” (Peril 91).

Unfortunately, opinions similar to Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen’s still exist. Lesbian relationships are either seen as mere college experimentation that a woman will mature out of or are seen as a “perversion…needing immediate” attention, read: correction (Peril 91). Romantic female relationships are, to an extent, accepted, but only confined to the college campus.

-Irene Davidson