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Controlling the means of production sounds like terminology from The Communist Manifesto – and it is, but it’s also a belief held by many lesbians in publishing and other media that if we do not control the queer media ourselves, gay men will ignore us completely, and also put us out of business.
In June of 2007, I published an article in Curve Magazine entitled “Lesbians Last” with the subtitle, “Does queer media conglomeration affect diversity and lesbian visibility.” The piece focused on a discussion about the dominance of PlanetOut, Inc., which had recently purchased Alyson Publications and gobbled up, as I wrote, “everything from small adult publications to travel companies, becoming the largest queer media company in the United States.”
First and foremost, those of us who are journalists (and comedians) know that there is an unspoken rule set by gay men that there cannot be more than one L in a line-up, whether it be an LGBT comedy show or LGBT publication. The emphasis is, of course, on the G both as producers and audience in these LGBT venues. Because if there’s already one lesbian on board, then we’ve already covered our bases. That’s really the idea.
This has happened to many a lesbian journalist who cannot break into the boys club of so-called LBGT publishing, just as our comic sisters cannot play together in any comedy lineup on an LGBT comedy bill. The line goes like this, “Hey, so-and-so bailed and we need to find someone to fill his slot.” The lone lesbian comedian (or perhaps a lesbian ally) suggests a particular woman, and the chorus whines, “But we’ve already got a woman.” No matter that three or five or nine or twenty-five of the other comedians, writers, editors, producers, directors, panelists, bloggers, critics, speakers, actors, poets, etc., are gay men…lesbians are simply not invited.
The door to LGBT media is not just closed to lesbians, it’s locked from the inside.
My Sapphic sisters and I don’t know for certain what goes on inside that LGBT media machine that is really just G media in any case; lesbians—and our trans and bi brothers, sisters and others—just know we rarely, if ever, are assigned an article, called to perform in a comedy show, or asked to speak on a panel (though we might be invited to moderate once in a while to give the illusion of inclusion).
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