Articles

Notes & Queeries | Back in the Day | Interviews | Analysis

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Notes & Queeries

In this monthly column published on AfterEllen.com, I write about the intersection of pop culture and everyday life.

• 07.09 Best Friends Forever — A new novel about college students and her own upcoming wedding has Malinda reflecting on the best gift of her undergrad experience — her friends.
• 06.09 The Allure of the Lesbian Vampire — The lesbian vampire is making a comeback in TV and film — what does that mean for queer women?
• 04.09 The Trouble with “Bisexual” — Malinda raises questions about the label of “bisexual” in light of Clementine Ford, Oprah, and her own coming-out story.
• 03.09 Rachel Maddow, Butch Fatale — Anxiety with butch lesbians is expressed in numerous mainstream articles about Rachel Maddow. (Read my blog post follow-up.)

• 02.09 Change Comes to “The L Word”—The show reminds us that we all struggle to evolve — and that’s a good thing.
• 01.09 The Truth About Lies —Two young adult novels remind us that growing up is about telling the truth.
• 12.08 Yes I Am — The central strategy of Harvey Milk’s campaign for equal rights — coming out — should still be our strategy today.
• 11.08 Come Out, Again — A recent episode of South of Nowhere reminds us of the need to come out to people of older generations.
• 10.08 The Undiscovered Country — Erica and Callie’s relationship on Grey’s Anatomy reminds us of the wonder of our first lesbian relationship.
• 09.08 A Wal-Mart Wedding — Ellen and Portia’s wedding is the talk of the checkout aisle in mainstream America.
• 08.08 An Open Mind — Buffy and Satsu show that sexual orientation is increasingly irrelevant.
• 06.08 Returning to the Indigo Girls — The hardest to learn is the least complicated.
• 05.08 The Wisdom of Exes — “Exes & Ohs” shows that it’s OK to be single and gay.
• 03.08 Beauty and Margaret Cho — The queer comedian’s latest tour, Beautiful, is blunt, explicit and important.
• 02.08 Friends and “The L Word” — Malinda Lo’s first monthly column about the personal side of pop culture.

Back in the Day

In 2005, I wrote a monthly column for AfterEllen.com highlighting key moments in the history of lesbians and bisexual women in entertainment.

• 12.05 Out on the Catwalk — From Gia Carangi to Jenny Shimizu to Kate Moss, Malinda Lo reviews the struggles and achievements of the modeling industry’s few openly lesbian and bisexual high-profile models.
• 11.05 The Ladder — The Ladder, America’s first national lesbian magazine, battled both internal and external controversies during its run from 1955 to 1972, and paved the way for many of today’s queer publications.
• 10.05 Personal Best — The 1982 theatrical debut was a watershed moment for bisexual women in film.
• 08.05 The End of Butch Chic — Masculinity in lesbians has become less acceptable since the k.d. lang-Cindy Crawford cover of Vanity Fair was published in the height of the early 90s “lesbian chic” craze.
• 07.05 Emerging from The Well of Loneliness — The 1928 publication of the first English novel written by a lesbian to focus openly on homosexuality created a sensation.
• 06.05 Cris Williamson’s The Changer and The Changed — This revolutionary album remains one of the best-selling indie records ever.
• 05.05 The Women of Brewster Place — This 1989 Oprah-produced miniseries included one of the first African American lesbian couples on TV.
• 04.05 Coming Out With Ellen — In April 1997, Ellen DeGeneres made history when she came out on her sitcom Ellen, and in real life.
• 03.05 The Kiss Heard Around the World — In February, 1991, two women kissed each other on one of television’s critically acclaimed dramas, L.A. Law.
• 02.05 Melissa Etheridge Comes Out — In 1993, during the first inaugural ball to ever be held in honor of gays and lesbians, Melissa Etheridge came out of the closet.

Interviews

Here are some of my favorite interviews with celebrities and authors.

• 09.08 Lena Headey — I remember this short and silly interview mostly for where I conducted it: In a photo booth on Santa Monica Pier.
• 05.08 Zero Chou — I spoke to the Taiwanese lesbian filmmaker through a translator to make sure I got the details right. (My Chinese isn’t as good as I wish it was!)
• 01.08 Laurel Holloman — The L Word star impressed me by telling me (when I met her at a GLAAD event) that she would be happy to do an interview, and then actually agreeing to one later. A lot of times people say “Of course I’ll talk with you,” but they don’t really mean it. I liked Laurel’s sincerity.
• 11.07 Dani Campbell — The best thing to come out of the travesty of MTV’s Shot at Love With Tila Tequila.
• 09.07 Melissa Etheridge — On the day of our interview, Melissa called me herself and said, “Hi, it’s Melissa.” At first I didn’t realize who it was, even though her voice sounded remarkably familiar, because she had called 20 minutes early (and usually celebs have someone else dial the phone for them)!
• 08.07 Laura Kightlinger and Nicholle Tom — The stars of The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman were among the funniest ladies I’ve ever talked to.
• 06.07 Donna Deitch — The director of Desert Hearts and The Women of Brewster Place was so forthcoming and kind!
• 05.07 Nicola Griffith — The author of one of my favorite books of all time, Stay, has led a very interesting life.
• 04.07 Kristanna Loken — The outspoken star of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
• 02.07 Laura Innes — The very smart woman behind ER‘s Dr. Kerry Weaver.
• 06.06 Valerie Mason-John (Download PDF) — A Buddhist, writer and all-around awesome woman.
• 04.06 Sarah Waters — Author of bestselling novels Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.
• 03.06 Val McDermid — A talk with the bestselling Scottish crime novelist about her writing process.
• 06.05 Joan Chen (Download PDF) — Remember her from Twin Peaks? How about Wild Side with Anne Heche?
• 12.05 Kim Stolz — I’ve interviewed five of the lesbian/bi models on America’s Next Top Model, but Kim was definitely the most interesting one.
• 04.05 Julie Anne Peters — Author of National Book Award finalist Luna as well as one of my favorite YA LGBT novels, Far From Xanadu.
• 09.04 Laurie R. King — One of my favorite mystery writers.
• 07.04 Katherine V. Forrest — My first interview with a real-live author.
• 07.04 Kate Clinton — My first-ever official, professional interview requiring a tape recorder!

Analysis

As a former academic, I can’t resist a good analysis. Here are some of my favorite analytical articles.

• 04.09 Young Adult Books Move Beyond the Coming-Out Story, But Still Face Hurdles
• 06.08 Lesbian/Bi Women in Reality TV 2008 — With at least a dozen queer women on prime-time unscripted TV on three different networks, I rate the good, the bad and the ugly.
• 11.07 Battlestar Galactica: Razor” Delivers a Crucial Lesbian Twist — The two-hour TV movie tackles war, betrayal and what makes us human, along with a critical same-sex relationship.
• 05.07 “Work Out” Complicates Lesbian Stereotypes — The second season of the Bravo reality series moves beyond clichés of power-hungry career women and predatory lesbians.
• 10.06 Queer Women On Reality TV are Making a Difference — This genre of television has brought lesbians and bisexual women into America’s living rooms in a way that would have been unimaginable a few years ago.
• 08.06 I’m (Not) Gay…So What? — Oprah Winfrey shows that being gay is not the stigma it used to be, but coming out is still a challenge.
• 04.06 Gender Trouble on “The L Word” — Through Max’s story line, The L Word reduced the complexity of transgender issues to a stereotypical war between the sexes and ridiculed the possibility of butch identity.
• 03.06 Coming Out, Coming Together (Download PDF) — The rocky road to building a queer Asian community.
• 02.06 China’s Super Girl Li Yuchun — The pop star’s rise to stardom marks a turning point in in queer identity in Mainland China.
• 01.06 Fanfiction Comes Out of the Closet — Changes in television, which has increasingly included openly lesbian characters, has affected fan fiction, with slash (fan fiction about same-sex couples) expanding from its male/male roots to an open expression of lesbian romance.
• 03.05 The Reinvention of Jenny Schecter — This season on The L Word, the writers seem intent on making Jenny a more popular character–and so far, it’s working.
• 02.05 When Conservatives Attack: Wife Swap’s Lesbian Episode — An episode of ABC’s reality TV show Wife Swap featured lesbian moms trading households with conservative straight Christians.
• 09.04 Lesbian Detectives Still a Minority in Mainstream Publishing — Mysteries featuring lesbian detectives, while more common than twenty years ago, still remain relatively rare outside of gay and lesbian presses.
• 04.04 It’s All About the Hair: Butch Identity and Drag on The L Word — Why aren’t there more butches on The L Word?
• 11.03 Making Over Ellen: Femming Up the Sorta-Butch — During the first season of Ellen Degeneres’ talk show, proucers toyed with giving her a more feminine makeover.