Modern dyke culture is in bloom just look at lesbian meme culture
What a year, eh? There's been so much division generated to appear as though groups of queers are in raging opposition.
But of course, when you scratch below the surface, it’s clear that much of this is fabricated and sensationalised by mainstream (cough hetero cough) media's efforts and "devil’s advocate" types that clearly have never been advocates before…
There’s also the oft-mentioned lesbian erasure which has, wrongly, been attributed to trans people or blamed on the rejection of binary gender for many of us in the LGBTQIA+ community. In reality, I believe, lesbian erasure isn’t happening.
Well, at least not by us queers. Don’t believe us? Let me tell you about a little Queer Film Festival I'm programming.
This year’s Fringe! Film Festival programme features nine lesbian-themed feature films, three feature films with a gay cis male focus and four feature films about trans people’s lives. The rest have a mixed focus, either on LGBTQIA+ performers or on the community as a whole – or not about our specific genders at all.
🎆 IT'S HERE AND IT'S QUEER HUNZ! 🎇
Head to our site now for this year's line up of the best new LGBTQIA+ features, docs, shorts, porn & parties. Some of the bigger ðŸŽŸï¸ are now on sale so don't sleep on it!
Fringe! runs from 13 – 18 Nov. Enjoy: https://t.co/6qxVu5ORNq 📽ï¸ðŸ¦„💋🌈 pic.twitter.com/FC8fW6Us1y
— Fringe! Film Fest (@fringefilmfest) October 10, 2018
In fact, modern dyke culture is in bloom. I mean, just look at lesbian meme culture; you can’t go on Instagram or walk through Dalston these days without being hit with Big Dyke Energy.
It’s just that some of us are non binary. Some are masculine-of-centre. Many others of us want rid of gender altogether as it affects ourselves and those in our lives negatively.
A much smaller number of us strayed away from the term following a wave of TERF attacks on our pride parades, as well as on trans folx’ representation in the public eye.
But while the term continues to expand and becoming less restrictive, lots of us are still very proud to call ourselves lesbians and dykes – and that's more than reflected in the this year's festival.
During Fringe! Film Fest, 13 – 18 November 2018 and leading up to the weekend, we'll be screening some vital pieces of sapphic cinema, evidence of a prolific cultural output at a time when lesbian filmmakers are really finding their voices…
Want more? Visit fringefilmfest.com for the full line-up.
Martha Kate Margetson is programmer at Fringe! Queer Film Fest. This piece was originally posted to the Fringe! Queer Film Fest tumblr.
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