Question for Lesbian DU'ers from an ignorant gay man....

[Dookus]

Do lesbians have non-lesbian icons? The other thread raises the question as to why Judy Garland is such an icon for gay men, and there are many others: Streisand, Cher, Madonna, Patti LaBelle, etc.

But I can't think of anything equivalent among lesbians. Yeah, I know a bunch who love Melissa Etheridge, Indigo Girls and the like, but are there any men or even straight women that are considered lesbian icons?

[CapnJackSparrow]

1. honest question from a straight guy to the gay guys

I never understood the "Judy Garland-Patti LaBelle" admiration, nor did I ever get the show tune thingy. I'd have thought that the icons would be predominantly male. 'Splain, please.

[Dookus]

2. well, there's another thread on Judy Garland as an icon

but it does seem that we are attracted to very strong, yet vulnerable, women who are kind to us.

[pagerbear]

7. I"m a gay man who....

doesn't idolize Judy or Barbra or Cher, although I do appreciate their talent. Not sure I have any icons like that myself. Which is very, very sad......

[burrowowl]

3. As a Lesbian

This is a guy thing, like even heteromales have their icons.
Females, whether Gay or Straight think differently.

[cprise]

4. Patsy Cline

I'd say that was one big exception.

[Plaid Adder]

5. Couple things working against the icon thing for lesbians:

1) Many of us have, shall we say, kind of ambivalent feelings about straight women in the abstract. A lot of us share the experience of having been mocked by the straight chicks for not doing femininity right when we were growing up; plus, many of us have had the experience of falling for a straight woman and getting a whole lotta heartbreak from it. We get over it dealing with people in RL but perhaps it makes us more resistant to falling for straight female celebs.

2) On the other hand, straight male celebrities of the hunkalicious type are unlikely to appeal to lesbians, though more androgynous/queer male figures have a better shot (ask me some time about lesbians who write Holmes/Watson slash).

Ooh, wait, I forgot: for a subsection of lesbian culture, Elvis has kind of become an icon, but only when he is being impersonated by a lesbian.

3) So, who does that leave us to desire/identify with? Lesbians.

Obviously none of this holds true for everyone. There are (presumably) straight female celebrities that my partner and I have sort of turned into our own personal icons, but that isn't shared by teh culture (I dunno, are there any other lesbians out there who are big into Gong Li, Emma Thompson, and Laurie Anderson?....I'm waiting....)

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[burrowowl]

6. For a male actor

I always liked Burt Lancaster (The Train, Elmer Gantry ...), Mitchum, Henry Fonda (liberal), was infactuated with Ingrid Bergman and Candice Bergan (The Group).
I must admt that while visiting Turkey there were some Greek art looking studs that if one had wanted to reproduce, would have fill the bill for physical looks and physical improvement of the breed ... Intelligence and etc. Even the French men on the bus were appaled at how women were treated. We all saw a truck with a flat tire and the men sitting in it and one French guy on the bus shouted what are they waiting for? Their wives to change the tire ... and they probably were.

[foreigncorrespondent]

8. Dook...

...I must have inner fag, cuz I simply love all the gay male icons. And my fav tv show is Adsolutely Fabulous, Sweetie Dahhhhlllllinggggg!

If there are lesbian icons, I really can't name them.

I think we are each to our own. We all admire women, but not all of us admire the same women. :)

[Dookus]

9. heheh..

I knew it! Yer a gay man trapped in a lesbians body. Or something like that... :P

[foreigncorrespondent]

11. LOL

Actually I pinched the "inner fag" comment from Sapphocrat. She is always saying it about herself, and I guess it's one thing that has actually stuck in my sieve of a memory. LOL

[Mick Knox]

10. No Rosie? No Elton?

Man you just cant believe any stereo types nowadays

:P

[foreigncorrespondent]

12. Rosie...

...will never be an icon in the lesbian community. If she chose to come out rather than be outed it would be different, but she was outed.

As for Elton, I have never really been a fan of his.