Corinne could
be more
insightful
To the editor:
In her interview published in Ju st O ut’s
■eb. 3 issue, Tee Corinne brought up the
Joint that women who have forgotten their
)ast are doomed to repeat it While I found
ier slideshow, billed as lesbian erotic art, to
je at times inspiring and enlightening, it
>eemed lacking in the important aspects of
listorical context I feel that Corinne’s
esearch could allow her to be more insight -
ul and selective as to what she claims to be
our” erotica.
During both parts of the slideshow at MCC,
found myself wondering (as later discussion
showed some others in the audience were)
ibout who made various images and for
vhom they were intended. Corinne specified
some of the sources, and that some were
jnknown. But images from the historical
jast and present were included which likely
originated as tum-ons for men. As Lillian
^aderman has shown in Surpassing the
-oue o f Men, her study of aristocratic
oatriarchal European attitudes toward
lesbians. Surpeissing the Love o f Men shows
instances and depictions of women loving
women which were often tolerated because
men found them erotic, provided their own
dominant position was not threatened.
Analysis of cultural context and content is
necessary if we are to maintain a clear sense
of our own beauty and autonomy. We cannot
forget or ignore how and why images are
created and marketed today as erotica, and
accept anything suggesting lesbian love or
fantasy as liberating without examining
where it’s coming from. I specifically object to
Corinne’s inclusion of photographs by David
Hamilton: I am familiar enough with the body
of Hamilton’s work — that is, the female
bodies in it, which are almost uniformly
pubescent, blonde, and carefully undraped
— to be more repulsed by its content than
attracted by these forms, because I consider
it to be romantically disguised child por­
nography. Not surprisingly, Hamilton is one
of the few “artists” represented in Corinne’s
slideshow who is considered mainstream,
hence respectable and "aesthetic” enough
for coffee tables in straight and gay house­
holds alike. But I disagree with Corinne’s view
that this fact shows greater acceptance of
lesbianism . I am sending this letter to
Corinne, herself, in the hope that she will
consider these issues, and also include more
contemporary women artists in her show.
JUST O U T at the rink
A roller skating party sponsored by
Eve Sicular
SUNDAY
MARCH 25
5-7 PM
PORTLAND SKATING CENTER
MAIN BETWEEN SE GRAND & UNION
$2.00 IN CLUD ES SKATE RENTAL
Ju st Out, March 2-March 16
3