Politics, power and pop culture
| Politics, power and pop culture |
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Now it seems you don’t even need to be out: today’s celebrities need only dabble with their Sapphic inclinations to attract dykon status. Indeed, some would say a dykon no longer has to be a lesbian at all. “It used to be about someone who was living outside of mainstream expectations. That still applies, but it’s much blurrier now, I think. It seems to be just anyone who’s a bit feisty and hot,” explains Bridget Boson, the host of JOY 94.9 drive-time programme, The Campervan. “It also used to be someone who had a particular sort of androgyny. Now we’re seeing with the likes of Portia de Rossi that traditional forms of femininity are also being embraced as dykons,” she adds. Women who have been touted as lesbian icons in recent years include openly bisexual actresses Angelina Jolie (who famously had a fling with lesbian supermodel Jenny Shimizu before she settled down with Brad Pitt) and Kristanna Loken (who’s better known for dating Michelle Rodriquez than for her less than stellar performances as a slayer in Bloodrayne and a fembot in Terminator 3). Locally, Missy Higgins was worshipped by lesbian fans from the moment she burst onto the scene with her ambiguous chart-topper, ‘Scar’. Although she initially declined to talk about her private life, Higgins caused a stir late last year when she finally came out in an interview with MCV’s sister publication, Cherrie. Cherrie editor Katrina Fox defines a dykon as someone who queer women find either appealing or inspirational, or both. “For example you’ve got someone like Helen Mirren, who’s not gay in real life, but she’s portrayed very strong women on TV – she’s also played a lesbian – and I think lot of older women, and even some of the young ones, actually find her quite sexy and outspoken,” Fox says. “And then there’s someone like Missy … who was very popular even before she came out as not-so-straight in Cherrie … and when she did come out, her dykon status went up even more.” Speaking of music, you need only go to a P!nk concert - where you’ll spot so many lesbians in the crowd you might think you were attending a gay pride march - to realise that you don’t have to be a dyke to be a dykon. “She’s incredibly feisty, and she says what she thinks,” Boson says of P!nk. “And I think, with dykons, when they stand for something – she’s involved in animal rights, for instance, and has been for most of her career – that ticks off another box, pardon the expression.” Other women become dykons by playing lesbian roles in film and television. Although most of the cast of The L Word are actually straight – with the exception of Leisha Hailey, Daniela Sea and Katherine Moenig – it hasn’t stopped them from becoming sex symbols for lesbians the world over. Nor are they the first actresses to be embraced by the lesbian community because of the characters they play. But unlike Lucy Lawless as Xena, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy, and Gillian Anderson as Scully, who all developed cult lesbian followings, The L Word cast have won dykon status for actually playing lesbian characters, and not just strong women who challenge gender stereotypes So what makes someone a dykon? Surely, there should be more to being a lesbian icon than just celebrity, aesthetics, and actual or presumed sexual orientation? According to Katrina Fox, it’s women who possess a rebellious element that are granted dykon status. “We can now look back at different times and see someone like Frida Kahlo or Marlene Dietrich as dykons because they were challenging stereotypes or pushing the status quo; doing things that perhaps women weren’t supposed to do,” she explains. “Even The L Word, which is really quite fluffy, is bucking the status quo simply by having an entire programme about lesbians on television in mainstream America.” Across history, and in all fields of creative endeavour, there were women who are worthy of our admiration; certainly more worthy than pop stars just trying to make a buck: artists such as Frida Kahlo and Annie Leibovitz, writers like Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf and Susan Sontag, actresses from Marlene Dietrich to Jodie Foster, and filmmakers such as Guinevere Turner. The current wave of dykons, including Beth Ditto, the defiantly outspoken lesbian lead singer of The Gossip; the folk singers and lesbian activists, Indigo Girls; and acoustic duo Tegan and Sara, a pair of lesbian identical twins from Canada, owe much to the legacy of those women who came before them; who made it possible to be openly gay and still achieve mainstream success, instead of just being passive objects of desire. Back in the day, lesbian icons weren’t just women we wanted to bed; they were women we wanted to be: strong, smart, independent, assertive, capable, non-conformist and outspoken women. No one better epitomises these ideals than the late, great Del Martin, who died late last month aged 87, with Phyllis Lyon, her partner of 55 years, by her side. Martin and Lyon founded the first lesbian organisation in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis, and devoted their lives to campaigning against homophobia and domestic violence before becoming the first same-sex couple to legally marry in California earlier this year.
Now that’s my idea of a true dykon.
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What does it take to be a lesbian icon these days? By Anna Whitelaw, with Richard Watts.
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