Several months ago Marina was listening to an interview on NPR about this documentary and it sounded really interesting. I made a mental note of it and low and behold it is available on Netflix streaming. It got me thinking that actually, for me, my question would be Do I look gay? In which case the answer tends to be yes. And that really bothers me. I'm not gay and I don't want to be perceived as such, in the same way that I tend to be mistaken for a man and I don't want to be perceived in that way either. I don't have anything against lesbians or men (obviously!) or think that it is degrading or wrong or negative in any way to be compared to them; it's just that I'm not gay and I'm not a man. I'm a straight female and I don't like it when people think I'm something that I'm not. David Sedaris said in one segment that he sometimes felt good when someone didn't realise he was gay (that part of the film made me sad...). I feel horrible that I get mad and upset when someone starts talking to me about how much they like and respect Ellen Degeneres and think that gay marriage is a great thing because they automatically assume I'm gay and can think of nothing else to say to me. But it really makes me mad when someone says "Excuse me, sir..." Or like that time when I went in the ladies room at a fast food joint and an employee came in like two minutes later yelling, "Is there a man in here?! Someone just said they saw a man come in here!" Like what the fuck?!
Anyway...enough ranting. I thought this film was really insightful and the interviews with filmmaker David Thorpe's friends and especially celebrities like Tim Gunn (god I love that man), George Takei, and David Sedaris were particularly outstanding. If youse have a hankering for a really good documentary on a subject rarely discussed, give this one a try.
(photo kidnapped from impawards)
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