The Discourse on the Female Body

---> I'm not sure if you could read Indonesian, if you do well, read on.

There has been some very interesting developments on lesbianism on display especially through the Indonesian film industry. More recently however, a movie done by James Lee a popular children's author equivalent to R.L. Stine, Histeria made it to the top of my list when it showcased (although irrelevant, or relevant to the plot?) a lesbian kiss between two schoolgirls. It could be some perverted fantasy via pornography and pop movies, on the other hand, some 'rebellious' movies such as Berbagi Suami (Sharing Husband), do also display a lesbian relationship between two women who shared a husband. Lesbianism, contrary to the male fantasy via pornography, almost always at least shows what is interesting for men, not women, although in most cases I have been told that lesbian pornography garners more female viewers than male viewers. I have this itching feeling that it could possibly be because it showcases two women who embody the perfection that male sexuality craves (really?). It is youthful, well-breasted, no droopies here (which in reality is actually impossible without a talented plastic surgeon), and 'attractive' with long beautiful hair (wow, it is kind of rare to find a boyish haired porn star unless you count Bella something, I don't remember her name, it has something to do with nightshade?). To find a lesbian relationship, a mutually loving and exclusive lesbian relationship with all the trappings of actual realistic femalehood in pornography is almost impossible. Where then do we find such existence? Only through 'breakthrough' filming which showcases the different.

On the other hand, we have realistic depictions of womanhood but still with the regular dreams of marriage, love, bla3. Now I want to talk about the ever popular My Lovely Sam Soon, a Korean television series. Sam Soon, a woman whose above marriageable age, almost 'expired' (puhlease, how does it get this way?), mannish, funny, not exactly pretty for men, gets the man of her dreams. She got her way allright but she had to go through the rites necessary that labels her as the female body. A body that can be controlled on, a body that belongs to society itself. I'm not saying that the male body is not controlled by society, in probability even more so there exists a rigid existence for manhood (women can wear pants and skirts, men can never wear skirts/or a skort without being labelled as a sissy/fag/queer). In fact, I could suppose that men are repressed beings that exert control over others because they have no control over themselves.

The female body is constantly controlled, not by men, nay! It is continuously controlled by women, or gay men. They set the bar as to what is attractive and what is not. Gay men do have that control over womanhood and this is through their extensive involvement with haute couture.