i am woman, hear me…
While drifting from link to link the past half hour, I ended up at an interesting page with a list of "50 Women Who Changed The World". Sappho is the first on the list (surely it's only because it's chronological, but still). It doesn't bother to mention she was a lesbian. That's progress when someone like Sappho can be who she is without adding that extra bit of information. Think of it.
It really doesn't matter most times. If I include Sappho's same sex love preference just because it seems more important than any of her poems, does that mean I should include Helen Keller (#25 on the list) and Princess Diana (#50) are heterosexual?.
I have always taken it so personally when someone thinks it's more important to see the lesbian versus the caring, committed, respectful and loving partner.
But wait. Let's not ignore all the others that get their fair share of voyeurs. Doesn't the media pay lots and lots of attention to what everyone is doing behind closed doors? Mary Magdalene at #3 is still trying to shrug off the thousands of years people squabbled about whether she was a prostitute or Jesus' wife. #27 is Eleanor Roosevelt who was pulled out of the closet she hided in despite marrying a Roosevelt; nothing could save her. Not even a Roosevelt!
As for Marilyn Monroe…we won't even go there. And there are all the lustful stories about Madonna (#49) which probably sold half her earliest records (until people realized that behind her kink was a talented woman). Anna Nicole's situation is as sad now as it was when she was alive. It's pathetic when you think of how this woman's son died in the same hospital room she was in as the mother of newborn, Dannielynn. We couldn't give her a minute's peace to gather some strength to go on; we had to critique the way she was grieving.
Seriously, how many people felt compassion for her as she dealt with a newborn, postpartum hormones and a son who died when her daughter was born. Let the woman rest in peace now. I wish we could do that, but you know what?
We won't. Ten years from now people will still be butchering her ghost. And that really pisses me off!
So why should I be so offended when people want to get into my business? You know what I mean? I think I'll just say…
Puh-leaze! Not even Oprah escapes all the speculation. Have you heard people pondering recently about whether Oprah and Gayle are getting it on? Is everyone not getting enough action that they have to gossip about the sexual habits of the rest of everyone else in the world? You know what?
Get a life! Just get a life, you snoopy people!
It's a lot more than a problem with homophobia; it's because the favorite pastime of many people is gossiping. What if every time someone put down a gay person we switched the subject to the details of the homophobic's bedroom habits? Maybe the lgbt are just getting more so we have more to talk about. If someone is so obsessed with who I choose to love, they really need to get a life or at least get their minds out of the gutter and back on their marriage.
There! I got that off my chest.
The list that inspired this post
The Sacred Texts' Sappho material