Dykes We Lyke, Vol. 1

 

“hers and hers” by Moriah Lancaster

If you’ve ever taken the time to Google “famous lesbians,” you would find a site listing Angelina Jolie as the second most famous lesbian of all time (because maybe she hooked up with a girl or two), behind Sappho, and another that lists Christina Aguilera, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu alongside Gertrude Stein and Melissa Ferrick, simply because they admitted to smooching with a few girls. Even in 2008, a lot of America seems to think that lesbianism is something that happens to straight girls at drunken parties and as far as mainstream media goes, if you’re a young lesbian who doesn’t enjoy listening to Melissa Ethridge or watching A League of Their Own, you’re out of luck in the role model department.

For those of you who are willing to do a little bit of research, you will find tons of LYKEable women in the public eye. And, for those of you who aren’t, it’s you’re lucky day because the lovely staff of LYKE magazine will do the research for you. In the meantime, if you’re up for the leg work, you can start with especially LYKEable fields, such as indie rock bands and 90s alternative groups, high fashion, and the independent film industry. With more extensive exploration, you can even discover trailblazing lesbian feminists who organized some protest or another, but have long since been forgotten by just about everyone aside from Kathleen Hannah and Bust magazine. “Dykes We Lyke” will cover both the Pop Dykons and the leaders of social revolutions. The goal is to offer alternative role models, whether it’s someone who organized a march or just played bass in some Boston band of the early 90s. After all, we can’t have the lesbian youngsters thinking they have to look up to the likes of the Indigo Girls. -Izzy Cihak

Question to Reader: Who was the first lesbian in the media that you remember looking up to or admiring? If I like your answers, I’ll strongly consider your picks for women to be featured in the column. For me, Kate Schellenbach from Luscious Jackson (and countless other projects) was the first dyke I ever really LYKEd and in 1999 I even got to dance onstage with her and the band at the Naval Academy, so you can be sure that there will be a column about her early on.