A certain family member of mine who shall remain nameless, let’s call her…Lom, said this to me about four to six months ago; I can’t remember the exact date. I do remember the exact feeling though, the old shameful one that there is something horrible and perverted about me, which Lom has invested quite a bit of energy instilling, not that I am going to have a bitter rant about her.
No, my rant today is about how this false belief, that Lesbians are checking out het women in changerooms, plays into the ‘predatory Lesbian’ trope that dogs us all our lives. I suppose the assumption is that Lesbians are practically men, and since that is almost certainly what men would do if given free reign to hang out in women’s locker rooms, Lesbians are similarly unable to help themselves checking out all the nude female action. After all, we’re attracted to females, right? So it just makes sense.
Well no, actually. It doesn’t. For one thing, we *are* female. We can look at breasts and such anytime we want. No need to fetishize female body parts at all, really. For another, Lesbians are not attracted to all women just indiscriminately. Thirdly, the very women who would worry about this shouldn’t bother, because they are so invested in heterosexuality most of us don’t find them attractive. They look too straight, oppressed, and man-pleasing. We tend to have different beauty standards, and guess what – they don’t meet ‘em.
What is most aggravating about this stereotype though, is that the reverse is actually true! I am constantly finding myself being stared at by het women in changerooms – constantly! Stop that shit! It’s a form of lesbophobic harrassment and I am really tired of it.
No, the het women are the starers/fetishizers. They stare at each other and pick apart their body parts too, both their own and other women’s, and have detailed discussions about them and how they should be altered. It’s gross, stop that too, please!
I remember once I was in the changeroom after my workout and another Lesbian came in. I had clocked her from across the gym earlier. Her locker ended up being near mine and we smiled at each other and she made some joke about having a secret handshake. We chatted while we undressed, removing our clothing one item at a time and tossing them into our bags with reckless abandon, revelling in our ability to talk and be naked and act like normal human beings with each other while doing both. In the meantime the het women scurried around behind curtains and stole guilty glances at female flesh, and tried to put on underwear with towels still around them, clutching at themselves in horror when it wouldn’t stay put. Weirdos.
Actually, come to think of it, I would love an all-Lesbian changeroom. What a lovely, relaxing place it would be!
