Gender F-ck Gender and sexuality in modern culture.

I recently accepted an internship at Lakeshore Theater in Chicago, IL. While I haven't even technically started yet, the perks have already started appearing. This weekend I was able to see Sandra Bernhard (on Valentine's Day, no doubt) at the Theater where she did four or five shows over the weekend.


I'm actually a pretty big Bernhard fan, considering I've seen every single Roseanne episode ever taped (probably five times.) I knew she was just as crazy and amazing (though much more posh) in real life. She walked onto stage in a Cheetah-print coat and covered in crystals. Her comedy had me in terms, her songs had me smile. She's always been outspoken politcally -- expressing her opinion on what Bush did wrong and on what Obama has yet to do.

She joked that the abortion politics are getting out of hand and that when she was a teenager, getting an abortion was a rite of passage. She said, "We earned those abortions!" It's crazy that we're even having this discussion about abortions again. She spoke about sending her daughter to camp during the summer and how they had begun planning her daughter's Bat Mitzvah. She talked about how her girlfriend was able to sway her from Kabala and how Madonna maybe had even more in common with Michael Jackson than she claimed at the VMAs.

The pinacle of her show was her cover performance of "Circus" in closing the show. Bernhard's comedy was the perfect amount of zshha, jewess, lesbian, offensive and chic to claim me as a huge fan.

(Photo via Sandra's Myspace)

He deserves to be punished and extradited. No one is above the law. And we're talking about rape. Not rape-rape, Whoopi Goldbergs of the world -- there is no such thing. Rape is rape. A child is a child. These are black and white terms to describe exactly what Roman Polanski did years ago.

Also, a point to the Catholic Church: Yes your preists are pedophiles and a church problem (nothing to do with the fact that they molest BOYS -- gay does not mean pedophile). I might even go as far as to BLAME the church... well, that's what they're doing to the gays, aren't they? And yes the children they molested were, in fact, children. [Queerty, Jezebel]

(photo from Mika's MySpace)

Last week, flamboyant international pop star Mika came out as "Bisexual" in an interview with "Gay & Night" magazine. He claimed he puts no labels or limits on himself or his sexuality, but if people feel the need to label him, then call him bisexual. I think humans are very quick to need to categorize something that doesn't really need a category -- very often the case with sexuality. It's often this way because each of the sexuality labels (gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian) have some sort of political and definitely a cultural connotation to them. It's easy to associate yourself with others you have things in common with, especially if that trait makes you a minority.

Bisexuals are a very widely discriminated against group and behaps the most interesting and diverse category sexually. First off, bisexuals are often thought of as an imaginery group. People have no problem wrapping their head around same-sex attraction or opposite-sex attraction, but both will blow their minds. People think that simple can't be. It must be black or white with many people in regard to sexuality -- not gray. I have a hard time finding this train of thought logical. After all, we honestly must know that sexuality is more complicated than that. No two people enjoy exactly the same sexualities. Everyone enjoys different things, is attracted to different people and experiences different feelings.

However, many claiming to be bisexual use it simply as a stepping stone. Going straight to gay is often a much longer process involving a period where the comfort of bisexuality means you can always go back to what society deems normal: "opposite-sex attraction." This lessens the strength of the bisexual category -- seemingly full of people fooling themselves into thinking they can still be part of "the norm."

My favorite blog, BastardLife (probably NSFW), is bisexual genius Neal Bouton's tribute to actual bisexuality in a graphic, beautifully vulgar and enlightening way. Bisexuals do exist. They're not greedy, they are open to love and sex in whatever way life decides to give it to them.

I have no intent of trivializing what happened to Mackenzie Phillips. She was raped by her father, while addicted to drugs that he supplied to her. I will never blame the victim in any situation where rape is involved. That being said, she was an adult. I know nothing is easy about rape, but after being raped, consenting to a sexual relationship with your father for years, isn't the next logical step, whether or not you're on drugs. I think most can agree that her father was continuously raping her despite the fact that she thought she agreed to it. Many women are put in a position where they fear they have no way out -- which no doubt Phillips experienced to a degree we will never know and clearly, she believes she was consenting. Once you're raped by someone, I can't imagine sex with them would ever not be about rape.

My issue lies with how she's handling her healing. She's written a book and made a memorable appearance on Oprah -- which will no doubt launch her book to the #1 spot. This is all fine, if she were taking an activist role, educating and helping people in similar situations, but she continues to play a sad victim, timid to answer questions and upset by her situation. Then profiting off of that roll? If it's the case that she has not yet healed enough, she shouldn't catapult her story into the public eye. If she is at peace, she should own up to that fact and make what was a terrible, horrifying, disgusting situation and help others (which I have read she is also doing) -- not just make a buck. (read more from CBS news)