June 17, 2026 • 49 mins
This week, Diosa and Mala discuss some of the films that made them feel seen, represented, or upon rewatching can now be considered queer film cannon. They dive into explicitly queer films, like "But I'm A Cheerleader", "Quinceañera", and "Mosquita y Mari" and more subtle queer films like "Mulan" and "Y Tú Mamá También." Diosa reveals the bisexual blues she feels each Pride season and Mala offers a fun solution.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The reason in Mulan that they're able to defeat the
leader of the Huns is because the soldiers that Ping
or Milan was training with dress up in drag.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
They dress up in drag, so they're able to like
go undercover infiltrate the enemy's palace and then fight back,
and then they're able to win back China.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
They save the Emperor. They save China.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
When Shang is falling for her, like she's in drag, right,
she's a drag king, yes, yes, yes. And then when
they save the emperor, Now the men are in drag
and they're female presenting, So there's a lot of drag
throughout Mulan. There's a lot of gender bending. And I
think that there is like a queer love storyline there underneath,
because really, for Shang is ultimately about his attraction to
(00:45):
Mulan and her energy and her as a person and
her spirit, and not her as like a proper Chinese woman.
That's not how he meets her and falls in love
with her.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Would you say that Shang is a representation of bisexuality?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Load o lao la lookamot is welcome to look at
our radio. I'm Deosa and I'm Mala and Happy Pride Month.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Happy Pride Month.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
On today's episode of Look At That Our Radio, we're
celebrating Pride Month by talking about the queer media that
shaped us.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
These are the films and media that were transformative to
us in our adolescence, in our early twenties, young adulthood,
and they're considered classics or canon at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And you, some of you might be too young for
these references, but consider this your education. If you have
not heard of these movies, go and watch them.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
They are classics.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
They are incredible, they are very campy, and you won't
regret it.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I want to start by talking about one of
my favorite ones still stands a test of time, which
is but I'm a cheerleader, and it's such an iconic film,
and I honestly don't remember how I found it. I'm
pretty sure I watched it by myself. The only thing
I do remember is that when I was a baby queer,
(02:06):
I was like fifteen sixteen at Catholic all girls school.
I had a little girlfriend, and I was just really
hungry for any type of education, any type of representation,
specifically about lesbians, and I was just searching the web,
(02:26):
you know, as we did back then, and I'm thinking
maybe I found it on Tumblr. Maybe there was some
type of listicle that was made on like some blog
back in the day. So I don't remember how I
found this movie, don't even remember how I had access
to it, but I remember watching it. So let's talk
about but I'm a cheerleader.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
But I'm a cheerleader starring a very young Natasha Leoni.
She is so cute and so precious in this movie.
She is our lead character, and her parents sent her
to a gay conversion therapy camp.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yes, and the conversion therapy camp is called True Directions.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And one of the counselors at the conversion therapy camp
is played by Rupe Paul Yes, which I think is
hilarious and so good.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
In one of like the first ten to fifteen minutes
of the film, when we learned that her parents are
sending her to a conversion camp, he is wearing a
blue T shirt that says straight is great and he
is a recovering former quote gay man but has been
like converted by this conversion camp.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And his character has a mustache I think, I think so.
In the movie, his character is a mustache.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And what's wild is that when I watched this as
a teenager, I had no idea who RuPaul was, right, right,
I had no really understanding of what him being in
the movie represented, right, But watching it now as a
woman in my thirties, I'm like, Wow, that's incredible that
he was in it. Like the gag, the.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Gag, It's just the layers of comedy in this movie
are impeccable. And it's very fem it's very pink, it's
very soft. There's a lot of pastelles. And I love
that what they did was turn the gay character going
through conversion therapy. They made that queer character a girl,
a teenage girl, which I think is really subversive and
(04:21):
unique and interesting. I think maybe like in our popular
culture discussions of conversion therapy, it focuses on like queer
mail youth being sent to these camps. But in this film,
we imagine this blonde teenage cheerleader being sent away to
scare the gay away.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
She's very much this representation I think of like the
all American girl, yeah right, quote unquote. And when I
was rewatching this film, some of the warning signs, I mean,
first of all, the writing is just so good because
it's so funny and it takes this truly horrific thing
that exists that still exists now, like Conversion Cam, and
(05:00):
really flips it on his head in a very satirical way.
And so in order to do that, the writing has
to be really good. Right. And so when they approach
when Megan's family, who's Natasha Leone? Right, when her family
and her friends approach her because they think that she's
a lesbian and they're sending her to this camp, they
discussed the warning signs that her character has, and some
(05:23):
of the warning signs are one she's been trying to
get them to eat tofu. There's a lot of vaginal
motifs in the artwork that she has, and she has
a very large Melissa Ethridge poster.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Oh all red flags.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I'm like, I checked like all of these off, minus
Melissa Ethridge. But like, yes, I also was a vegetarian
in high school.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh of course that's canon. That's a canon event.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Like canon event, it has to happen. No meat, no me,
no meat ever.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
So good.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
If you have never seen this film, and I don't
remember when I saw this film, I feel like it
was like playing just on TV, you know, like it
was just back in the day.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
When you would flip through channels and a movie was
just on.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yes, I think it was one of those situations where
I like saw it was just on that day, and
I sat down and watched it, and I'm like, oh
my god, this is incredible, Like this is cinema.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's truly cinema. And what makes it so great is
that it really does take the absurdity of gender norms
and roles and really highlights like the performance that it is.
Because in this conversion camp, the leader, the teacher, the coach, whomever,
who is played by the really incredible Kathy Moriarty, who
(06:42):
is so talented, she has them practicing like how to
be quote like proper men and women. Right, So the
boys are learning how to work on cars and the
girls are being taught how to like properly polish furniture
and how to properly clean tile and so very much
(07:04):
taking this gender role and really I think highlighting like
the performance that even heterosexuality is. And I think that
that is one of the ways that why the film
works and it's still so fucking good.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, it's sort of pointing out this hypocrisy of in
order to be you have to behave in a certain way.
But these are also things that are kind of just
basic life skills, like anybody should know how to clean
their home or to take care of their furniture. It's
not like a strictly like proper straight woman housewife activity,
(07:42):
you know. But it's this idea that like you have
to pigeonhole yourself into certain behaviors in order to be
whatever you're supposed to be in society. Otherwise, if you're stepping.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Out, you're wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
You must be converted, right, and it's the trappings of heterosexual.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And you know the film, I mean, obviously a conversion
camp doesn't work, right, If it quote works, it's because
you have forced an individual to repress their true identity,
right or you know, for a lot of different reasons,
right either like through abuse tactics. And the film does
(08:23):
play on that a little bit, right, but again it's
more in a palatable way, like these actual conversion camps
are horrific, but they mean they don't work, you know,
in order to because as we know right in twenty
twenty six, queerness is not or your sexual sexuality is
not a choice, right, it's inherent to who you are.
You're born this way, to quote Lady Gaga, and a
(08:45):
conversion camp won't work right. But what the movie does
so well again is highlights the absurdity of it all
and how in two months you cannot become straight. Just
it doesn't work that way. That's not how people work.
That's not how sexual works.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
No, that's not how sexuality works. So that's a it's
a great film. If you've never seen it, go check
it out. And that's that's that's Uh, are we doing
a countdown? Is that number five? I don't think they
need to be like we're doing a list. I don't
think it needs it's not a list. We're not conforming
to a list. We're not conforming to numbers.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We're just listing. We're just starting, We're just we're just discussing.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
But we have what's what's the next what's the next
film on our list?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well? This one you brought, which is Mulan.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Mulan Okay, So Mulan has an undercover queer storyline, and
I think if you've been on TikTok, you've probably seen
people talking about this. So when Mulan fought Mulan decides
to take her father's like soword, his warrior gear, his
(09:50):
samurai gear, and answer the call to join the Emperor's
army because her father is older, he's injured, he can't
do it. She doesn't I want him to fight. She
doesn't want him to join the army. She under the
cover of darkness like masquerades is him and puts her
hair in a bun and takes off on a horse
(10:11):
and starts training with the military and her like military
commander slowly starts to fall in love with the masculine presenting,
male presenting version of Mulan because he's falling for her personality,
her vibe, her energy, her appearance as a masculine presenting individual,
(10:34):
and she's calling herself paying and so he thinks that
like he's dealing with this soldier named Ping, But it's
Mulan the whole time, right, And then later when she
becomes like it's revealed that Mulan is masquerading as a
male soldier. He still like realizes that he like, He
realizes that he loves her right and like looks for
(10:57):
her and goes to her. Now that she's presenting female,
it doesn't change how he feels about her, because it
was about the person inside all along.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Also, like have to point out that the reason in
Mulan that they're able to defeat the Huns right, and
to defeat like the the leader of the Huns, is
because the soldiers that Ping or Milan was training with
dress up in drag.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
They dress up in drag, so they're able to like
go undercover infiltrate the like you know, the enemy's palace,
and then fight back, and then they're able to win
back China.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They save the Emperor, they save China.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
They save China in drag, in drag. They're all in drag.
Mulan is in drag.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
She Mulana is at this point presents as Mulan the daughter.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
At that point in the storyline. In the storyline, but
when uh, what's what's.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
The the hot Shane mad or Shang, when Shane is
falling for her, like, she's in drag, right, She's a
drag yes.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And then when they save the Emperor, now the men
are in drag and they're female presenting. So there's a
lot of drag throughout Mulan. There's a lot of gender bending,
and I think that there is like a queer love
storyline there underneath, because really, for Shang is ultimately about
his attraction to Mulan and her energy and her as
(12:21):
a person and her spirit, and not her as like
a proper Chinese woman. That's not how he meets her
and falls in love with her. He comes to find
that she's a Chinese woman, but he thought that she
was a Chinese man at the outset. So for me,
I feel like Mulan is a very subversive queer love story.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Would you say that Shang is a representation of bisexuality.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Absolutely, I think Shang is not only a representation of bisexuality,
but likely pan sexuality.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, Like if Shank's.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Partner, if Shang was in a committed relationship for five
years and his partner came to him and said, hey, babe,
I'm trans, Shang would be extremely supportive.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yes, and and.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Like therefore it that's loving. I think Shang is pan sexual. Okay,
I agree, It's not about the package, it's about the person.
For Shang coin that clip, that clip that.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I love it that Yeah, I love when we as viewers,
the general, we as viewers can take a film and
really read it through like a gender and set queer
lens right and really subverse it and see like wait,
there is actually a queer reading of these characters. And
(13:45):
I know that that is a really popular thing that
happens with like fan fiction and like digital circles where
they will take like these two characters who let's say
they're you know, best friends, they're both men and maybe
in the film there's no like a clear indication of
a romance, but a then fan fiction or like the
(14:07):
fanned community, the fandom will definitely do a reading of
like wait, actually this is a queer love story. And
I think that's one of my favorite things of about
like a fandom is that they can they can really
pick up and do like a reading of film and
TV in different ways.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Absolutely, I feel like this could be done for like
SpongeBob and Patrick Righte SquarePants and Patrick Starr. Like I
feel like SpongeBob and Patrick are in like a non
monogamous gay relationship.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
They are like I think that Patrick is.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Is neurotypical, neurospicy like on the spectrum and is a
little bit more flexible with like their presentation can be
more femme presenting is like a soft femboy. Okay, that's
why I think about Patrick, And then I think SpongeBob
is a little bit more like has anxiety, has a
(15:09):
job that he doesn't love. Is a little bit more
like atypical as far as like he's not he's he's
a little more neurotypical. I think SpongeBob is a little
bit silly. It's a little bit funny. Always wears the
same thing, right, is always in his little shorts.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Does that actually mean maybe he's a little neurodivergent.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
No, you're right, he is.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
They're both neurodivergent, and because they both wear the same
thing every day. But they also don't want to live together.
They want to live in their own spaces because they
have their own routines, they have like the things that
make them comfortable. But they come together when they want
to spend quality time.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
I love that. Yeah, that's a good reading.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah. Is that is that a thing online?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Probably between the characters, Not that I've seen, Okay, not
that I've seen in your reading.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
That's my personal it.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I do think that there is is like a very
covert like queer. But they might they're romantic, but they're asexual. Okay, yes,
they're They're a queer romantic, asexual, neurodivergent queer couple.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Then don't go anywhere, lokomotives. We'll be right back. The
conservatives paid it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
The conservatives have nothing to do with this. This is
not for the conservatives.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
This is for us. Nothing we do is ever for them.
Next I think on our list is the iconic Mosquitai Madi.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And you know what, I've actually never seen this movie.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
You've never seen mosquiteai Madi And.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
We interviewed the director.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yes, yeah, take that back, It's true.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I've never seen the movies. I've never seen the movie,
so tell me tell me about.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
It, Okay. Mosquiteai Madi is such an incredible film because
why not only is it written and directed by Alroo,
who's an incredible chic on a filmmaker, but it documents
this slow burn love story between two Chicanas living in
(17:10):
Huntington Park. They're both in high school and they develop
this friendship where there's a lot of like longing yearning.
There's a lot of quiet in the film, a lot
of silence where it's one of those like the silence
is so loud where nothing is necessarily said between them,
(17:31):
there's really nothing really like maybe one like sexual moment
where it's like there's tension, there's like some caressing happening.
But I think what makes it so beautiful and still
so incredible is that it really takes like the adolescence
(17:51):
experience of being a queer girl and questioning your sexuality
and like having a really close friend. But you know that,
like this is not the same type of friendship that
you have with like your homegirl next door, right, There's
something very different about this friendship that you have, but
you can't name it yet because you don't know. You're confused,
(18:14):
maybe you don't understand it. Maybe you're not even willing
to accept that you have romantic feelings or non platonic
feelings like for your friend. And in the film, you know,
Madi is definitely I think a little more mature than
the other young girl who she calls Mosquita, and I
(18:37):
think that she has a little bit more of an
understanding of what's happening a little more because she is
a little more mature. Is us actually forced to be
mature at a younger age that she knows, like she
identifies like this is not the this is not just
a platonic friendship. And you know they end up going
their separate ways and nothing has ever really said. And again,
(19:02):
there's just so much beautiful silence in the film, and
I think it's just such a good representation of what
it is to be like a queer young girl, especially
in this case that Chicana or Latina, and like not
really knowing what any of it means, but like knowing that,
like I have really strong feelings right now and I
(19:22):
can't really name it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, they're experiencing like a burning desire.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Burning desire and unable to really name it.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yet because that feeling is supposed to be coming from
a boy.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yes, Yeah. And I think like these relationships that you
have when you're a queer girl in this case right
where you have these friends where you can later look
back in retrospect and be like, oh, there was something
romantic here and it scared us, or it confused us,
(19:56):
or I didn't even know what was happening. And I
had this experience with this friend who were no longer friends,
but now I can see I can look back and like, oh,
there was like a lot of romantic like tension between us,
but we didn't. We never named it, and we never
acted on anything. But then years go by and we
(20:20):
were kind of still in each other's lives, and then
one day, I don't know where, she just like blocked me,
and we never had a falling out. We like never
again acted on anything. Nothing was ever said. We were
both in relationships with people, and I never really understood
what happened because we didn't have a falling out, we
(20:40):
didn't have a fight. I had actually seen her like
a couple days before she blocked me, and we had
a mutual friend because we all went to school together.
And she told me when discussing this a couple years later,
maybe a couple months ago now, she tells me, you know,
maybe because of that questioning right, like and because there
(21:03):
was this tension at one point in your friendship even
though you were just like young girls, she just like
couldn't deal with it, like didn't even know how to
be friends with you in that way. And yeah, I
don't know if that's what happened. I don't know if
that's actually what it was about. But it was one
of probably one of the only like friend breakups that
(21:25):
I've had that like had no closure, like no understanding
of like, wait, what happened here? Because I just saw
you a week ago and now I'm blocked and I don't.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Know why, sort of like if we can't be lovers,
we just can't be.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Who knows, because we can't be anything different relationships. And
we both never said anything, you know, and it wasn't like, oh,
we have these like longing feelings for each other, but
we're with other people. No, Like it was never acknowledged
in that way. And it's like at that point we
had moved on from it because we were little girls
and then we were young adults, and as the young
(21:59):
adults that we were, we weren't feeling that. I wasn't
feeling that way towards her, So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Fascinating do you think it was like she would still
look at your posts and look at you and feel things.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I have no idea I really could.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Maybe there was a crest guilt on her end because
she's in a relationship.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Maybe so she just had to like put you out
of her mind.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I'll never know.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Oh girl, you're just out here torturing people. Never never
torturing people. That's that's spicy. Another great film Matambien.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Love it, classic iconic.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
I love this movie.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
This is Just a Banger by Alfonso Guaron, starring two
of our faves, Diego Luna and Guy el Garcia Bernal,
who have just made a bajillion amazing movies together. I
love these two in a movie. If they're in a
movie together, you know it's going to be good. They
have so much on screen chemistry. And this movie, their
(23:01):
two characters take a road trip. Within the film. One
of them has a cousin and her name is Luisa,
and they are at an event at a wedding with
her and and she happens to be there and they're
chatting and they're like, oh, she's a hottie. Yeah, And
they tell her that they're taking a road trip and
she's like, Oh, I want to go with you guys.
And the thing is she's harboring a secret she doesn't
(23:25):
tell them, and she has a husband, but she like
decides to, like, you know, she's gonna just like kind
of like run off and go on a road trip
with these guys.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
The husband is related, I think, to Diego Luna's.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Character, and that's how their cousins, that's how their.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Cousins and it's implied that he has affairs like he's
a Mohi Diego she and she has maybe withstood it,
you know, for like the sake of Egeridan and has
you know, just really endured it.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
She's very much like within her marriage like a Sufri dam.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yes she is, Yes, And so she decides, because of
this secret, she's going to do something wild, maybe do
something different. And so she goes on this road trip
with these two boys.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, and so they get into all kinds of like
crazy hijinks. One of them hooks up with her and
then the other one hooks up with her, and then
there's a very famous scene where the three of them
engage in a threesome and then Guyelle.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And Diego's characters then make out with each other.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I mean, let's talk about the infamous threesome scene, because
not only is it the three of them, right, but
they're dancing that she selects a song on a jukebox
in the little like beach town that they're at, and
they're dancing to Sino Tierra Silo by mat Conto Solis,
which is an incredible song, and you know she's dancing
(24:49):
to it. Essentially, she calls one of them over and
they you know, start dancing, the three of them together.
She kisses one of them, she kisses the other, and
exactly like you said, the two star kissing each other.
But I think what's also important to know is that
throughout the film there is this build up and to
the friendship of the two of Diego Luna, and Right.
(25:13):
It's this, I think, very subtle. You have to really
pick up on it that there is something more than
their platonic friendship. They're not just like two like bros
that are like messing around and like having this like
fun road trip. There is something deeper than in their friendship.
That's there's some romance there that maybe they can't even
(25:36):
recognize it. But the way they fight, like they're fighting like.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Lovers, very passionate, very passionate.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
And one of the things that they're fighting about, I remember,
is that it turns out like one of them slept
with they both slept with each other's girlfriends, basically, but
the way that they're fighting, it's like it's not that
they're mad that they slept with the girlfriend, but it's
more like that they can't sleep with each other. It's
like that fight where it's like, I'm not really mad
that you're with her. I'm mad that I can't be
(26:04):
with you, but you're not with me exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, yeah, so a lot of covert it's like smoldering.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yes, smoldering homeroodicism the whole time, and then the built right,
the build up to, then the climax of the threesome
and then them two kissing, and it is implied that
like that's kind of the end of their friendship, right
the summer ends, and like everyone goes their separate ways
(26:29):
until they reunite later, like years later, and a diner scene.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
In the diner scene and they're like all grown up
and in their careers, and then we and we find
out at some point that Luisa has like a terminal cancer.
She's terminally ill, and so this is like her last hurrah.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
That was her last hurrah.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
This road trip with these two guys.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, it is such a tragic but also beautiful film,
and it is one thousand percent of queer film.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Absolutely a banger. If you have never seen this movie,
ithu maamaambien. It is a certified classic.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Go watch it.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
And another one. I love this movie. I love, love
love Kinsenerra This is an indie film that is based
in silver Lake. And in this movie, there's a lot
a lot going on in this film. It's kind of
a simple film, but a very complicated film at the
exact same time. So we're in gentrification, like gentrification era
(27:30):
silver Lake, and our main character, Magdalena, she's Mexican American.
You know, Silver Lake used to be predominantly Mexican American
before it is what it is now, which.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Is like very white.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
But back in the day there was like a lot
of gangs in silver Lake. It wasn't considered a super
safe place. It was very Latino. It was considered more
working class. So that's like the setting of this era
silver Lake and this film. So Magdalena, she's fifteen, she's
getting ready to have her kin Signeta, and in the
(28:03):
preparation for her kinse she finds out that she's pregnant. However,
she has never had penetrative intercourse. We find out that
what happened was she was messing around with her boyfriend.
He ejaculated like on her upper thigh, and she gets
pregnant that way.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Maculate conception.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It's ammaculate conception, and it's the sort of thing where like,
who's going to believe her? Her family is like so
devastated and disappointed in her, and she cannot really explain,
like I've never done it before, I'm a virgin, but
she's pregnant at her kinse. At the same time, there's
this parallel storyline where her brother lives in the grandfather's
(28:46):
like back house and they have new neighbors who are
these like white gays who are gentrifying the neighborhood. They
move in next door and remodel the house. And so
Magdalena's brother brother is he's a he's a straight up.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Cholo and he's her brother or her cousin.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I thought he was her brother.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Does it say he's the cousin in the in the wiki,
in the IMDb he's.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
A cousin, Okay, her cousin, and he's a cholo. He's acholito.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And he starts hanging out with the white queer neighbors
next door and eventually starts hooking up with them and
like engaging in a sexual relationship with them. So we
come to learn that he's like down low queer, closeted,
and it just kind of moves through the film moves
(29:37):
through the complications of these two characters in their families,
living in this gentrified neighborhood and battling with their culture
and their age and their identity and their families.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And it's just a really well made film.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
It is. And can I just say that that concept
of her Michael Lenna getting pregnant through like immaculate conception
basically terrified me. I wasn't even having sex with boys
at the time, and I was like terrified, Like can
that really happen somehow? Somehow? You know. Yeah, it is
(30:14):
such a good film, especially for being for the time
that it was released right in two thousand and six,
that it can still how many twenty years later, while
twenty years later we can still look back on it
and see like what it was really doing, I think
for Latino in Latino media, queer media, right, and unpacking
(30:34):
these stories that happen in our communities, right, and tying
it to this, to the to the Quintana, which is
such a big cultural event, depending you know where you're from.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Absolutely so Quintanetta. Go check out that movie. Another banger.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, yeah, really good. Don't go anywhere, Lokomons, We'll be
right back. Is there anything else you want to say about.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
I think my boyfriend and I were talking about this
because he was asking about what we were recording today,
and I said, oh, it's our Pride Month episode. So
we're talking about queer representation in film and television and
some like subtle storylines where it's not obvious, like Mulan
And he said, oh, so like Blood and Blood Out,
(31:25):
And I'm like what, and he's like, yeah, Between Miklo
and Al, there's a lot of covert homoeroticism, like a
lot like a ton and like one of them sucks
on the other's finger. There's butt slapping, and in a
lot of these films, these Chicano films, including like American Me,
Blood and blad Out, there's a lot of this, And
(31:45):
I think that what happens because these are dealing a
lot with like gangs and gang violence and like basically
Mexican men Chicano men killing each other and like engaging
in organized crime and like being in prison and locked
up together, and then these like queer like storylines are
(32:10):
sort of there, and I think that there's a commentary
there about how their worlds and their societies and themselves
don't allow them to express their desires in like loving ways.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So they do it through aggression and through.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Through violence and through like oppressing one another, and it's
a way for them to like seek intimacy, but they
do it in a very sort of violent and perverse
way through domination and being domineering and seeking power over
the other. Because this is just like the in these films.
(32:50):
I think the idea is that whatever institutionalized racism and
like the neighborhood you grow up in and the society
that you're raised in can like drive you to do
horrendous things. And so then these storylines have sort of
baked in these kind of secondary storylines right about like really,
(33:12):
these men just want to love each other, but they can. Yeah,
so for all the cholo queers, like yeah, blood and
Blood Out, I think maybe that's another one that has
some covert homoeroticism.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
For Pride Month, I love that as a contribution, and
that Chicanos would hate it, but I love it so
much because, yeah, there's so much there in the way
that men are not young boys and men are not
allowed to show affection with each other, right, They're not
socialized to be like emotionally vulnerable. They're not socialized to
(33:45):
express their feelings instead. But the violence is okay because
that's where like the boys will be boys comes from,
And so I can definitely see how then that is
the acceptable way to even and like have physical touch
is like through violence or through like physical altercation versus
(34:06):
like maybe you just need a hug.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yes, you just you just need a hug. Maybe you
just need to sit on someone's lap, like you just
need comfort, Yes, physical comfort, tenderness, tenderness, tenderness.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
So I think that's that's our takeaway for Pride.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Month, like hug your homies, kiss your homies good night.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, I mean, and I think we say this you
know year round that you know, Pride Month is not
just one month, but really like check in on check in,
be there, be present for like your queer and trands
community members, Like this is actually a really difficult time.
It's historically always has been, but I think now with
(34:47):
legislation changing and reverting, like it is a really challenging
time to be a member of the LGBTQ plus community,
especially if you are trans so like really really like
connect with each other, connect with your friends, you know,
(35:07):
if you're an ally like being an accomplice, be an
active ally, donate when you can, you know, and really
like be an active participant in our community beyond this
Pride Month.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yes, and support the organizations that are committed to doing
the work on the ground every day, like the Trans
Latina Coalition.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
We love them.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
They are super active on every level from legislation to housing,
to representation to employment. I mean they do everything and
they're making a real impact. We had Bambi Salcedon on
our other show, Senora Sex said talking about her work
on the Trans Latina Coalition. So check them out if
(35:50):
you're looking for an organization to support.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So something that I challenge myself to do this every
year and every year I fail. But during Pride Month,
I have I you know, there's more events programming that
happen in the city of La right and beyond, like
how many different pockets of the community of La So
I always tell myself like, Okay, I'm going to go
(36:14):
to like one event a week, or I'm going to
go to something like throughout Pride Month because of all
the different activations that happen, and I just never do
for a variety of different reasons, like it gets busy,
something happens. So this Pride Month, I'm like really going
to do my best to hit up at least three events,
(36:36):
you know, and like be out in the community and
do something. And I have been thinking about this for
some time, you know, as someone who is partnered with
a man, and it just is like a really like
weird place to be in in the community, and like
I'm trying to find my place, and I think I
(36:57):
will forever be trying to find my place as long
as as I'm partnered with a man, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
It is weird being partnered with a man.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Yeah, it's always weird. It's weird, it's weird, it's strange, strange. Yeah,
not necessarily love my partner. But you know, because we're
talking about like the queer films that shaped us. You know,
when I was the queer, the baby queer, watching these
like I thought I was going to be with a
woman like later in life. You know. So when my
you know, path and my identity like evolved in this way,
(37:27):
it took you know, a reckoning for me to even
be like comfortable with this identity shifting and evolving, right,
and like not being so rigid with myself and so
I still find myself doing that to myself now, you know,
and like excluding myself from Pride events and like queer
(37:48):
events that happened like throughout the year. There's like some
parties that I'm like that would be really fun to
go to, but like I don't want to go by myself.
I'm not going to take Fernando and so so how
do I like find like a little you know, friend
group that like I can go with?
Speaker 3 (38:06):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
That's also I think what it's like, I don't want
to go with someone. That's like trying to like meet
someone because I'm going to be by myself. Yea. I
also like can't take my partner because I don't want
to do that, you know what I mean. So it's
like navigating that. It's like I need to go with
someone that's like, yes, I will be with you. I
will be with you tonight.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Wait, have you gone to a pressioa night?
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I haven't, Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
So I went to a pressiosa night at the Virgil Yes,
with my boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
But it was cool because what they do, which I
think is so clever but conscientious and thoughtful, which I
think is solving this one of these problems.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
You told me about this, yes, yes, So.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
What they do at Presiosa Night and we had Eaton
and Jay on the show, Senyora Sex said they are
the founders, owners, creators, DJs of Presiosa Night. So they
put out risk of different colors that mean different things.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
So you wear your risk.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Band if you're actively looking, you're trying to meet somebody,
you're there to mingle. They have a risk band for like,
if you don't want to be approached, they have a
risk band for like if you're taken in a relationship
kind of a thing, so that you walk in you
have your wrist band and people know like whether to
approach or not to approach. Because I think that this
(39:25):
kind of this issue is maybe more common than we think. Yeah,
oh and it's an issue this experience.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, it is my experience yea. Yeah, and it's an issue,
but it's not an issue.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
It's your experience, it's my experience, and it's shared.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
So I think they're way of answering that and accommodating
it and acknowledging like this is what people are living
with and like this is how people are moving but
want to have fun in this very lesbian space.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Here's your risk band.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, I would love to connect with more bisexual women
who are partnered with men or pind sexual women, queer
women who are are partnered with men, like long term
partnered and like know how they navigate this. So this
is my plea.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Oh to the listener, Okay, if this is you, dm us, Yes,
let's clip this, dm us and then maybe we can
have you on the show to talk about this.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Maybe this is a good follow up episode.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yes, I would love to talk more about bisexuality. And
here's the thing, here's a thing I'm always like, you know,
I'm going to write something about you know, bisexual bisexuals
and like the experience and the community and like these
are the things that happen. But then I'm like, okay,
I also don't want to be like here we go,
here's the bisexual again and I'm talking about how she
(40:42):
married a man and like now she's now she's like
alone and doesn't know what to do, and I'm like,
all right, so I can't do that. So again it's
like I'm trying to like solve this experience for myself.
Then maybe I'm also like putting on myself.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
It's a self fulfilling prophecy.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
At this stage, I think I was.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Saying that, who's saying that, here we go with the
bisexual who's married to a man?
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Oh, I think it's the biphobia. It's the biphobia that
exists within the community.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Oh, I see you.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Yeah, But do you think that somebody would actually comment that.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Okay, say you know what I've been harboring for like
two years now.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Please tell me. Okay, so you love to harbor something.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yes. So a year ago, Michael Dura asked me to
provide like some queer book res, so I did. I
gave them a great list. I recommended in the dream House.
I recommended Loca by alejandroa. I recommended The Lesbiana's Guide
(41:40):
to The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic High School, and maybe
one more. And I thought my list goal was very cute.
It was representative of like the different pockets of the community.
And somebody commented that I don't know, but was like, oh,
we're taking advice from the streets now. It's like, oh, oh, okay,
(42:03):
so not only are you being like femphobic, you're being biphobic.
And also you don't fucking know me.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
You know, have your credentials.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
I have my credentials, you do, And those are the
things where I'm like, it can happen once, it can happen,
like the negative experience can be less frequent. But I
think as as humans, right, and as as someone who's
like a little sensitive, like, those are the things that
you remember, like that's what sits with you, not like
the positive messages of like thank you so much for
(42:32):
like talking about bisexuality, or thank you so much for
like speaking on this or speaking on that, but like
this negative comment is like what will like sit with
me or what I will sit with and what will
stick with me versus like all the positive messages you know.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Okay, so somebody has commented this literal comment. Yes, I see, Yeah, okay,
So it's uh, you're protecting yourself.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Yes, from being perceived, from being perceived.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
From experiencing this.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
It's it's also not that it's your job to do
this labor, but it also is like an opportunity, you know,
to like for someone to say something like that and
then to respond, right, Yes, that's not that you have
to or you should have to.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
Yeah, but it's a teachable.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Moment, it is a teachable moment, but then it's like
I think it goes back to being online, where it's like, Okay,
do I ignore it or do I make it something bigger?
Speaker 3 (43:24):
Real?
Speaker 2 (43:25):
You know, that becomes like your whole life is responding
to everything. Yes, you don't, you don't have to defend yourself.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, And I think that's what feels like really icky
about the whole thing, is like, do I have to
tell you that I've like slept with women, that I've
been with women, like that I've been in relationship with women?
Is that what makes me valid to you? Because to
know who I've had sex with? And I think that's
where it gets icky. I'm like that cannot be. Like
the only way we like validate who we are is
(43:54):
like who we're fucking like who we're having sex with.
And I think that's why I'm like, ew, like, you know,
not that it's ill, but it's like, why is it
that I have to tell you, like my sexual history,
my romantic history to prove to you the general you, right,
that I am bisexual or that I'm queer, I like
(44:16):
can be in this community also.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Right, right, It's none of their business.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
None of their business, their business.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah, well, I would love for you to write that article.
I think it would be fabulous. I think it's much needed.
One day nobody's talking about this.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
There's this account that I love to follow. It's called
by Astrology by at Buy Underscore Astrology, and she is
so gorgeous, so fabulous, so smart, and she like talks
makes a lot of content about like the biphobia in
the community, especially like she's a black woman, so she
talks about like race and gender and sexuality, and she
(44:53):
does like a lot of really great videos. And that
has been one account that I follow that I keep
up with regularly when I'm like, all right, let me
get some by affirmations today. And it's a very cute account.
Speaker 3 (45:05):
Aw. Yeah, that's a good shout out for the listeners.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Check it out, go follow. Yes, it's always fascinating to me.
Where like, uh, I think my perception also is that
the idea of a queer community is to just embrace
people and all of their layers and their edges and
(45:29):
the complexity of human existence. It's about expanding, not flattening,
because heterosexuality expects like flatness. It's a flattening of the
human existence. Heteronormativity is about flattening and normal and making
things the same, right, And my perception is that queerness
(45:51):
is about blowing all of that up and opening it
all up and like embracing the complexity that is the
human experience. But then even within a queer community, there
can be people who are like policing, yes, and who
expect a certain amount of rigidity and I don't know,
enact rules and norms and expectations that maybe can be
(46:17):
more limiting than I would expect, you know.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Yeah, I mean because I think even within like a
broader queer community, like the racism still exists, right, The
transphobia still exists, The misogyny still exists, right, so the themphobia,
fat phobia, you know, like xenophobia. There are just so
many different things that within a community, in all communities, right,
(46:44):
But like for a community that fights really hard for
like equal rights, who has been marginalized to then enact
you know, these this different type of policing can feel
like exactly what saying, very flattening can feel like the
exact opposite of I think what we as a community
(47:06):
should be doing, which is to allow this like expansiveness.
And I'll never forget when I was in college. I
was at UC Santa Barbara, maybe my freshman or sophomore year,
and at the time, I very much identified as a lesbian.
Thought I would be a lesbian for the rest of
my life, okay, And this I watched, this documentary was
(47:28):
a student documentary, and this queer woman talked about how
her identity was an evolution, that how she identified yesterday
might not be how she identifies the next day, and
so on and so on, and just really understanding that
a queer identity means expansiveness, means like evolving means inclusivity,
(47:51):
and at the time, like that really stuck with me.
But I had like this very rigid understanding of my
own sexuality that I was a lesbian at that point,
I had never had any type of romantic relationship even
physical with a man or a boy, and so I
was like, well, that's this is who I am for
(48:11):
the rest of my life. And then coming to a
point where I allowed myself like that expansiveness and that
evolution was more freeing, I think, than keeping myself in
this box of being a lesbian, right, and I was
doing it to myself of like really being biphobic to
(48:32):
myself and like not allowing myself like different experiences even
as like a part of like my self journey and
like own self exploration, like having to be very rigid
with myself to like stay in this identity as opposed
to letting myself be more free.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Yes exactly, Yes, yeah, there we go, there we go.
So I mean, I think that's really important for people
to hear.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Happy Pride Month is especially to all you bisexuals out there,
you greedy, beautiful, bad bisexuals.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Love it. That's the episode.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
Thank you for listening to another capito of Locata Radio.
We'll catch you next time, beas Loclumnia
The reason in Mulan that they're able to defeat the
leader of the Huns is because the soldiers that Ping
or Milan was training with dress up in drag.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
They dress up in drag, so they're able to like
go undercover infiltrate the enemy's palace and then fight back,
and then they're able to win back China.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
They save the Emperor. They save China.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
When Shang is falling for her, like she's in drag, right,
she's a drag king, yes, yes, yes. And then when
they save the emperor, Now the men are in drag
and they're female presenting, So there's a lot of drag
throughout Mulan. There's a lot of gender bending. And I
think that there is like a queer love storyline there underneath,
because really, for Shang is ultimately about his attraction to
(00:45):
Mulan and her energy and her as a person and
her spirit, and not her as like a proper Chinese woman.
That's not how he meets her and falls in love
with her.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Would you say that Shang is a representation of bisexuality?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Load o lao la lookamot is welcome to look at
our radio. I'm Deosa and I'm Mala and Happy Pride Month.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Happy Pride Month.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
On today's episode of Look At That Our Radio, we're
celebrating Pride Month by talking about the queer media that
shaped us.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
These are the films and media that were transformative to
us in our adolescence, in our early twenties, young adulthood,
and they're considered classics or canon at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And you, some of you might be too young for
these references, but consider this your education. If you have
not heard of these movies, go and watch them.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
They are classics.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
They are incredible, they are very campy, and you won't
regret it.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I want to start by talking about one of
my favorite ones still stands a test of time, which
is but I'm a cheerleader, and it's such an iconic film,
and I honestly don't remember how I found it. I'm
pretty sure I watched it by myself. The only thing
I do remember is that when I was a baby queer,
(02:06):
I was like fifteen sixteen at Catholic all girls school.
I had a little girlfriend, and I was just really
hungry for any type of education, any type of representation,
specifically about lesbians, and I was just searching the web,
(02:26):
you know, as we did back then, and I'm thinking
maybe I found it on Tumblr. Maybe there was some
type of listicle that was made on like some blog
back in the day. So I don't remember how I
found this movie, don't even remember how I had access
to it, but I remember watching it. So let's talk
about but I'm a cheerleader.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
But I'm a cheerleader starring a very young Natasha Leoni.
She is so cute and so precious in this movie.
She is our lead character, and her parents sent her
to a gay conversion therapy camp.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yes, and the conversion therapy camp is called True Directions.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And one of the counselors at the conversion therapy camp
is played by Rupe Paul Yes, which I think is
hilarious and so good.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
In one of like the first ten to fifteen minutes
of the film, when we learned that her parents are
sending her to a conversion camp, he is wearing a
blue T shirt that says straight is great and he
is a recovering former quote gay man but has been
like converted by this conversion camp.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And his character has a mustache I think, I think so.
In the movie, his character is a mustache.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And what's wild is that when I watched this as
a teenager, I had no idea who RuPaul was, right, right,
I had no really understanding of what him being in
the movie represented, right, But watching it now as a
woman in my thirties, I'm like, Wow, that's incredible that
he was in it. Like the gag, the.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Gag, It's just the layers of comedy in this movie
are impeccable. And it's very fem it's very pink, it's
very soft. There's a lot of pastelles. And I love
that what they did was turn the gay character going
through conversion therapy. They made that queer character a girl,
a teenage girl, which I think is really subversive and
(04:21):
unique and interesting. I think maybe like in our popular
culture discussions of conversion therapy, it focuses on like queer
mail youth being sent to these camps. But in this film,
we imagine this blonde teenage cheerleader being sent away to
scare the gay away.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
She's very much this representation I think of like the
all American girl, yeah right, quote unquote. And when I
was rewatching this film, some of the warning signs, I mean,
first of all, the writing is just so good because
it's so funny and it takes this truly horrific thing
that exists that still exists now, like Conversion Cam, and
(05:00):
really flips it on his head in a very satirical way.
And so in order to do that, the writing has
to be really good. Right. And so when they approach
when Megan's family, who's Natasha Leone? Right, when her family
and her friends approach her because they think that she's
a lesbian and they're sending her to this camp, they
discussed the warning signs that her character has, and some
(05:23):
of the warning signs are one she's been trying to
get them to eat tofu. There's a lot of vaginal
motifs in the artwork that she has, and she has
a very large Melissa Ethridge poster.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Oh all red flags.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I'm like, I checked like all of these off, minus
Melissa Ethridge. But like, yes, I also was a vegetarian
in high school.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh of course that's canon. That's a canon event.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Like canon event, it has to happen. No meat, no me,
no meat ever.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
So good.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
If you have never seen this film, and I don't
remember when I saw this film, I feel like it
was like playing just on TV, you know, like it
was just back in the day.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
When you would flip through channels and a movie was
just on.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yes, I think it was one of those situations where
I like saw it was just on that day, and
I sat down and watched it, and I'm like, oh
my god, this is incredible, Like this is cinema.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's truly cinema. And what makes it so great is
that it really does take the absurdity of gender norms
and roles and really highlights like the performance that it is.
Because in this conversion camp, the leader, the teacher, the coach, whomever,
who is played by the really incredible Kathy Moriarty, who
(06:42):
is so talented, she has them practicing like how to
be quote like proper men and women. Right, So the
boys are learning how to work on cars and the
girls are being taught how to like properly polish furniture
and how to properly clean tile and so very much
(07:04):
taking this gender role and really I think highlighting like
the performance that even heterosexuality is. And I think that
that is one of the ways that why the film
works and it's still so fucking good.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, it's sort of pointing out this hypocrisy of in
order to be you have to behave in a certain way.
But these are also things that are kind of just
basic life skills, like anybody should know how to clean
their home or to take care of their furniture. It's
not like a strictly like proper straight woman housewife activity,
(07:42):
you know. But it's this idea that like you have
to pigeonhole yourself into certain behaviors in order to be
whatever you're supposed to be in society. Otherwise, if you're stepping.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Out, you're wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
You must be converted, right, and it's the trappings of heterosexual.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And you know the film, I mean, obviously a conversion
camp doesn't work, right, If it quote works, it's because
you have forced an individual to repress their true identity,
right or you know, for a lot of different reasons,
right either like through abuse tactics. And the film does
(08:23):
play on that a little bit, right, but again it's
more in a palatable way, like these actual conversion camps
are horrific, but they mean they don't work, you know,
in order to because as we know right in twenty
twenty six, queerness is not or your sexual sexuality is
not a choice, right, it's inherent to who you are.
You're born this way, to quote Lady Gaga, and a
(08:45):
conversion camp won't work right. But what the movie does
so well again is highlights the absurdity of it all
and how in two months you cannot become straight. Just
it doesn't work that way. That's not how people work.
That's not how sexual works.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
No, that's not how sexuality works. So that's a it's
a great film. If you've never seen it, go check
it out. And that's that's that's Uh, are we doing
a countdown? Is that number five? I don't think they
need to be like we're doing a list. I don't
think it needs it's not a list. We're not conforming
to a list. We're not conforming to numbers.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We're just listing. We're just starting, We're just we're just discussing.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
But we have what's what's the next what's the next
film on our list?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well? This one you brought, which is Mulan.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Mulan Okay, So Mulan has an undercover queer storyline, and
I think if you've been on TikTok, you've probably seen
people talking about this. So when Mulan fought Mulan decides
to take her father's like soword, his warrior gear, his
(09:50):
samurai gear, and answer the call to join the Emperor's
army because her father is older, he's injured, he can't
do it. She doesn't I want him to fight. She
doesn't want him to join the army. She under the
cover of darkness like masquerades is him and puts her
hair in a bun and takes off on a horse
(10:11):
and starts training with the military and her like military
commander slowly starts to fall in love with the masculine presenting,
male presenting version of Mulan because he's falling for her personality,
her vibe, her energy, her appearance as a masculine presenting individual,
(10:34):
and she's calling herself paying and so he thinks that
like he's dealing with this soldier named Ping, But it's
Mulan the whole time, right, And then later when she
becomes like it's revealed that Mulan is masquerading as a
male soldier. He still like realizes that he like, He
realizes that he loves her right and like looks for
(10:57):
her and goes to her. Now that she's presenting female,
it doesn't change how he feels about her, because it
was about the person inside all along.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Also, like have to point out that the reason in
Mulan that they're able to defeat the Huns right, and
to defeat like the the leader of the Huns, is
because the soldiers that Ping or Milan was training with
dress up in drag.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
They dress up in drag, so they're able to like
go undercover infiltrate the like you know, the enemy's palace,
and then fight back, and then they're able to win
back China.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They save the Emperor, they save China.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
They save China in drag, in drag. They're all in drag.
Mulan is in drag.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
She Mulana is at this point presents as Mulan the daughter.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
At that point in the storyline. In the storyline, but
when uh, what's what's.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
The the hot Shane mad or Shang, when Shane is
falling for her, like, she's in drag, right, She's a
drag yes.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And then when they save the Emperor, now the men
are in drag and they're female presenting. So there's a
lot of drag throughout Mulan. There's a lot of gender bending,
and I think that there is like a queer love
storyline there underneath, because really, for Shang is ultimately about
his attraction to Mulan and her energy and her as
(12:21):
a person and her spirit, and not her as like
a proper Chinese woman. That's not how he meets her
and falls in love with her. He comes to find
that she's a Chinese woman, but he thought that she
was a Chinese man at the outset. So for me,
I feel like Mulan is a very subversive queer love story.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Would you say that Shang is a representation of bisexuality.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Absolutely, I think Shang is not only a representation of bisexuality,
but likely pan sexuality.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, Like if Shank's.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Partner, if Shang was in a committed relationship for five
years and his partner came to him and said, hey, babe,
I'm trans, Shang would be extremely supportive.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yes, and and.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Like therefore it that's loving. I think Shang is pan sexual. Okay,
I agree, It's not about the package, it's about the person.
For Shang coin that clip, that clip that.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I love it that Yeah, I love when we as viewers,
the general, we as viewers can take a film and
really read it through like a gender and set queer
lens right and really subverse it and see like wait,
there is actually a queer reading of these characters. And
(13:45):
I know that that is a really popular thing that
happens with like fan fiction and like digital circles where
they will take like these two characters who let's say
they're you know, best friends, they're both men and maybe
in the film there's no like a clear indication of
a romance, but a then fan fiction or like the
(14:07):
fanned community, the fandom will definitely do a reading of
like wait, actually this is a queer love story. And
I think that's one of my favorite things of about
like a fandom is that they can they can really
pick up and do like a reading of film and
TV in different ways.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Absolutely, I feel like this could be done for like
SpongeBob and Patrick Righte SquarePants and Patrick Starr. Like I
feel like SpongeBob and Patrick are in like a non
monogamous gay relationship.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
They are like I think that Patrick is.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Is neurotypical, neurospicy like on the spectrum and is a
little bit more flexible with like their presentation can be
more femme presenting is like a soft femboy. Okay, that's
why I think about Patrick, And then I think SpongeBob
is a little bit more like has anxiety, has a
(15:09):
job that he doesn't love. Is a little bit more
like atypical as far as like he's not he's he's
a little more neurotypical. I think SpongeBob is a little
bit silly. It's a little bit funny. Always wears the
same thing, right, is always in his little shorts.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Does that actually mean maybe he's a little neurodivergent.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
No, you're right, he is.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
They're both neurodivergent, and because they both wear the same
thing every day. But they also don't want to live together.
They want to live in their own spaces because they
have their own routines, they have like the things that
make them comfortable. But they come together when they want
to spend quality time.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
I love that. Yeah, that's a good reading.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah. Is that is that a thing online?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Probably between the characters, Not that I've seen, Okay, not
that I've seen in your reading.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
That's my personal it.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I do think that there is is like a very
covert like queer. But they might they're romantic, but they're asexual. Okay, yes,
they're They're a queer romantic, asexual, neurodivergent queer couple.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Then don't go anywhere, lokomotives. We'll be right back. The
conservatives paid it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
The conservatives have nothing to do with this. This is
not for the conservatives.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
This is for us. Nothing we do is ever for them.
Next I think on our list is the iconic Mosquitai Madi.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And you know what, I've actually never seen this movie.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
You've never seen mosquiteai Madi And.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
We interviewed the director.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yes, yeah, take that back, It's true.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I've never seen the movies. I've never seen the movie,
so tell me tell me about.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
It, Okay. Mosquiteai Madi is such an incredible film because
why not only is it written and directed by Alroo,
who's an incredible chic on a filmmaker, but it documents
this slow burn love story between two Chicanas living in
(17:10):
Huntington Park. They're both in high school and they develop
this friendship where there's a lot of like longing yearning.
There's a lot of quiet in the film, a lot
of silence where it's one of those like the silence
is so loud where nothing is necessarily said between them,
(17:31):
there's really nothing really like maybe one like sexual moment
where it's like there's tension, there's like some caressing happening.
But I think what makes it so beautiful and still
so incredible is that it really takes like the adolescence
(17:51):
experience of being a queer girl and questioning your sexuality
and like having a really close friend. But you know that,
like this is not the same type of friendship that
you have with like your homegirl next door, right, There's
something very different about this friendship that you have, but
you can't name it yet because you don't know. You're confused,
(18:14):
maybe you don't understand it. Maybe you're not even willing
to accept that you have romantic feelings or non platonic
feelings like for your friend. And in the film, you know,
Madi is definitely I think a little more mature than
the other young girl who she calls Mosquita, and I
(18:37):
think that she has a little bit more of an
understanding of what's happening a little more because she is
a little more mature. Is us actually forced to be
mature at a younger age that she knows, like she
identifies like this is not the this is not just
a platonic friendship. And you know they end up going
their separate ways and nothing has ever really said. And again,
(19:02):
there's just so much beautiful silence in the film, and
I think it's just such a good representation of what
it is to be like a queer young girl, especially
in this case that Chicana or Latina, and like not
really knowing what any of it means, but like knowing that,
like I have really strong feelings right now and I
(19:22):
can't really name it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, they're experiencing like a burning desire.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Burning desire and unable to really name it.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yet because that feeling is supposed to be coming from
a boy.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yes, Yeah. And I think like these relationships that you
have when you're a queer girl in this case right
where you have these friends where you can later look
back in retrospect and be like, oh, there was something
romantic here and it scared us, or it confused us,
(19:56):
or I didn't even know what was happening. And I
had this experience with this friend who were no longer friends,
but now I can see I can look back and like, oh,
there was like a lot of romantic like tension between us,
but we didn't. We never named it, and we never
acted on anything. But then years go by and we
(20:20):
were kind of still in each other's lives, and then
one day, I don't know where, she just like blocked me,
and we never had a falling out. We like never
again acted on anything. Nothing was ever said. We were
both in relationships with people, and I never really understood
what happened because we didn't have a falling out, we
(20:40):
didn't have a fight. I had actually seen her like
a couple days before she blocked me, and we had
a mutual friend because we all went to school together.
And she told me when discussing this a couple years later,
maybe a couple months ago now, she tells me, you know,
maybe because of that questioning right, like and because there
(21:03):
was this tension at one point in your friendship even
though you were just like young girls, she just like
couldn't deal with it, like didn't even know how to
be friends with you in that way. And yeah, I
don't know if that's what happened. I don't know if
that's actually what it was about. But it was one
of probably one of the only like friend breakups that
(21:25):
I've had that like had no closure, like no understanding
of like, wait, what happened here? Because I just saw
you a week ago and now I'm blocked and I don't.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Know why, sort of like if we can't be lovers,
we just can't be.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Who knows, because we can't be anything different relationships. And
we both never said anything, you know, and it wasn't like, oh,
we have these like longing feelings for each other, but
we're with other people. No, Like it was never acknowledged
in that way. And it's like at that point we
had moved on from it because we were little girls
and then we were young adults, and as the young
(21:59):
adults that we were, we weren't feeling that. I wasn't
feeling that way towards her, So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Fascinating do you think it was like she would still
look at your posts and look at you and feel things.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I have no idea I really could.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Maybe there was a crest guilt on her end because
she's in a relationship.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Maybe so she just had to like put you out
of her mind.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I'll never know.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Oh girl, you're just out here torturing people. Never never
torturing people. That's that's spicy. Another great film Matambien.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Love it, classic iconic.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
I love this movie.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
This is Just a Banger by Alfonso Guaron, starring two
of our faves, Diego Luna and Guy el Garcia Bernal,
who have just made a bajillion amazing movies together. I
love these two in a movie. If they're in a
movie together, you know it's going to be good. They
have so much on screen chemistry. And this movie, their
(23:01):
two characters take a road trip. Within the film. One
of them has a cousin and her name is Luisa,
and they are at an event at a wedding with
her and and she happens to be there and they're
chatting and they're like, oh, she's a hottie. Yeah, And
they tell her that they're taking a road trip and
she's like, Oh, I want to go with you guys.
And the thing is she's harboring a secret she doesn't
(23:25):
tell them, and she has a husband, but she like
decides to, like, you know, she's gonna just like kind
of like run off and go on a road trip
with these guys.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
The husband is related, I think, to Diego Luna's.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Character, and that's how their cousins, that's how their.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Cousins and it's implied that he has affairs like he's
a Mohi Diego she and she has maybe withstood it,
you know, for like the sake of Egeridan and has
you know, just really endured it.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
She's very much like within her marriage like a Sufri dam.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yes she is, Yes, And so she decides, because of
this secret, she's going to do something wild, maybe do
something different. And so she goes on this road trip
with these two boys.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, and so they get into all kinds of like
crazy hijinks. One of them hooks up with her and
then the other one hooks up with her, and then
there's a very famous scene where the three of them
engage in a threesome and then Guyelle.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And Diego's characters then make out with each other.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I mean, let's talk about the infamous threesome scene, because
not only is it the three of them, right, but
they're dancing that she selects a song on a jukebox
in the little like beach town that they're at, and
they're dancing to Sino Tierra Silo by mat Conto Solis,
which is an incredible song, and you know she's dancing
(24:49):
to it. Essentially, she calls one of them over and
they you know, start dancing, the three of them together.
She kisses one of them, she kisses the other, and
exactly like you said, the two star kissing each other.
But I think what's also important to know is that
throughout the film there is this build up and to
the friendship of the two of Diego Luna, and Right.
(25:13):
It's this, I think, very subtle. You have to really
pick up on it that there is something more than
their platonic friendship. They're not just like two like bros
that are like messing around and like having this like
fun road trip. There is something deeper than in their friendship.
That's there's some romance there that maybe they can't even
(25:36):
recognize it. But the way they fight, like they're fighting like.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Lovers, very passionate, very passionate.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
And one of the things that they're fighting about, I remember,
is that it turns out like one of them slept
with they both slept with each other's girlfriends, basically, but
the way that they're fighting, it's like it's not that
they're mad that they slept with the girlfriend, but it's
more like that they can't sleep with each other. It's
like that fight where it's like, I'm not really mad
that you're with her. I'm mad that I can't be
(26:04):
with you, but you're not with me exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, yeah, so a lot of covert it's like smoldering.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yes, smoldering homeroodicism the whole time, and then the built right,
the build up to, then the climax of the threesome
and then them two kissing, and it is implied that
like that's kind of the end of their friendship, right
the summer ends, and like everyone goes their separate ways
(26:29):
until they reunite later, like years later, and a diner scene.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
In the diner scene and they're like all grown up
and in their careers, and then we and we find
out at some point that Luisa has like a terminal cancer.
She's terminally ill, and so this is like her last hurrah.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
That was her last hurrah.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
This road trip with these two guys.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, it is such a tragic but also beautiful film,
and it is one thousand percent of queer film.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Absolutely a banger. If you have never seen this movie,
ithu maamaambien. It is a certified classic.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Go watch it.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
And another one. I love this movie. I love, love
love Kinsenerra This is an indie film that is based
in silver Lake. And in this movie, there's a lot
a lot going on in this film. It's kind of
a simple film, but a very complicated film at the
exact same time. So we're in gentrification, like gentrification era
(27:30):
silver Lake, and our main character, Magdalena, she's Mexican American.
You know, Silver Lake used to be predominantly Mexican American
before it is what it is now, which.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Is like very white.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
But back in the day there was like a lot
of gangs in silver Lake. It wasn't considered a super
safe place. It was very Latino. It was considered more
working class. So that's like the setting of this era
silver Lake and this film. So Magdalena, she's fifteen, she's
getting ready to have her kin Signeta, and in the
(28:03):
preparation for her kinse she finds out that she's pregnant. However,
she has never had penetrative intercourse. We find out that
what happened was she was messing around with her boyfriend.
He ejaculated like on her upper thigh, and she gets
pregnant that way.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Maculate conception.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It's ammaculate conception, and it's the sort of thing where like,
who's going to believe her? Her family is like so
devastated and disappointed in her, and she cannot really explain,
like I've never done it before, I'm a virgin, but
she's pregnant at her kinse. At the same time, there's
this parallel storyline where her brother lives in the grandfather's
(28:46):
like back house and they have new neighbors who are
these like white gays who are gentrifying the neighborhood. They
move in next door and remodel the house. And so
Magdalena's brother brother is he's a he's a straight up.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Cholo and he's her brother or her cousin.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I thought he was her brother.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Does it say he's the cousin in the in the wiki,
in the IMDb he's.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
A cousin, Okay, her cousin, and he's a cholo. He's acholito.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And he starts hanging out with the white queer neighbors
next door and eventually starts hooking up with them and
like engaging in a sexual relationship with them. So we
come to learn that he's like down low queer, closeted,
and it just kind of moves through the film moves
(29:37):
through the complications of these two characters in their families,
living in this gentrified neighborhood and battling with their culture
and their age and their identity and their families.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And it's just a really well made film.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
It is. And can I just say that that concept
of her Michael Lenna getting pregnant through like immaculate conception
basically terrified me. I wasn't even having sex with boys
at the time, and I was like terrified, Like can
that really happen somehow? Somehow? You know. Yeah, it is
(30:14):
such a good film, especially for being for the time
that it was released right in two thousand and six,
that it can still how many twenty years later, while
twenty years later we can still look back on it
and see like what it was really doing, I think
for Latino in Latino media, queer media, right, and unpacking
(30:34):
these stories that happen in our communities, right, and tying
it to this, to the to the Quintana, which is
such a big cultural event, depending you know where you're from.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Absolutely so Quintanetta. Go check out that movie. Another banger.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, yeah, really good. Don't go anywhere, Lokomons, We'll be
right back. Is there anything else you want to say about.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
I think my boyfriend and I were talking about this
because he was asking about what we were recording today,
and I said, oh, it's our Pride Month episode. So
we're talking about queer representation in film and television and
some like subtle storylines where it's not obvious, like Mulan
And he said, oh, so like Blood and Blood Out,
(31:25):
And I'm like what, and he's like, yeah, Between Miklo
and Al, there's a lot of covert homoeroticism, like a
lot like a ton and like one of them sucks
on the other's finger. There's butt slapping, and in a
lot of these films, these Chicano films, including like American Me,
Blood and blad Out, there's a lot of this, And
(31:45):
I think that what happens because these are dealing a
lot with like gangs and gang violence and like basically
Mexican men Chicano men killing each other and like engaging
in organized crime and like being in prison and locked
up together, and then these like queer like storylines are
(32:10):
sort of there, and I think that there's a commentary
there about how their worlds and their societies and themselves
don't allow them to express their desires in like loving ways.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So they do it through aggression and through.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Through violence and through like oppressing one another, and it's
a way for them to like seek intimacy, but they
do it in a very sort of violent and perverse
way through domination and being domineering and seeking power over
the other. Because this is just like the in these films.
(32:50):
I think the idea is that whatever institutionalized racism and
like the neighborhood you grow up in and the society
that you're raised in can like drive you to do
horrendous things. And so then these storylines have sort of
baked in these kind of secondary storylines right about like really,
(33:12):
these men just want to love each other, but they can. Yeah,
so for all the cholo queers, like yeah, blood and
Blood Out, I think maybe that's another one that has
some covert homoeroticism.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
For Pride Month, I love that as a contribution, and
that Chicanos would hate it, but I love it so
much because, yeah, there's so much there in the way
that men are not young boys and men are not
allowed to show affection with each other, right, They're not
socialized to be like emotionally vulnerable. They're not socialized to
(33:45):
express their feelings instead. But the violence is okay because
that's where like the boys will be boys comes from,
And so I can definitely see how then that is
the acceptable way to even and like have physical touch
is like through violence or through like physical altercation versus
(34:06):
like maybe you just need a hug.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yes, you just you just need a hug. Maybe you
just need to sit on someone's lap, like you just
need comfort, Yes, physical comfort, tenderness, tenderness, tenderness.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
So I think that's that's our takeaway for Pride.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Month, like hug your homies, kiss your homies good night.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, I mean, and I think we say this you
know year round that you know, Pride Month is not
just one month, but really like check in on check in,
be there, be present for like your queer and trands
community members, Like this is actually a really difficult time.
It's historically always has been, but I think now with
(34:47):
legislation changing and reverting, like it is a really challenging
time to be a member of the LGBTQ plus community,
especially if you are trans so like really really like
connect with each other, connect with your friends, you know,
(35:07):
if you're an ally like being an accomplice, be an
active ally, donate when you can, you know, and really
like be an active participant in our community beyond this
Pride Month.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yes, and support the organizations that are committed to doing
the work on the ground every day, like the Trans
Latina Coalition.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
We love them.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
They are super active on every level from legislation to housing,
to representation to employment. I mean they do everything and
they're making a real impact. We had Bambi Salcedon on
our other show, Senora Sex said talking about her work
on the Trans Latina Coalition. So check them out if
(35:50):
you're looking for an organization to support.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So something that I challenge myself to do this every
year and every year I fail. But during Pride Month,
I have I you know, there's more events programming that
happen in the city of La right and beyond, like
how many different pockets of the community of La So
I always tell myself like, Okay, I'm going to go
(36:14):
to like one event a week, or I'm going to
go to something like throughout Pride Month because of all
the different activations that happen, and I just never do
for a variety of different reasons, like it gets busy,
something happens. So this Pride Month, I'm like really going
to do my best to hit up at least three events,
(36:36):
you know, and like be out in the community and
do something. And I have been thinking about this for
some time, you know, as someone who is partnered with
a man, and it just is like a really like
weird place to be in in the community, and like
I'm trying to find my place, and I think I
(36:57):
will forever be trying to find my place as long
as as I'm partnered with a man, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
It is weird being partnered with a man.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Yeah, it's always weird. It's weird, it's weird, it's strange, strange. Yeah,
not necessarily love my partner. But you know, because we're
talking about like the queer films that shaped us. You know,
when I was the queer, the baby queer, watching these
like I thought I was going to be with a
woman like later in life. You know. So when my
you know, path and my identity like evolved in this way,
(37:27):
it took you know, a reckoning for me to even
be like comfortable with this identity shifting and evolving, right,
and like not being so rigid with myself and so
I still find myself doing that to myself now, you know,
and like excluding myself from Pride events and like queer
(37:48):
events that happened like throughout the year. There's like some
parties that I'm like that would be really fun to
go to, but like I don't want to go by myself.
I'm not going to take Fernando and so so how
do I like find like a little you know, friend
group that like I can go with?
Speaker 3 (38:06):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
That's also I think what it's like, I don't want
to go with someone. That's like trying to like meet
someone because I'm going to be by myself. Yea. I
also like can't take my partner because I don't want
to do that, you know what I mean. So it's
like navigating that. It's like I need to go with
someone that's like, yes, I will be with you. I
will be with you tonight.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Wait, have you gone to a pressioa night?
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I haven't, Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
So I went to a pressiosa night at the Virgil Yes,
with my boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
But it was cool because what they do, which I
think is so clever but conscientious and thoughtful, which I
think is solving this one of these problems.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
You told me about this, yes, yes, So.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
What they do at Presiosa Night and we had Eaton
and Jay on the show, Senyora Sex said they are
the founders, owners, creators, DJs of Presiosa Night. So they
put out risk of different colors that mean different things.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
So you wear your risk.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Band if you're actively looking, you're trying to meet somebody,
you're there to mingle. They have a risk band for like,
if you don't want to be approached, they have a
risk band for like if you're taken in a relationship
kind of a thing, so that you walk in you
have your wrist band and people know like whether to
approach or not to approach. Because I think that this
(39:25):
kind of this issue is maybe more common than we think. Yeah,
oh and it's an issue this experience.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, it is my experience yea. Yeah, and it's an issue,
but it's not an issue.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
It's your experience, it's my experience, and it's shared.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
So I think they're way of answering that and accommodating
it and acknowledging like this is what people are living
with and like this is how people are moving but
want to have fun in this very lesbian space.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Here's your risk band.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, I would love to connect with more bisexual women
who are partnered with men or pind sexual women, queer
women who are are partnered with men, like long term
partnered and like know how they navigate this. So this
is my plea.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Oh to the listener, Okay, if this is you, dm us, Yes,
let's clip this, dm us and then maybe we can
have you on the show to talk about this.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Maybe this is a good follow up episode.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yes, I would love to talk more about bisexuality. And
here's the thing, here's a thing I'm always like, you know,
I'm going to write something about you know, bisexual bisexuals
and like the experience and the community and like these
are the things that happen. But then I'm like, okay,
I also don't want to be like here we go,
here's the bisexual again and I'm talking about how she
(40:42):
married a man and like now she's now she's like
alone and doesn't know what to do, and I'm like,
all right, so I can't do that. So again it's
like I'm trying to like solve this experience for myself.
Then maybe I'm also like putting on myself.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
It's a self fulfilling prophecy.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
At this stage, I think I was.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Saying that, who's saying that, here we go with the
bisexual who's married to a man?
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Oh, I think it's the biphobia. It's the biphobia that
exists within the community.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Oh, I see you.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Yeah, But do you think that somebody would actually comment that.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Okay, say you know what I've been harboring for like
two years now.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Please tell me. Okay, so you love to harbor something.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yes. So a year ago, Michael Dura asked me to
provide like some queer book res, so I did. I
gave them a great list. I recommended in the dream House.
I recommended Loca by alejandroa. I recommended The Lesbiana's Guide
(41:40):
to The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic High School, and maybe
one more. And I thought my list goal was very cute.
It was representative of like the different pockets of the community.
And somebody commented that I don't know, but was like, oh,
we're taking advice from the streets now. It's like, oh, oh, okay,
(42:03):
so not only are you being like femphobic, you're being biphobic.
And also you don't fucking know me.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
You know, have your credentials.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
I have my credentials, you do, And those are the
things where I'm like, it can happen once, it can happen,
like the negative experience can be less frequent. But I
think as as humans, right, and as as someone who's
like a little sensitive, like, those are the things that
you remember, like that's what sits with you, not like
the positive messages of like thank you so much for
(42:32):
like talking about bisexuality, or thank you so much for
like speaking on this or speaking on that, but like
this negative comment is like what will like sit with
me or what I will sit with and what will
stick with me versus like all the positive messages you know.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Okay, so somebody has commented this literal comment. Yes, I see, Yeah, okay,
So it's uh, you're protecting yourself.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Yes, from being perceived, from being perceived.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
From experiencing this.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
It's it's also not that it's your job to do
this labor, but it also is like an opportunity, you know,
to like for someone to say something like that and
then to respond, right, Yes, that's not that you have
to or you should have to.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
Yeah, but it's a teachable.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Moment, it is a teachable moment, but then it's like
I think it goes back to being online, where it's like, Okay,
do I ignore it or do I make it something bigger?
Speaker 3 (43:24):
Real?
Speaker 2 (43:25):
You know, that becomes like your whole life is responding
to everything. Yes, you don't, you don't have to defend yourself.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, And I think that's what feels like really icky
about the whole thing, is like, do I have to
tell you that I've like slept with women, that I've
been with women, like that I've been in relationship with women?
Is that what makes me valid to you? Because to
know who I've had sex with? And I think that's
where it gets icky. I'm like that cannot be. Like
the only way we like validate who we are is
(43:54):
like who we're fucking like who we're having sex with.
And I think that's why I'm like, ew, like, you know,
not that it's ill, but it's like, why is it
that I have to tell you, like my sexual history,
my romantic history to prove to you the general you, right,
that I am bisexual or that I'm queer, I like
(44:16):
can be in this community also.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Right, right, It's none of their business.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
None of their business, their business.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah, well, I would love for you to write that article.
I think it would be fabulous. I think it's much needed.
One day nobody's talking about this.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
There's this account that I love to follow. It's called
by Astrology by at Buy Underscore Astrology, and she is
so gorgeous, so fabulous, so smart, and she like talks
makes a lot of content about like the biphobia in
the community, especially like she's a black woman, so she
talks about like race and gender and sexuality, and she
(44:53):
does like a lot of really great videos. And that
has been one account that I follow that I keep
up with regularly when I'm like, all right, let me
get some by affirmations today. And it's a very cute account.
Speaker 3 (45:05):
Aw. Yeah, that's a good shout out for the listeners.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Check it out, go follow. Yes, it's always fascinating to me.
Where like, uh, I think my perception also is that
the idea of a queer community is to just embrace
people and all of their layers and their edges and
(45:29):
the complexity of human existence. It's about expanding, not flattening,
because heterosexuality expects like flatness. It's a flattening of the
human existence. Heteronormativity is about flattening and normal and making
things the same, right, And my perception is that queerness
(45:51):
is about blowing all of that up and opening it
all up and like embracing the complexity that is the
human experience. But then even within a queer community, there
can be people who are like policing, yes, and who
expect a certain amount of rigidity and I don't know,
enact rules and norms and expectations that maybe can be
(46:17):
more limiting than I would expect, you know.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Yeah, I mean because I think even within like a
broader queer community, like the racism still exists, right, The
transphobia still exists, The misogyny still exists, right, so the themphobia,
fat phobia, you know, like xenophobia. There are just so
many different things that within a community, in all communities, right,
(46:44):
But like for a community that fights really hard for
like equal rights, who has been marginalized to then enact
you know, these this different type of policing can feel
like exactly what saying, very flattening can feel like the
exact opposite of I think what we as a community
(47:06):
should be doing, which is to allow this like expansiveness.
And I'll never forget when I was in college. I
was at UC Santa Barbara, maybe my freshman or sophomore year,
and at the time, I very much identified as a lesbian.
Thought I would be a lesbian for the rest of
my life, okay, And this I watched, this documentary was
(47:28):
a student documentary, and this queer woman talked about how
her identity was an evolution, that how she identified yesterday
might not be how she identifies the next day, and
so on and so on, and just really understanding that
a queer identity means expansiveness, means like evolving means inclusivity,
(47:51):
and at the time, like that really stuck with me.
But I had like this very rigid understanding of my
own sexuality that I was a lesbian at that point,
I had never had any type of romantic relationship even
physical with a man or a boy, and so I
was like, well, that's this is who I am for
(48:11):
the rest of my life. And then coming to a
point where I allowed myself like that expansiveness and that
evolution was more freeing, I think, than keeping myself in
this box of being a lesbian, right, and I was
doing it to myself of like really being biphobic to
(48:32):
myself and like not allowing myself like different experiences even
as like a part of like my self journey and
like own self exploration, like having to be very rigid
with myself to like stay in this identity as opposed
to letting myself be more free.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Yes exactly, Yes, yeah, there we go, there we go.
So I mean, I think that's really important for people
to hear.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Happy Pride Month is especially to all you bisexuals out there,
you greedy, beautiful, bad bisexuals.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Love it. That's the episode.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
Thank you for listening to another capito of Locata Radio.
We'll catch you next time, beas Loclumnia
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