How I Kissed A Girl has the potential to be game-changing for lesbian representation'
Katy Perry once sang 'I kissed a girl and I liked it', and sent sexuality-questioning humans into overdrive thanks to lyrics we’d only ever imagined in our brains. 15 years later and every lesbian and their dog (more likely, cat) have been sharing the news that BBC Three has commissioned a follow-up series to I Kissed a Boy called I Kissed a Girl. Yes, lesbians are finally getting their well-deserved and long-awaited time to shine, and I am here for it! But myself, your lesbian Big Sis, and the wider community are waiting with bated breath to see if we’re finally getting the representation we deserve.
To get you up to speed, I Kissed a Boy, hosted by LGBTQ+ icon Dannii Minogue launched with a bang, seeing 10 contestants enter an Italian farmhouse in pairs, and start their journey with a kiss. Throughout the series, the contestants took part in a series of Kiss-Offs, where each pair decided whether they want to stay in their current partnership, or save their kiss for another boy. It was like a weekly outing to GAY, London’s notorious queer nightclub, and we loved every second.
Up until this point, the Great British public have only ever been exposed to the Sue Perkins and Ellen Degeneres’ of the world (or the 'butch lesbians' or 'soft mascs', as I’d lovingly call them.) But the myriad of ways that lesbians and queer women present themselves has never been more broad - hell, the list of labels has never been longer! From lipstick lesbians to stems; studs to golden retriever lesbians. No, I’m not kidding. If you haven’t yet fallen into a black hole of Lesbian TikTok, I urge you to get a first-class education in queer representation in all its rainbow glory. Then you’ll see just how vast the lesbian aesthetic is (and how exceptionally fit, too). In mainstream media, lesbians have never been given their moment to showcase how diverse the community is, and so a lot is riding on how this first season of I Kissed a Girl will be cast.
The world has come to accept gay men in entertainment, but are they ready for lesbians? Even in 2023, lesbians are still considered somewhat taboo. We’re our very own category on porn websites; alluding to the myth that feminine women getting down to it exist only for the entertainment of the male population. Considering I Kissed A Girl feels like the first time we’re involving feminine women in mainstream media - on a show that’s based around a series of snogs - the line is a very thin one to tread before it’s playing right back into misogyny.
Feminine lesbians need their time to shine along with football lesbians, non-binary humans, and the fat, tall, muscular women who are all very much a part of this community. Also, trans women being included in the cast is a must for me to take this show seriously. It would be extremely careless of the show's producers not to honour what the community are fighting for on a daily basis, with the heavily anti-trans rhetoric that is so prevalent on a global scale right now. The inclusion of trans women would not only be a step in the right direction but a sure fire sign that the lesbian community isn't being used for queer baiting, or what is deemed palatable to a wider audience. You can have us, but it’s everyone or none of us at all.
For the majority of the population, the show is a form of entertainment, something to binge-watch on a Sunday afternoon. But for the people who are questioning their sexuality, being teased at school or trolled on social media, this could be a life saver, quite literally. Representation is more important than any queer person can summarise. I can only imagine what seeing a feminine, confident, woman-loving-woman on my TV would have felt like when I was younger. To see someone who looked like me, and felt the feelings I had inside me too. The validation, the sense of belonging and optimism for the future that would have given me.
Don't get me wrong, I’d still like to be entertained all the while too. A show wouldn’t be a show without a little bit of spice - and trust me you haven’t seen drama until you put a bunch of lesbians in the same room for a few hours.
What would be epic for the show is to lean into its premise: regardless of sexuality or gender, we’re all searching for love. I want to see women falling for each other left, right and centre, because what better way to gain allies than to do the very thing that all humans do as the sun orbits the earth every single day… Remain hopeful in the pursuit of love, even if it is on the telly.
Helen Scott's book Live, Laugh, Lesbian: Navigating Life as a Lesbian in the 21st Century is available to pre-order now.
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