In my work with Editora Malagueta (the first publisher by and for lesbians in Brazil), I have received a lot of originals. This makes me very happy, of course, because it means that women write, have something to say and want to speak out to the world. Soon, we will be releasing some very interesting books, stay tuned.
But something curious is that we also receive originals from men, both gay and straight. They think that if they include a lesbian character in the story, it will be considered lesbian literature.
I laugh. One of the texts, signed by “Bárbara”, had great theater of the absurd situations with a transvestite who lives with her fanatical evangelical mother and ends up getting romantically involved with a woman. I laughed with the acidity characteristic of gay humor, but I would never believe that Bárbara is a woman.
Then I stopped to think about why I'm so sure of this, why the author's gender makes a difference to the text, why a novel about two women written by a man doesn't convince me.
I reached some conclusions, which I discuss here. But I would love it if you, dear reader, commented on what you think, as this is an almost virgin topic. Lesbian literature is something that, for many book lovers, doesn’t even exist…
One of the characteristics that I feel is present in originals signed by women, even those less elaborate, is the concern with relationships. I think we women cannot imagine a person as a complete unit and we always understand that they are accompanied by relatives, friends, past relationships, colleagues. Authors, therefore, usually include in the description of their characters information about how they get along (good or bad) with their parents, siblings, co-workers, and exes.
In lesbian stories, it is very common for friends to have an important role and interfere in the relationship between the protagonists in a positive or negative way.
None of this is so present in texts by men, who seem to me to be much more capable of offering readers just a description of the character herself, her physique and clothes, what she does and how, or staying focused on the two people they are talking about. The web of social relations is much more present and visible for women than for men, it seems to me, and even more so in the lesbian text.
Another characteristic common to female writers’ originals is the importance of conversations. Whether in the form of dialogues or in the form of reports on the comments of friends and family, the words exchanged between the characters interfere with their awareness of the situations and the direction of the narrative. I imagine that this reflects the way we women view the world (through a lot of conversation, hehehe), and that it differs from the male view that is often dry in dialogues and conversation scenes. Authors love characters who think but don't say, while authors, especially lesbians, prefer characters who say everything, even better with a certain amount of drama.
The third feature that makes it obvious to me whether the author is a man or a woman are the sex scenes. Writers, even the most refined ones, can spend pages and pages describing a sex scene without going beyond the characters' skin. The fight is physical, strong, but often disconnected from feelings. The women include, even without thinking too much about it, tips about what is happening inside the characters and how they are feeling during the sexual act. Even in the hottest lesbian scenes (and I've read a lot of them, it's delicious!), with fucking on top of benches or on the beach or in the bathroom of nightclubs, I get to know what they both feel, what importance they give to that encounter, what it's like the pleasure of each one.
I don't know if it happens in 100% of cases, but lesbian texts seem to me to be much more concerned with the woman as a whole, not just with the fact that she is a hot brunette or a gorgeous model.
Do you agree?
In any case, I keep an open mind. Perhaps men are capable of seeing the web of relationships, of giving importance to conversations and of talking about sex in a way that is intrinsically linked to feelings, producing a good lesbian romance. Just look at the email I received from a friend:
Laura, I saw the video on the Malagueta website, very good. I liked the part where you say that what is not said disappears from consciousness and what is said remains there (more or less) and the conclusion about the protagonists having possible happy lives. Now I know what I need to write in my manuscript under a pseudonym. I already deleted the chapter about the tragic death of the protagonist after she discovers that the love of her life married a man to avoid “the scandal”. In the new version, the two prepare a potion with Provençal herbs and the groom, when drinking it, changes his sexual orientation and becomes a harmless friend of the couple and a flag bearer for minority rights. The problem is that the rest of the potion left on the kitchen table is drunk by mistake by the protagonist's mother-in-law, an iron lady in the style of Margaret Thatcher, who becomes the leader of the lesbian movement and starts to make her fellow fighters hell with her dictatorial whims. Who will save the movement from the split between the CdH group (Cabeça de Hidra, renamed and chaired by the mother-in-law) and the MBI (Well-Intentioned Girls, a dissent of militants unhappy with the new self-destructive directions)? It will be necessary to sail upriver through the Amazon, until they find the tribe of Amazons who hold the secret of the harmony of warriors, to appease such dissent. But during a stop in Santarém, the irresistible charms of a riverside cabocla threaten the couple's stability and the success of their adventure...
I replied that, if sex is safe and the Amazon society is sustainable, maybe Malagueta will publish it.
* Laura Bacellar is a book editor, currently responsible, together with a group of women, for the first lesbian publisher in Brazil, www.editoramalagueta.com.br.
