Women that have made a difference to my life

By Natazzz on Sunday, March 8, 2009 - 19:13

I never used to be very gay. I mean, I was always gay, but I made it such a small part of my life you could almost forget it was there. It took me forever to come out of the closet and once I was out, I decided I was fine with being as low key about it as possible. After all, being gay wasn’t a big deal, so why should I emphasize it? This sort of worked for me for a number of years until I moved to a little town in Germany. Having to build up a completely new social circle, I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands, which I mainly spent online.

That is when I discovered AfterEllen. What initially attracted me to the website was that it was a lesbian site, but the emphasize wasn’t on gay stuff like issues, politics or dating, but fun entertainment instead. I started visiting the site more and more, reading all the articles and eventually commenting on them too. At first I did not really care about any articles that talked about lack of lesbian visibility or anything that took a critical look at society and how lesbians are treated.

Tags: AfterEllen, Bridget Mcmanus, columns, entertainment, human interest, Madonna, Tori Aoms, Watts

Happy int'l women's day!

Submitted by Little G on March 8, 2009 - 21:17.

First off, I had a crush on Watts back then. (Thanks for reminding me, Natazzz.)

International women's day (or: IWD) to me means the right to vote, and the fact that women have come a long way in gaining equal rights - but there is still a lot to be done. If it weren't for the Suffragettes and other like minded women we wouldn't be here now. Kudos to them!

Besides my mother, women who defy gender inspired me early on in life. And they still do. Think Amelia Earhart (who was the first woman to fly solo across the ocean), Katharine Hepburn, Joan Jett, Melissa Etheridge, Mia Hamm (retired soccer player) - just to name a few.

I loved a movie called "The journey of Natty Gann":

In that movie Natty's dad goes to another city to find a job, leaving his tomboyish daughter behind. Natty soon sets of on a journey to reunite with her dad. Does anyone remember that one?

Another one that I found inspiring was "The ballad of little Jo":

Natty Gann

Submitted by Natazzz on March 8, 2009 - 21:39.

Oh my God, I had totally forgotten about this movie. I just watched the trailer on YouTube and yes, I used to love it too.

I thought it was so cool that she had a wolf and riding the trains...

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-Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

Who doesn't have a blog these days?

Annie, Sharleen but also Frida, Georgia

Submitted by maxime68 on March 9, 2009 - 05:56.

I see a lot of similarities in the music section. There was one famous interview with Madonna (must have been around the "Like a virgin" time) when she said, asked about her goals in life "I want to conquer the world".
Do you remember the snickering and laughing at, she got for this?

When it comes to developping my own music taste, I was quite a late bloomer, but I'd say I made more than up for this. The first time Annie Lennox appeared on my tv screen, I was hooked and still am. Gianna Nannini, Annette Humpe were also my favorites, simply because for saying what they thought and being who they are.
There was a repeating of the Annie reaction, when I first heard the the first seconds of "I don't want a lover" - Sharleen Spiteri!

Paintings by Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keefe deeply impressed me, as well as their stories.
None of the women I mentionned took the easy way "out".

But some of the strongest imprimts left on me were by two fictitious caracters, both by Rita Mae Brown, Cheleste Chalfonte (six of one) and Carole Hanratty (In her day).

Speaking of real life women, there was this french woman, I met in my early twenties. We were working for the same client, but for different employers. She influenced me in many ways, and yes, I had a major crush on her, but that's a different story.
Being a woman, in an IT-Job in the early nineties was not very common. She'd already set her marks and simply by observing her and learning from her, helped me a lot.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Maxime-Bruler/1622450857