Lesbo Gang Bang
Gon Buurman, 1990
representation of fems as agents of our own sexual desire is precious and powerful. images like lesbo gang bang are so many things at once in a fem’s imagination, all of which combine to deliver a heady erotic charge that has long made this one of my favourite depictions of lesbian desire.
central, of course, is the explicit fact this is a lesbian image. when fems look for representations of how we want to be in erotic situations, we are often left with images created by and for men. this can be alienating and leaves us unsatisfied - we want the presence of a butch to add fuel to our fantasy, to more truly reflect what it is we are aching for, what we dream about when we close our eyes and let our imaginations run wild. we want, also, for these images to be autonomous from the male gaze, as we want to be in our daily lives and in our sexual encounters with other women.
the butches frame the fem either side in aggressive eagerness, handling her roughly, with seeming no regard. these tough, leather-clad butches aren’t shy about what they want from this lone fem. one yanks her skirt up to reveal her panties, feeling her cunt. the other grasps her by the arm, where her dress has slipped off her shoulder - or perhaps been tugged. there is an element of danger here - the fem’s hand is braced against one butch’s shoulder, as though to push her away, while the other restrains her. the predatory lust in their expressions is undisguised. between them, she seems vulnerable. even the butch bartender in the back seems more curious than concerned, as though at any moment she might hop the bar to join in. in a certain light, it is a wry invocation of the predatory lesbian trope, the sort of image conjured to frighten supposedly straight women away from a dark and sordid world.
yet the most significant element of this image is the key to its erotic power: the fem’s attention is not concerned with the butch who grasps her by the arm, or the one that fondles her cunt. instead she stares directly into the camera, at the viewer. her gaze is not one of entreaty or passivity; she does not want to be rescued. she is defiant and brazen, spreading her legs to give these butches easier access to what it is they all want, staring us straight in the eye as she does so. whether you are butch or fem, or how you would want yourself figured in such a scene, this fem’s agency reassures us. “I want this,” her expression says, “and it’s okay for you to want it too.”
this is the quality of the lesbian gaze that Honey Lee Cottrell spoke about: “while your heterosexual woman model might compel the rest of the world to look at her, a lesbian was addressing you.” this scenario of power play and objectification is the fem’s desire as much as it is that of the butches’ - and her boldness is an invitation to all of us.
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