Queer Women are the OGs of the Intimate Sex Scene, with Quinn Shephard

S1 E3: Queer Women are the OGs of the Intimate Sex Scene, with Quinn Shephard

This week, we talk through some of Beandrea’s favorite queer films from the last 20 years and give a shout-out the filmmakers behind them. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: queer women have been leading the charge when it comes to nuanced depictions of female pleasure on screen for a long time. And they’ve been doing it on a budget! We look back at some early lesbian movies that take on coming out and look at more recent depictions that focus on teens who know who they are and accept themselves from page one.

The Movies:

But I’m a Cheerleader (2000)

We start our queer cinema journey with longtime episodic director Jamie Babbitt’s satirical teen sex comedy, But I’m a Cheerleader, about a gay conversion therapy camp called “True Directions.” It is a bonafide cult classic. A young Natasha Lyonne plays Megan, an enthusiastic cheerleader who is forced to reconcile with the fact that she’s a lesbian as she falls in love with Graham (Clea Duvall) under the scrutiny of a harsh headmaster (Cathy Moriarty) and “ex-gay” Mike (RuPaul Charles). We dig into the humor, the MPAA rating bias, the failure of white men to get the movie, and celebrate how well the groundbreaking indie holds up in the light of 2020.

The Twentieth Anniversary Director’s Cut re-release comes out on December 8, 2020.

The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love (1995, 2005)

Next up is a micro-budget Sundance indie from writer-director Maria Maggenti. Despite their completely different backgrounds, Randy (Laurel Holloman aka Tina from the original L-Word) and straight girl Evie (Nicole Arie Parker) fall in love. We discuss how Maggenti expertly navigated onscreen intimacy in an era when queerness wasn’t yet mainstream. The film was re-released in 2005 on its 10-year anniversary.

Pariah (2011)

Then we take a closer look at the Sundance debut of Pariah from writer-director Dee Rees (Mudbound, Bessie, The Last Thing He Wanted). Sadly, it’s still one of only a handful of movies with a Black queer woman at the center, but thankfully it’s become a recent classic in queer storytelling. Our mama bear energy comes out in full force to protect the film’s heroine Alike (Adepero Oduye) when her sensitive poet soul is threatened by a would-be high school romance. We also love Alike’s best friendship with Laura (Pernell Walker) and celebrate platonic intimacy between queer women. 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)

Nearly twenty years after But I’m a Cheerleader, director and co-writer Desiree Akhavan also takes on teen gay conversion therapy. But this time it’s a poignant drama that forces us to confront a hard truth: more than half of states in this country still allow this damaging practice. We discuss the trance-like sex scene between Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Coley (Quinn Shephard, also this week’s interview!) and how f-ckin sexy it is for a woman to say what she wants and get it. 

Booksmart (2019)

This high school comedy starring Beanie Feldstein (Molly) and Kaitlyn Dever (Amy) is one of the funniest teen comedies we’ve ever seen. Directed by Olivia Wilde, we geek out over its stellar pro-masturbation stance and the ways it celebrates queer teens without making too big a deal out of it. Make sure you watch the movie so you can howl at how worn out that panda looks!

The Half of It (2020)

Alice Wu has made two fantastic features, Saving Face (2004) and The Half of It (2020), and we have decided that we want many more movies from her. In her latest, we follow Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) as her poetic writing skills get her caught between her would-be friend Paul and the girl they both have a crush on: Aster. We agree 100% about the necessity of taking a dip in hot springs and how sometimes sexual tension is just as impactful as a steamy bedroom scene. 

Also check out:

The 200 Best Lesbian Queer and Bisexual Movies of All Time (Autostraddle.com June 2020)

The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye)

Saving Face (Alice Wu)

Rafiki (Wanuri Kahiu)

Kajillionaire (Miranda July)

The Interview 

We are obsessed with actress, writer, and director Quinn Shephard! In our lively and thoughtful chat with her this week, we discuss: the oversexualisation of girls, how she approaches feminine, masculine, and nonbinary gazes in Blame, her 2017 debut feature as a writer-director, and her experience being directed by Desiree Akhivan in The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Shepherd also tells a personal story about the toxic culture of sexual abuse that actresses have to deal with in their work. Time really is up.

Follow Quinn’s work @quinnshephardofficial.