It’s been twenty years since I had this idea that I wanted to take my film studies background and my love of lesbian film and have a place to plant my thoughts. Now we’ve reached yet another evolution - this can be a place to plant my thoughts about ANYTHING Sapphic.
This site is dedicated to the queer, lesbian, bisexual, non-binary, sapphic, wlw, and transgender communities (however you choose to label yourself, or not!) who make art. It’s not about judgement, it’s about visibility, hence I’m in the process of taking all the star ratings off everything. If you’re making art, I wanna see it/read it/hear it, and others will too. You’ll know how I feel about it by what I say.
It is however, all about women (with a deliberate nod to trans men and important moments on occasion—hey, it’s my site).
To be 100% clear, this site is trans-inclusive and always has been.
Who am I?
I'm Nancy Amazon (or V Holmes in real life). I’m lesbian, live in Newcastle, Australia, have a BA in Communications and Film, a Masters in English Literature, and several certifications in obscure marketing technologies which are my day job. I’m married, love dogs, wine, dragons, fandom, writing, all stories, most food, and some types of sportsball. I aspire to be the lesbian Roger Ebert (RIP Roger) or the queer Lois McMaster Bujold, whichever I can accomplish first. I recognize I will probably never be able to quit my day job.
Why did I call this site "Kissingfingertips"?
I wrote a paper for a film class long ago entitled "Kissing Fingertips: Hiding Queer Desire in Mainstream Cinema". Remember how Antonio Banderas passionately kissed Tom Hanks' fingertips in Philadelphia right before the man he loved died? Yeah, that pissed me off.
In the old days, when queerness was hidden away in pop culture, much of the queer intimacy we saw was expressed through kissing hands or fingertips. While the world has evolved - thankfully - the name stuck. This menace still pops up, and it's important to stay vigilant and call this bullshit out when we see it. Of course, Taylor Hickson basically reclaimed the whole kissing of hands thing and made it hot, so who knew?
What is “Bury Your Gays”?
BYG exists because of the sheer number of queers that get bumped off on TV. Why does it happen? Some say it’s punishment for trangressive sexuality that homophobes demand for the privilege of seeing ourselves on TV. Some say it's pure coincidence, some say it’s what we deserve (seriously?), some say it causes notoriety because it tends to make us mad and we talk about it on the Internet, so it's our own fault really (again, seriously?). If you can explain it to me (and Joss Whedon, and Jason Rothenberg, and all the bloody others) you'll be doing me a huge favour.
I love this Bury Your Gays list by Autostraddle, it's a phenomenal piece of work that is being added to all the time. More get added every year, and I'm trying not to take it personally that Lucy Lawless dies FOUR times in this list, plus they're actually missing the death of her queer character on Salem so that's just getting ugly...
What is "Sweeps Lesbianism"?
In 2004, Liz Friedman (ex-Xena writer/exec producer) coined the term "sweeps lesbianism" in the Bravo documentary TV Revolution: Out of the Closet. It is the phenomenon of shows presenting heterosexual women kissing women during the American sweeps TV months in order to attract higher ratings.
The episodes are highly publicized, and the women are magically straight again once the show's regular season resumes. The women they kiss are often hastily dispatched (either just removed from the show or actually killed off). I refer to this phenomenon often, as the trope has lasted even longer than the concept of “sweeps” months now that we are in the streaming era.
Who do I need to thank?
The ewok for her inspiration, now and always.
The people who have written to me requesting reviews, arguing with me, sending me copies of art/film/books/tv I can’t find, and engaging in some way, you’re all awesome. If I’m talking to one person or a thousand people, I’m happy.
All the fans of whatever wlw show and ship you’re into—you all are helping to force change and demand representation for queer people. Keep fighting the good fight! Visibility matters! The fact that things are so different now than twenty years ago is proof of that.
Why subscribe?
Subscribe here then you won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new post goes directly to your inbox, if you want.
