Slog - Comments on The "L" Word: Verboten in Newsweek http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten Newsweek apparently decided its readers wouldn't cotton to hearing a lesbian couple honestly described as a lesbian couple in this week's (US) cover story about photographer Annie Leibowitz. The story lingers for several pages on the relationship between Leibowitz and her partner for 15 years, the late Susan Sontag. Newsweek, apparently not wanting to promote the icky lesbian lifestyle, skirts the issue, referring to Sontag as "the person [Leibowitz] was closest to for [a] decade and a half." Newsweek does, however, take pains to note (in helpfully coded language) that the "most controversial aspect of Leibowitz's book" may be "the... Copyright 2007 Wed, 27 Sep 2006 12:54:36 -0800 Thu, 28 Sep 2006 03:29:58 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Chris B So not only do we get a puff piece about Liebowitz on the cover of this week's Newsweek, but we aren't even trusted enough to accept the truth of the life of the woman that puff piece is devoted to.

Way to pander to middle America!

]]> Chris B http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470136 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470136 Homo Wed, 27 Sep 2006 12:56:36 -0800 Comment by robotslave All that redundant prose (Schmader could have covered the story in ten words or less), and you didn't manage to use the phrase "The love that dare not speak its name?"

]]> robotslave http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470161 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470161 Homo Wed, 27 Sep 2006 13:26:15 -0800 Comment by One-time Chic Lesbian Newsweek has gone down hill since its 1993 cover story on 'Lesbian Chic'. I miss the 90s!

]]> One-time Chic Lesbian http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470181 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470181 Homo Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:04:40 -0800 Comment by phenics Well, the Newsweek editors wizened with experience must feel that America does not need to know about the Taliban actually having a functioning governing body any more then America needs to know about those sorts of women.


Must have something to do with the war effort, sure, that's it. Keep American Morale High...

]]> phenics http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470186 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470186 Homo Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:10:15 -0800 Comment by MvB For whatever reason, this circumspect attitude isn't limited to Newsweek. I have read that when Sontag died, the "Daily News mentioned she lived with Liebowitz, but the NY Times (which ran a Liebowitz photo of Sontag) and the Post were silent on the issue." My thought is that if Annie Liebowitz wanted to specifically characterize her relationship with Sontag, Newsweek would have been happy to quote her on that.

]]> MvB http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470197 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470197 Homo Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:39:03 -0800 Comment by Jon I remember when LA Times or NYT ran a bio on Ismail Merchant and all they could was that he was unmarried. Pathetic.

The media is afraid to acknowledge gays as anything but a freak show, because then they would have to let America know that gays are everywhere and gays often live lives just like straight people live. What the lazy, corporate, biased, far right media does not realize is many Americans have already acknowledged this, and are fine with it.

]]> Jon http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470453 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/the_l_word_verboten#c470453 Homo Thu, 28 Sep 2006 03:29:58 -0800