Jane’s World

Posted by Censor Librorum on Sep 2, 2006 | Categories: Lesbian in a Catholic Sort of Way

Jane’s World is a wonderful comic book drawn and written by Paige Braddock. I sat and read issues #21 and #22 while I ate my “beef on weck” in Buffalo airport this week. A typically convoluted lesbian storyline, issue #21 went something like this: Jane accompanies her friend Chelle home to visit Chelle’s mother, Virginia. Virginia seduced Chelle’s girlfriend, Jill, at least partly because Jill reminded her of the lost love of her youth, Rachael. Virginia is currently living with Ted, who I think is either a FTM or stone butch (I missed a few back issues). After confronting her mother about sleeping with her girlfriend, Chelle punches Ted on her way out. Chelle punched Ted because Ted punched Jill. Ted punched Jill for sleeping with Virginia. Chelle leaves, telling her mother she’s going to find Rachael, “so you can get on with your life and stay out of mine;” i.e., stop sleeping with my girlfriend.

I try to imagine having this kind of conversation with my mother–I can’t.

Now I’m halfway through the sandwich and ready to move on to issue #22. Flipping the cover back, I open to this statement: “I wonder if anyone will ever tell all there is to be told about women. Women can be close without being sexual, sexual without being passionate, passionate without being erotic, erotic without making a physical claim to the beloved, and they can be all these together with such subtle sensual passage from laughter to confession to whispered intimacy that no one in the world could say where friendship leaves off and love begins.” Kim Chernin – “My Life as a Boy, A Woman’s Story.”

I never heard of Kim Chernin, so when I got home I googled her. She seems like a fascinating woman. I’m sure the next trip will find me reading one of her books – www.kimchernin.com/

Bookmark and Share
 

Leave a Reply