 |
| "I laid a divorcee in New York City." |
NOTE: This article continues my coverage of Ed Wood's When the Topic is Sex (BearManor Media, 2021).
The article: "The Divorcee's Dilemma." Originally published in Swap (Pendulum Publishing), vol. 7, no. 1, January/February 1973. Credited to "Ann Gora."
Excerpt: "A lesbian who has eyes for some good looking divorcee isn't going to be easily swayed. But then also, the lesbians are generally a fickle bunch. Once they have made their conquest it is seldom that they will stick around with the same bed partner very long. It would seem that they are ever on the look out for new recruits."
 |
| An Apostolof/Wood joint. |
Reflections: One recurring element in the movies that Ed Wood wrote for director Stephen Apostolof in the 1970s is that women who have been wronged by men will naturally take comfort in the arms of other women. This will often happen after a female character has been beaten or even raped by a man, but this isn't always necessary. Sometimes, the woman will simply be unsatisfied physically and emotionally by her relationships with men.
Whatever the cause for their disillusionment with the male gender, the wronged woman and her female friend will commiserate about how men are such insensitive beasts, and this will typically lead to a tender lesbian love scene. See Drop Out Wife (1972) , The Snow Bunnies (1972), The Beach Bunnies (1976), The Cocktail Hostesses (1973), and The Class Reunion (1972) for variations on this theme. I've often thought that the scenes of domestic abuse and/or rape in the Apostolof films work against their intended eroticism, but it seems that Eddie was insistent on telling these types of stories.
"The Divorcee's Dilemma" finds Ed Wood exploring this trope once again, this time as part of a supposedly nonfiction article for Swap magazine. According to Ed, a newly-divorced woman is a prime target for sly, on-the-make lesbians. The unsuspecting divorcee, whose only knowledge of sex may have come from her former husband, is powerless here. Ed tells us that "when the divorcee encounters a lesbian who has an interest; the hots for her, she is brainwashed right from the start." Just as in the Apostolof films, the women in this article may turn to lesbianism because they have been abused by men or simply have found heterosexual relationships unfulfilling.
Yet again, however, Ed Wood finds it impossible to stay on topic. For some reason, in an article supposedly about divorce, Eddie starts talking about lesbianism on college campuses. "Colleges which house only girls have been notorious for fostering the lesbian life," Ed claims, reminding me of the "Seven Sisters" scene from The Simpsons. Another claim: "It has been told that every girl who has gone to college has had a least one lesbian experience." I'm not sure what this has to do with divorce. I think Ed is just trying to explain why some women turn to lesbianism even after marrying men.
But, really, Ed is veering all over the road in "The Divorcee's Dilemma." One minute he's talking about the difference between "butch" and "fluff" lesbians. The next, he's pontificating about the Women's Lib movement. And does he get to mention sweaters? But of course. For Eddie, all roads eventually lead to sweaters. Oddly enough, for a magazine called Swap, there's nothing in here about wife-swapping.
P.S. Would you forgive me for referencing one more Saturday Night Live sketch? The 2015 sketch "Forgotten TV Gems" details the quick rise and fall of a fictional '50s sitcom called Whoops! I Married a Lesbian. While introducing a clip from the show, host Reese De'What (Keenan Thompson) says, "Part of the problem with the series was that it was written solely by male writers who knew nothing about the social issue the show was based on."
Next: "Test of Time" (1972)