Open letter to Jessica Mason, assistant editor at The Mary Sue
First and foremost, I have to admit that under normal circumstances I don’t take the bait when it comes to editorial commentaries, especially when it comes from the keyboard of an ‘ist.’ So with that being said, buckle up because I feel...no I believe that you need some education on the world we are living in. I make no pretense about your education level, socioeconomic status, or life experiences but I want to make something very clear to you, speaking from your ‘ist’ platform is counterproductive to the process. You can’t seek to further a cause by creating another divide, using terminology attached to the ideology of ‘ists’ and ‘isms’ removes all credibility to what you are trying to draw attention to. I preface my following comments because I have little desire to debate the merits of your opinion for those very reasons.
That being said, this open letter very honestly comes from a place within me that is angry at the contradiction riddled vomit piece you penned regarding Wynonna Earp’s Wayhaught scene from Season 4, episode 2. I want to make it clear that I don’t want to challenge your views on Hollywood or that there needs to be more body positive representation on the screen. I can totally wrap my head around those topics, but the verbal diarrhea about the ‘sex’ scene that took place between Nicole and Waverly has me a little unhinged because you don’t get to represent queer culture and knock it at the same time. You said, “I know I know it’s very silly to complain about things being unrealistic on a television show full of demons and doors to the Garden of Eden and magic guns.” News flash, I see what you did there...pandering to no one in particular but trying to take up some hero mantle. You don’t get to justify wanting your reality while knocking the very reality of what makes science fiction, science fiction. It’s a show filled with oddities, dreams, nightmares and convoluted relationships that just happen to take place in a town called Purgatory. It has a magical gun, vampires, witches, and countless other weird things that make it the best damn show on television. Why on planet earth would you expect anything on this show to be “real or plausible?” Did you suddenly forget what channel it’s on or the genre it hangs in?
As for the actual ‘sex scene’...why do you have beef with the characters having relations of any kind on the stairs? Ohhh, right you said, “I’m sorry but no one actually wants to have sex on uncarpeted stairs. I don’t care how horny and nimble you are, that’s going to hurt.” Clearly you haven’t had sex on stairs...on a car...beach...fallen tree...the floor? I would hate to assume that for the mere sake that you may not be adventurous, that means that the rest of us lack creativity. I for one, would happily make love to a partner anywhere at any time if I had half the desire and passion that Waverly and Nicole have for one another. It made perfect sense that they couldn’t wait until they reached the bedroom...it made perfect sense that they made love on the floor, against the wall and on the stairs. They love each other. Time skips, revenants, monsters be damned.
Okay, just for kicks do you know how many ‘sex’ scenes take place in non-traditional locations between those considered heterosexual? Do you? I bet you don’t, and I also bet that wasn’t something you even considered while writing this drivel. The fact of the matter is that this show changed the fabric of time for minorities...and yes there is a lot that still needs to be done. There are a million things that are left unsaid, that need to be rectified for the generations of hypocrisy and the lack of representation is everywhere but recognize it for what it is. A step in the right direction. I foot in the freaking door. You want this giant leap to prove that there has been progress, but that’s not how true, lasting and deeply rooted change starts. Do you have any idea what I would have done in my youth to have had Wayhaught on my television screen? Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up with NO representation anywhere? Would it have been so hard for you to acknowledge the amazing truth that Emily Andras put in front of you and still made a call to continue the fight for equality? Why did you have to knock it first and put ‘unrealistic’ qualifiers on it as though saying “I like it, but it wasn’t enough so nice try.”
Seriously, if you wanted a sex scene between two women on television that “looks a bit more like the reality I know” then I hate to tell you this...take a seat and keep waiting. Let the adults sit at the table, make the plans and tear down the walls. This isn’t a place for all or nothing thinking. Battles take time, and sometimes ground is lost in an effort at gaining a larger advantage. Change doesn’t come like a bolt from the sky, it comes like a whisper in the wind. Those that love this show, found no ill design in the love scene between Waverly and Nicole, just as they did not find ill design when Wynonna and Doc had sex on the ground, amidst fallen trees and exposed roots. I’m afraid your viewpoint is too shallow for me to understand and I wish you well on your continued ‘ist’ causes but you are going to miss a plethora of opportunities wearing those rose colored glasses.
Lacking Respect,
Debra Carlsen
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