Gender and queer: lesbian film and TV links

These links include fansites for specific programmes, some general resources on lesbians in film, where to buy DVDs and VHS copies of films and TV programmes and some academic resources for lesbian and gay studies and particular cult films and TV programmes.

Apologies for any dead links, this stuff moves around a lot and we're short-staffed.

Where To Buy Lesbian Cult Films:

• Sendit is the best in the UK for all those hard-to-find videos.
• Play.com often has the cheapest deals but doesn't have any specific gay listings — use the search
• Movies Unlimited Has everything under the sun, but in Zone 1 (USA) format — needless to say. Still, if you've got a multi-region player, you can find many obscurities here, including out-of-print films

TV Fansites:

• AfterEllen is devoted to lesbian characters on TV including Buffy, Xena, and Dark Angel, with a subsection for Women of Colour
• David Wyatt's list of Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Television Characters Pretty exhaustive list of lesbian or gay characters on US TV
• BuffyGuide Links Portal where you can search for anything from fansites in several languages to fanfiction ('slash') sites, episode guides, galleries, chat, bulletins — you name it!
• BBC Buffy Cult is the official UK site for Buffy and Angel
• WyndGyrl Buffyslash Lesbian fanfic site with adult Buffy slash
• BTVS Writers' Guild Buffy fanfiction writers' guild with huge archives of Buffy slash
• Xena, Warrior Lesbian Xena fansite with news, episode guides, discussion/chat and webring
• Whoosh Site devoted to exploration of the lesbian subtext to Xena episodes in fiction and analysis as well as Xena ephemera and discussion of 'strong women' in popular culture
• Pretty Scary is a roundup of women in horror from comics through film, TV, stories the lot . . . Plenty of trailers, fiction and criticism available online along with forums, polls and the like. Check out the Queer Fear page. Hours of fun!

Lesbian Film & TV

• Lesbian Film List! Billed as a "somewhat comprehensive" list of lesbian films dealing mainly with lesbian indie features
• The Encyclopaedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Culture has several pages of gossip and facts on lesbian actors and a great overview of history, theory and research on crossdressing
• Rainbowsauce's lesbian film page has reviews of lesbian-themed films on DVD and video
• Amazing Dreams has reviews of lesbian films
• Alison Darren's Lesbian Film Guide is for sale, reviewing films with lesbian content from mainstream to obscurities
• Cinenova is the women's film distributor and carries a historical archive of independent lesbian films including documentaries, shorts and features available for hire (much of this work is not certificated but can be shown in private cinema clubs)
• The GLBTQ Cinema Group has a huge database of gay and lesbian films. It's much more exhaustive on male gay film but it lists lesbian films too
• GLAAD — American GLBTQ media pressure group

Lesbian Cult Fiction (femslash)

• Dykesvision — archive of lesbian fanfic with info on TV shows with lesbian interest, forums etc
• Shoujo-Ai is an animé fanfic archive
• Femslash entry on Wikipedia
• Ashera's Archive — lesbian Xena fanfic

Lesbian Cult Fiction (non-slash)

• Gormglaith is Heidi Wyss's radical lesbian cult novel set in a future where Tolkein meets Joyce according to the Women Writers site's review. Gormglaith is available to read online. The site also offers some useful lesbian links

Critical Essays on Lesbian Cult Media and Other Academic Stuff

• Junior Watcher is a showcase of undergraduate work in Buffy studies
• All Things Philosophical on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series offers much headscratching on the ontology and ethics of the Buffyverse
• Xena: Warrior Princess, the lesbian gaze, and the construction of a feminist heroine by Atara Stein is a good overview of approaches to lesbian/feminist fandom in general and Xena fandom in particular
• Studies in Cyberculture showcases Christina Boese's academic work on Xena, including The Xenaverse in Cyberspace, a doctoral thesis in the form of a hypertextual trip through the Xenaverse. Enjoy!
• Whatever Turns You On Becoming-Lesbian and the Production of Desire in the Xenaverse, Jeanne E Hamming, Genders 34 2001

Academic Lesbian & Gay Studies Stuff

• Bright Lights Film Journal has lots of academic articles on gay and lesbian cinema available to read online along with a film list and a list of gay and lesbian film festivals. Use the in-site Google search
• Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Studies Bibliography has Reviews and Articles About Videos in the UC Berkeley Library
• Theory.org.uk's Queer Theory page has lists, links and texts on queer theory
• The Gay/Lesbian Media Studies Webring is a research-sharing resource with open-access full-text essays
• International Gay & Lesbian Archive has a searchable audio-visual section
• Gay and Lesbian Studies Research Guide from Yale University which lists some lesbian film studies resources though it's a lot more gay than lesbian
• Voice of the Shuttle has listings of lesbian and gay studies resources and is a really useful humanities resource overall