Academics argue that popular forms of entertainment reveal the nature of the culture that created it. Which, in Hollywood, boils down to this: Television shows survive only when they grapple with the issues that reflect our deepest fears and desires. That might explain the proliferation of television programs about deviant, dangerous law-breakers and the people who keep us safe from them. After all, a violent crime is committed every 22 seconds in the United States. Add some wartime jitters, throw in a little sex appeal and it’s cha-ching for television shows that feature our newest supermodel superheroes: female crime fighters.

High-octane heroines have always been popular — from 1970s-era feminist-jiggle shows like Charlie’s Angels, Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman to their ironic ’90s counterparts like Xena, Charmed and the Powerpuff Girls.

In the last decade, in fact, female action heroes on the little screen have ballooned concurrently with lesbian images on screen.

“A society that is willing and eager to embrace female action heroes on television is also one that is more likely to accept lesbian characters on television, since they both share the underlying message of female empowerment,” says Sarah Warn, the twentysomething Harvard alumna who founded the Web site AfterEllen.com to monitor representations of lesbians on television.

“What makes more sense than an ass-kicking lesbian?” she asks.

Indeed, lesbians have been far from absent from the tube’s crime-o-rama. Xena and La Femme Nikita had lesbian subtext. The butt-whomping Dark Angel had a lesbian sidekick. Real-time saga 24 quickly killed off some lesbian terrorists. And the writers of Witchblade spent a full season dancing around the sexuality of its central character, Sara. Witchblade, in fact, might still be drawing legions of lesbian fans if star Yancy Butler didn’t have substance-abuse and anger-management issues. It was canceled at the peak of its ratings when Butler — who was arrested for head-butting a police officer in January — entered rehab.

Thankfully, though, we’ve managed to put our Sapphic senses to work and sniff out a bevy of crime-fighting babes: broads who rely on their wit and strength, and chicks who offer a more modern fantasy of women’s self-empowerment.

CSI & CSI: Miami (CBS)
If television crime shows on television are the mirror in which Americans inspect their variegated complexion, then CSI is the tops at shaping public consciousness. It’s consistently No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings (that means almost 30 million people tune in) and it features two of the strongest female characters on television.

“Catherine Willows [Marg Helgenberger] and Sara Sidle [Jorja Fox] are so much stronger than the guys at the end of the day,” argues Carol Mendelsohn, the lawyer-turned-executive producer of CSI.

In fact, in last year’s season finale, Catherine saves her male supervisor. “We said in the room, ‘One of our CSIs is going to have to shoot and kill a suspect. Which of our CSIs actually has the ability, the mental capability, of doing that and going on with their lives?’ The only one we said could do it was Catherine Willows. … We really talked about it, and we settled on Catherine.”

So what if the characters aren’t openly gay? Executive producer Ann Donahue is — and it shows. CSI is one of the few crime shows on the air with more female than male viewers. It’s credited with the recent surge of applications to college forensic-science programs (again, a higher number from women). And it’s the only crossover hit to make it to the top 10 for both black and white households.

Donohue (who won an Emmy for her work on Picket Fences) and Mendelsohn can’t take all the credit. They owe part to executive story editor Elizabeth Devine (a criminalist with the LAPD) and to two nonconventional screen queens. Helgenberger, who played a hooker on China Beach, is a middle-aged single mom and a former-stripper-turned-crime scene investigator. She’s got the cojones on the show, but the real ball-breaker is junior investigator Jorja Fox, who portrayed a lesbian on ER and Ellen, plays drums in the all-girl band Honey Pot, and owns a production company that specializes in lesbian plays. Hmmm.

Donahue took her knocks for an episode with an FTM villain earlier this year, but she’s got a knack for facing the intimacy of murder and crafting really smart, strong female roles. The show pushes boundaries, too, in other realms, with differently abled regulars and story lines that delve into topics like BDSM without sensationalizing them. No wonder CSI’s minutia of murder has spawned so many imitators. Most noteworthy among them is the spin off CSI: Miami, which hasn’t developed its female characters well enough, but does get kudos for featuring Khandi Alexander (the girl who liplocked Peta Wilson in La Femme Nikita) as an African-American medical examiner.

Alias (ABC)
Anyone who thinks CIA agent Sydney Bristow can’t be gay has never been to ImJustSayin.net — Jennifer Oksana’s Web site dedicated to the homoerotics of Alias. Oksana and other women have imagined worlds where Jennifer Garner’s Sydney is in love with her roommate Francie; now that Francie (Merrin Dungey) has been replaced by an evil doppelganger, anything’s possible.

Even if she’s not a lesbian, Sydney’s no shrinking violet. In the heavily promoted post-Superbowl episode, Garner dons two different sets of fancy lingerie while AC/DC wails “Back in Black.” In a delightfully self-mocking, pop-reflective moment, she gets to kick the ass of the man who got her the getup while yelling something to the effect of, “Do you think we like wearing this shit?”

Garner’s femme and foxy girl-next-door Sydney isn’t the object of the de facto male gaze. In fact, Sydney is actively fighting it, proving that she can subvert, co-opt and destroy men at will. She’s not thinking about making babies — or probably even making love — because she’s too busy getting her teeth pulled out with pliers (“Start with the teeth in the back,” she tells one torturer). But she does put on and discard an array of personalities (is it work or is she finding herself?) and she’s frequently donned drag that certainly looks dykey to us. Even with the adrenaline rush and the sexy outfits, the boys still don’t get it: The show — No. 65 in the ratings — attracted the lowest post-Superbowl audience since 1988, probably because it’s too feminist for the fellows.

Crossing Jordan (NBC)
On NBC’s Crossing Jordan, Jill Hennessy — who played the lesbian lover in Chutney Popcorn — makes sure viewers keep guessing about her character’s sexuality and lack of, um, femininity. In Crossing, Hennessy plays Jordan Cavanaugh, an intrepid Boston medical examiner with rage issues. A modern fairy-tale princess, Jordan was raised without a mother (like the crime-fighting girls on Alias and Dark Angel) whose death is a large preoccupation in her life. She’s surrounded by a bevy of odd co-workers, like Ravi Kapoor as Bug, and the ex-good-cop-gone-bad father who helps her solve cases.

A recent episode, written by gay exec story editor Elizabeth Sarnoff, finds Hennessy growing a little too close to a suspect, the Dr. Laura-ish character played by lesbian icon Mariel Hemingway. Hemingway previously played gay in Personal Best and The Sex Monster, and had one of the earliest lesbian kisses on television (when she smooched Roseanne in 1994). Although Jordan and the doc sizzle with sexual tension, Hemingway’s character is too distraught over her deceased partner for the spark to ignite. This kind of sexual ambiguity is what feminist cinema critic Teresa de Lauretis, author of Alice Doesn’t: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema, calls a safe move. “[They] offer their heterosexual female audience with a ‘safe’ means of engaging with a lesbian fantasy scenario by offering them at the same time the possibility of denying this fantasy.”

Fastlane (Fox)
In the history of TV’s lesbian kisses — from LA Law to Relativity — none was as hot as those in a recent episode of the testosterone-laden Fastlane. In previous episodes, Fastlane has brought us gratuitous shots of Peter Facinelli’s naked ass, but all the action these days belongs to Tiffani Thiessen’s character, Lt. Wilhelmina “Billie” Chambers.

In an episode with a motorcycle-straddling jewel thief (Tatyana Ali), the guys ponder whether Billie plays on the “all-girl’s team.” In the episode “Strap On” (Fox execs say the double entendre means, “Take your gun”), Billie infiltrates a lesbian crime ring. The episode — which was preceded by warnings about “adult sexuality” but still aired in the family-friendly 8 p.m. slot — was written by out lesbian Kim Newton. In it, Billie meets Sara (played by lesbo-friendly Jaime Pressly) in a real lesbian bar (L.A.’s Girl Bar), where Billie seems completely comfortable. Sara kisses Billie at the bar to save her from an unwanted suitor. At one point, Sara even asks Billie if she’s gay or just “bi-curious” — another first on network TV. The two women start dating and cozy up in a hot tub. Naked! Making out! Seriously. Sara invites Billie to spend the night, and we don’t hear a rejection.

Despite the obvious duplicity of this undercover operation, Billie seems to authentically fall for Sara. During the concluding bust, Sara is shot but doesn’t die, and Billie promises to help keep her out of jail. The Fastlane guys try to muster the courage to ask Billie if she’s a lesbian, but wimp out by asking if she misses being “undercover.” We flash back on a scene of Billie dancing with Sara at Girl Bar before she answers, “Yes.” Another double entendre?

“We want to hint at something in Billie’s character — is she bisexual because she’s doing her job or is she a lesbian?” says exec producer John McNamara.

“It does feel a little bit like the writers are trying to have it both ways by attracting the lesbian and straight-male audience with images of lesbian sexuality,” adds AfterEllen.com’s Warn, who asks if Fastlane is “avoiding the potential controversy … by not actually defining Billie’s sexual orientation as lesbian or bisexual.” Warn thinks the show is ground-breaking simply because Billie displayed familiarity with lesbian sexuality, wasn’t uncomfortable kissing another woman and made no effort to identify herself as hetero-sexual — which makes it clear that she doesn’t care if anyone thinks she’s gay. “I didn’t see what the big deal was about in this episode,” Theissen told reporters. She’s ready to go either way for the show. Apparently viewers are too: Ratings jumped by a third among 18- to 49-year-old men and women.

“I think that if the writers continue to develop Billie’s character as a queer woman it will be pioneering on TV, for a few reasons,” says Warn. “Because Billie is the boss in the series and clearly comfortable being in charge. … Billie seems very comfortable with her sexuality, and not at all ashamed of it; she comes off more like a person who likes to keep her personal life private, rather than someone who is ‘hiding’ a ‘secret.’ Third, unlike other ensemble series which have so many characters that you may not see a particular character for several episodes, Billie is central to Fastlane’s story line every week, and is featured in every episode — which would probably make her the lesbian character with the most screen time on network television if she were to come out.”

Without a Trace (CBS)
In a television landscape filled with blood-soaked series, this smarty-pants police procedural stands out. While most eyes are on perky (and blonde) Poppy Montgomery, I can’t stop being transfixed by Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s FBI agent Vivian Johnson. Her stellar moment came this season when she infiltrated an underground railroad of domestic-violence victims and was “made” by the lesbian cop who ran a safe house. Jean-Baptiste is tough and sophisticated, somber but empathetic. It’s an odd combination, but Jean-Baptiste — the first black Brit actress to get nominated for an Oscar for Secrets and Lies — pulls it off easily. Though she’s straight in real life (well, she’s married to a ballet dancer) and may be on-screen, she’s genuinely dykey, which might be why this top-10 show is giving ER a run for its money.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (UPN)
There’s always been a lesbian subtext to Buffy. Back when Faith and Buffy battled — vampires and each other — many fans imagined they were shagging, too. (Actress Eliza Dushku admitted to encouraging the lesboeroticism.) Then came Willow’s magical awakening — sexual and talent-wise — and her relationship with Tara.

Now Willow has a new girlfriend, and she’s an ass-kicking sort. No more of this sensitive Sapphic witchery. Kennedy (Iyari Limon) is a take-charge slayer-in-training, which means she’s tough and wisecracking and as good in battle as she is in bed. Limon is only the second Latina actress ever to portray a lesbian on the small screen (Lisa Vidal has had a small role on ER). She’s another rarity, too: She’s not what Warn calls the “tentative, struggling-with-my-sexuality lesbian character” we usually see on TV. “It’s especially rare to see a teenage lesbian character on television whose story line doesn’t revolve around coming out,” Warn says. “Kennedy challenges conventional notions of femininity because she is aggressive, courageous, and direct, all without crossing over into the ‘bitch’ category where television so often puts assertive women.”

Another perk? The gang likes her, just the way she is. Willow kissed her and Buffy promoted her. Now, just as producers announced that the series will live on in Sarah Michelle Gellar’s absence, it looks like Kennedy (and the returning Dushku) could have their own lesboerotic encounters.

Birds of Prey (WB)
Rumor has it the leather-clad Bat femmes were killed off not so much by dwindling ratings but by a creative scuffle behind the scenes. Still, the show did attempt some dykeish terrain. First, Batgirl sported a wheelchair. Later, Dinah (the daughter of Black Canary, a Batman protégé) had a sleepover with her friend Gabby, who she discovered was a lesbian. In the next episode, Dinah has her first major fight scene. Coincidence? I think not.

She Spies (Syndicated by MGM)
Natasha Henstridge has played gay before — as Miss Ellen, the lesbian substitute teacher on South Park, and amidst a gaggle of dykes in some movie about Mars. She’s a tomboy who clips pronouns from her interviews and wears flannel (often). So why the heck is it taking so long for her charact er (one of a trio of Charlie’s Angels wannabes) to at least go incognito as a lesbian?

Search Curve    All Categories travelstoriescommerceabout   
search our shop and forums, too!