Leave it to Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck to have no understanding of how lesbian relationships between two women actually work.
Last week we talked about how some women who always considered themselves straight ended up in lesbian relationships in their adult life, often after the kids had grown up or they divorced their husbands. Discussed at length in O, The Oprah Magazine, it was only a matter of time before the ladies of The View took their brand of headline snacking and weighed in on the matter with their dumbed down discussion.
Shepherd, a wonderful actress but a naive adult woman, is, along with the pope and Fred Phelps, not qualified to discuss this subject. Unable to even consider why a “formerly straight” woman could become intimately involved with another gal, Shepherd sets women back 50 years by explaining why she could never go without men: Because they make her feel safe when she goes out at night.
Yes, ladies, you need a big swinging wang on your arm in order to feel secure.
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(Then Hasselbeck wants to know “if it’s a hormonal thing.” Related: Is our endless frustration with Hasselbeck a hormonal thing?)
Kudos to Barbara Walters for putting the subject on the table for The View‘s millions of readers. It’s too bad her cohorts are imbeciles.
sal
forget sherri and eizabeth….JOYYYYYY,she’s such…yeah,JOYYYY!!!!LOL
dgz
while i’m glad that kathy griffin isn’t on the show (for her sake), i’m completely dumbstruck by how they could choose shepherd… she is an imbecile. i say fire her and hasselbeck and bring back debbie.
Bruno
Shepard is a moron, at least Hasselbeck has some brains…even if she’s toxic.
Alexa
This clip is a good example of why I can’t stand watching this show any more. So much stupidity in one place.
Jason
I wish Whoopi had been on this episode. She’s always been a major gay/lesbian advocate, and her maturity on the issue never ceases to amaze me.
atdleft
@sal: Yes, at least Joy & Barbara get it. Otherwise, Sherri & Elizabeth would have just driven that show off the cliff.
@Alexa: Yeah, I can’t really watch it either. If I want that much madness in one hour of teevee, at least “The Real Housewives” are fun when they fight each other.
@Jason: Where was Whoopi? Was she warned ahead of time about the subject… And that Sherri & Elizabeth would be talking about it? 😉
jason
Maybe Sherri and Elizabeth were simply poking fun at how some women use their sexuality as a marketing ploy, falling in and out of relationships depending on whether there is a financial gain in it. For instance, some women pretend to be bisexual in order to turn on sleazy straight guys and obtain free drinks and other favors from them. Don’t you think this is pretty disgusting behavior? I find these women despicable. They are doing more harm than good to the cause of gay rights.
Yikes!
Sherri didn’t set women back a bit! It was her attempt to share her own feeling of how a man makes her feel secure and safe. It may have been her own mis-understanding how lesbian relationships occur, but it in no way did it place a slight on women nor the show in the hands of her own naivety.
To that, Sheppard didn’t say she ‘could never’ go out with men because they make her feel safe, she stated that’s why she likes men, because they make her feel safe.
The imbecile here is clearly David Hauslaib who wrote this article by mis-quoting Sherri and taking the subject out of context.
I really wish that Queerty would oversee what their freelance writers come up with and edit their massive typos and mis-information that is continually written on this website. All too often I’ve found mistakes made and it saddens me to no end that the maniacal rantings would garner such interest when clearly the writers here can’t get it together.
I am new to Queerty and appreciate their perspective, but come on boys and girls, get with it!
Brianna
Where did this idea that gay men come out earlier than gay women come about? I’ve been out since I was 12. Most people realize who they’re attracted too, whether they’re male or female, early on – even before puberty.
Brianna
@Brianna:
by the way that’s in reply to what they were saying at the end of the video there.
GranDiva
@Yikes!:
Darling, check the masthead; David Hauslaib is the Editorial Director here, not a freelancer…
And Sherri Shepherd sets women back every time she gets out of bed in the morning.
Robert, NYC
Both Sherri and Elizabitch both come from religious backgrounds. Is it any wonder both are so dumb about sexual orientation? To hear these two claiming they believe in Satan, please…..! The View is going downhill since these two morons joined the show. They could have picked far better people with a brain. Why would they want to hire a shill for the Grand Obstructionist Party anyway in the form of Hasselbeck? Its hardly what one could call a well-balanced panel. Maybe if her husband cheats on her it will shut her motor-mouth up once and for all. I can’t stand listening to her or the other idiot either.
Nick
I’m all in favor of a good “View” bashing when it’s warranted, but I don’t see anything particularly dumb about what either Sherri or Elizabeth are saying in this video.
Yes, Sherri says dumb things on a regular basis, Yes, Elizabeth is politically repugnant 90% of the time. However, I see two women making speculations on an topic on which they both seem admittedly naive. Neither of them seem to be saying anything remotely judgmental, hateful or stupid.
sal
@atdleft: coolz 🙂
Vada
I don’t find anything wrong here. This was a conversation that included all views, and did not settle on one misguided answer in any way. I appreciate that the show even “went there”, albeit to stay up-to-date (read: hip) with Oprah.
That being said, Joy is fantastic.
GJR
I think the last time I actually saw an episode of that show was when Lisa Ling was on. Since then, they are a bunch of squawking yentas. I like Whoppi but the rest are just ridiculous – the mean-spirited Walters who talks behinds everyone’s back, doesn’t care about anybody unless it can translate into ratings, Joy Behar who stopped being funny years ago, dumb as nails Shepherd and evil rightwing-nut Hazzelbeck. I agreed with much of Rosie’s views but she came off so shrill and unpleasant, more like she wanted to create a media sensation that make good points. She turned off people instead of getting a message across.
These were the same idiots that spread that BS about priests being arresting in Sweden for speaking against gay marriage. How many peoples in the country were made to think (or think even more) that gay marriage is some awful pernicious thing because of their ignorant blathering?
No thanks..
blake
“Shepherd sets women back 50 years by explaining why she could never go without men: Because they make her feel safe when she goes out at night.”
I disagree. Many women look for men would be protective of them. Tis seems like a pretty basic instinct and the basis for many male/female relationship. Clearly, novels and stories are based on the idea of a man rescuing a woman, be it a white knight, or some other chivalrous chap.
From a feminist perspective, women should strive to be able to take care of themselves but from a human perspective, people, both men and women, want to believe that their partners are there to protect them, physically or emotionally.
Attmay
The View sets women back 50 years.
This show is one of the most mind-numbingly awful programs ever put on TV. Seriously, they just put it on because no one who can produce non-garbage is dumb enough to take on The Price is Right.
Doug
I think Elisabeth asked some good and honest questions without sounding judgemental… She sounds open to new ideas without throwing the bible at them…
jasonut29
Both Elisabeth and Sherry are blinded by their religious views. Elisabeth’s are worse because she is a typical right wing religious fanatic who can’t even think without first consulting “the party”. Sherry is just plain stupid when it comes to anything that involves religion as “gay” does in her small mind. Both of their views on gay marriage totally showed their closed minded and stupid thought process. I agree that nothing really was said by either of them that was any more stupid than anything else they’ve said when it comes to “gay” anything.
BobP
I wish that if we have to watch people discuss issues that they be informed and well read, not spout party lines or simply be ignorant and proud of it.
They reinforce all the misinformation and fears of many non-thinkers in this country.
Ali
Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Actually, that was probably a gay-positive moment on the View, all things considered.
Sherri and Elisabeth were saying they just can’t imagine being lesbians, and they only have one frame for affectionate relationships with women, friendship, so that’s their starting point: affectionate, non-sexual relationships. That they make their point so forcefully is a smidge annoying, but considering the deep well of dumbassery they regularly draw from, it wasn’t bad at all. And of course, they represent a lot of straight women who really can’t imagine falling in love with, or f*cking, the women in their lives. I don’t mind their sharing their perspective; it’s the reality for them.
Barbara was a little worse, even though she was more informed than either Sherri or Elisabeth (though only by a slightly problematic O magazine article); she seemed a little stunned they let someone as dykey as Rachel Maddow on TV without people having a problem with it, in sort of a backhanded compliment. That was the sourest note for me in the entire clip.
Joy did the best job of trying to advocate for lesbians from a straight woman’s perspective. I liked her stress that convention may have forced a lot of women of her generation into the closet, and that at a certain point in their lives, they could be more comfortable coming out. But nobody on the panel seemed to get that some people might just be bisexual, or that sexual fluidity can just happen, and it’s not as the result of a trend or anything. Oh well.
The way I judge this overall is: what does this do for the audience? What I get from this clip is:
1. Lesbianism later in life is something any group of ladies can discuss without judgment, even if they totally lack comprehension of how you can find another woman attractive. That’s a plus.
2. Lesbians in general are something to discuss as mild curiosities instead of people to be feared or condemned. This is probably good from the “advancing the equal rights agenda” point of view, no? Even if it’s kind of annoying to have to answer questions like, “So how do you lesbians do it, anyway?” from the curious middle-aged lady brigade when they recognize they have momentarily trapped a rare lesbian in conversation, which… happens.
3. Lots of women, even later in life, feel free to have relationships with other women now. (Which maybe some 50-something View-loving lady in the audience will find moves her to finally kiss the gym buddy she’s had a strangely close relationship with for the past year or two. Who knows?)
I’ll give a B overall.
Robert, NYC
Now I wonder if this would have made it The View had the topic been about men suddenly falling for other men later in life? Either way, only one person on the panel has any idea and understanding of sexual orientation and that is of course, Joy Behar and although she wasn’t present, Whoopi. Had Whoopi been on, I don’t think Sherri or Elisabitch would have said that much. Both Shepherd and republican shill Hasselbeck are ignorant and totally uninformed about orientation or what it really means. Walters needs to have more competent, better educated people on her show.
ousslander
@Robert, NYC: Where did Joy get this amazing understanding of sexual orientation from her friend/hack Mario Cantone? If that walking stereotype is her understanding you, you’re more than welcome to her.
She is as big of a hypocrite/idiot as the others are accused of being
Robert, NYC
@ousslander:
Ousslander, Joy Behar has been an ardent friend and supporter of gay rights for many decades. Many many years ago, she had her own talk show on 710 WOR Radio here in New York, this is going back about 20 years or more. She was constantly sticking up for us, arguing with some of the right wing pundits and other gay adversaries. She eventually was booted off that show because too many right wing listeners didn’t like her progressive politics, least of all gay rights and equality issues for which she has supported unyieldingly. She,like Whoopi, knows a lot more about sexual orientation than Barbara Walters and her two religious morons on the show. I’d take Joy any day over dumbass Shepherd and Elisabitch.
Herecomestrouble
I agree – Joy and Whoopi appear to be more insightful and intelligent than the rest of the panel. Shepherd is a complete imbecile (The world is flat) did this woman finish High School? Further, ‘Republican Shill’ Elizabeth is a motor mouth – how can Tim Hasselbeck stand it?! Everyone always talks over each other, but particularly Elizabeth – can anyone get in a word? Walters (Always living in the past) should have fired both, they bring the show down in spectacular failure. I have to agree also with ‘ATTMAY’ – The View in general puts women back 50 years as does 99 percent of daytime television. If I ever want to begin my day with a headache, there’s always ABC and The View.
Aaron J.
Actually, I’ve heard that Hasselbeck grew up the child of liberals. So this right-wing perspective she has adopted is all her own doing – she wasn’t brought up that way.
Johanna
Talk about women’s issues. Hell, Sherri doesn’t need to talk about anything. Because some of the issues that she has been talking about as of late has been scary. Ok for example, the earth is round or flat topic-OMG. Then the Jesus theory. She was reading from the book of Morons. Then hooking up with WWE superstar MVP and saying that it was a date! Ok, you are 40 years old at that age a prom is not a date, that sounds more like a booty call or trying to treat you more like a child than a adult. Do you know how many people don’t care about if they went to the prom or not. I went by myself at the 9th and 12th grade prom. And it wasn’t because I couldn’t get a date, I didn’t have any intentions of going, it was just a last second thing….but to continue about Sherri. Then she talked about the man not having female body parts Oh Good Lord, where is Shrek when you need him. And then last but not least what done it for me was when she said something about she was getting a bikini wax. What the hell. Sherri claims and I quote that the reason why she had never shaved the Jungle of Terror was because she wasa married-do what now. Baby that makes people itch and I can not believe that she would tell her personal business on TV. But Whoopi had me hollering when she said that how can you not think about something like that and then Whoopi made something to the comment that oh she got it, maybe someone was going exploring. I guess it was MVP. Well good luck bud, you are going to defintely need a flashlight for that. I hope you make it out. If we don’t see you on Monday Night Raw, we know what happened. Then Elizabeth made a funny comment also and I don’t too much care for her either, but she was my hero that day, when she told Sherri that she was nothing thinking about her private parts and then something about it being south of the equator and I about fell out of my seat to know that someone can be so stupid and yet be so dumb. I just don’t know about sherri. Playing dumb and actually being dumb is two different things and different subjects.
Johanna
on one line i had a typo error. I meant to say that she was not thinking. See what dumb people will make you do.
ammerigader
Hi there, If you don’t like topics with many links, just delete this topic.
Thankyou.
Johanna
Thanks.
mc
bb is an old fart