Single men

I just saw the utterly aesthetic A Single Man, starring Colin Firth, directed by Tom Ford. A wonderful movie, if you ask me, for anyone who is into beautiful pictures, beautiful pictures of beautiful men, beautiful pictures of beautiful men in the 1960ies.

I've been wondering though. A Single Man is the last in a row of big Hollywood motion pictures about gayness - a sort of nouvelle gay Hollywood vague that really kicked in with the huge success of Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee won the Oscar for best director in 2005, 2009 Sean Penn was awarded the Oscar for Milk, and Colin Firth was nominated for best actor in a leading role for his performance in A Single Man.

So far, so good. I mean, it's about time gayness hit the big screen in a way that does not confine gay men to the supporting role of the funny, a wee bit campy best friend (think of My Best Friend's Wedding, for example).

So I wonder: where are the feature-length movies about lesbians?

Is it because lesbians aren't that big a deal in terms of target audience? is it because their purchasing power isn't as interesting as gay men's is? Is it because lesbian sexuality is still considered something like a peccadillo, something not really that big of a scandalon, and thus good for attracting large crowds or getting you the Oscar for being so utterly provocative? Is it because the majority of people still have a secretly voyeuristic touch and a bit of a scary thrill when two men merely tongue kiss, whereas two women having sex is something you can see in almost any heteronormative porn?