When my stepdaughter was little she got confused and asked whether a character in a story was a woman (female) or a woman (male).

Why the "y" in womyn? And is it femyle? And humyn?! Gah!

I saw "Caberet" before it closed.  It was a fun time.  The theater was the old Studio 54 and was set up as if you were at a caberet and not at a formal theater.  The person playing the M.C. was funny and would talk with the audience (in character) during intermission.  He waved to the people in the upper mezzanine and went "Hello, poor people!  Thank you for coming out here tonight, I love you poor people!"

The story itself was captivating.  It would shift from humorous and risque to very stark.  The ending really hits you.

"Nine" was a good play.  I saw it when John Stamos was in the lead role.  He has a good singing voice, I must say.

It's going to sound like a cliche, but I did enjoy seeing "The Phantom of the Opera".  I thought the story was interesting and the acting/singing was wonderful.

I enjoy the theater, just wish I had more time and $$$ to go more frequently.

I agree, Geoff, this is a wonderful place where just about anything can be discussed.  This thread seems to be more hospitable.  Everyone can present their views openly and without getting blasted.

If lesbians feel that strongly about the word women (and it should be pointed out that is also a feminist thing as well), I honestly have no problem with them using their own term. But the term they decided to use? One letter difference? That looks ridiculous, sounds ridiculous if you actually choose to pronounce it that way, and requires an explanation?

Seriously when I see things like that I just wonder if they purposefully set themselves up to be the butt of jokes.

I have quite a few strident feminist friends and a few lesbian friends and have always gotten on well with them for the most part. Part of that is I simply ooze machismo (as long as you are comfortable and confident in what you're saying while not being an ass you can get away with murder), the exception was with one of the lesbians. We got along really well for a couple of years and then all of a sudden I was an evil male bastard piggy incarnate. My crime? I opined to a mutual friend that she was not as gay as she thought she was, not that she chose to be gay or anything like that but she was clearly attracted to men. She would light up when she saw an attractive man and try to get his attention, not that she flirted but you know when someone is... vibrating when they see you that they're attracted to you. I would have said she was bisexual but based on her history (violent) with men that she chose to identify solely as a lesbian. True, it was a touchy subject and I shouldn't have said anything but when you're having a good conversation and you start talking about how people identitify themselves through their sexuality things can come up.

The reason I noticed how she reacted to men is another lesbian friend of mine who... felt like a guy. No sexual tension, she just looked at men as friends and nothing more and even though she was a hot young girl it truly felt like hanging out with a guy. Which was annoying the first time we met because I thought I was being set up with her and nothing worked. Not a smile, not a joke, not dancing, nothing. One of those moments when you think you're losing your mojo and are very relieved to find out that she was a lesbian.

The two responses were so different that they rooted around in my head until I came to a perhaps erroneous conclusion. Certainly, the first lesbian thought it was an erroneous conclusion. However, the way her sexuality matched up with and reinforced her political/feminist outlook on life and her history with men.... Anyway it was a general observation that I used a specific example for and she heard about it and decided I must pay the price.

From my perspective it went from a good friendly relationship between two people with disparate beliefs and backgrounds to daggers being thrown at me when my back was turned with no idea why it had changed.

Funny the things that make people chime in, eh, Taavi?  Glad to have you speaking.  Feel free to do it again and again and again.

"Herstory" drives me crazy, too.  Any corruption of a word because it "looks like" another... sigh.  Amazing the tiny, insignificant things to which we take offense.

Agreed, agreed!  Although I was tickled by the number of lesbians at the San Francisco Dore Alley Festival last weekend who (wearing inflatable strap-ons)*, kept saying, "Suck my dick!" and then giggling with each other.

*Not kidding, little pink balloon penises.  I think they'd have been more "real" if they'd been water-balloons, but whatever...