by DrBorka – Contributing Writer

In her article about Dutch Lesbian Websites, Natazzz wrote that we tend to have an international focus when looking for lesbian content on the internet while we ignore high quality national websites. In some way she’s right, I guess, and I second her suggestion to pay more attention to national lesbian themed sites. On the other hand, we are looking beyond borders for a good reason.

Although homosexuality seems to be relatively well accepted in the Netherlands and there are quite a few out lesbian and bisexual TV-presenters, musicians, sportswomen and politicians, our representation on scripted television shows is pretty much below par. The fictitious lesbians in national productions are few and far between and at this moment I count zero. No wonder we download try to get as much information we can about foreign shows like ‘The L Word’ and ‘South of Nowhere’, to name a few. Who wouldn’t if national television isn’t offering anything that makes you feel represented?

Last year something interesting happened though. While I was fanatically watching British, American and German productions and looking for new international lesbian internet content on a daily basis, my mother became obsessed with Dutch regional television – RTV Oost to be precise. The estimated population of the Netherlands is only 16.5 million, but all twelve provinces have their own television stations with accompanying production houses. RTV Oost broadcasts in the eastern province Overijssel and produces a so-called regional soap titled ‘Van Jonge Leu en Oale Groond’ (Of Young People and Old Land).

Literally half the province watched the show, as did my mother. She introduced me to it when I was visiting her one day. I expected it to be corny, badly acted and, well… kind of boring. I quickly had to admit I was wrong on all accounts, but when the character Monkie caught my eye I was hooked, if not smitten, and I “marathoned” all seventy-eight episodes available on the RTV Oost website.

VJLEOG is set in the rural region Twente and depicts the lives of the Wildspiekers. Monkie Wildspieker is the youngest daughter and a college sports teacher. Initially she is having affairs with men, but she has ‘soft butch’ written all over her – from her petit athletic body and her boyish spiky hair to her one-of-the-guys attitude and somewhat peculiar chemistry with male love interests. As I learned later on, the actress who portrays Monkie, Esther ter Horst, is openly gay, and that obviously didn’t come as a big surprise. Even an ill-attuned gaydar would have bleeped enthusiastically at the sight of her. What did surprise me though is that during season three her character developed a crush on a young female soccer player and later started to recognize her romantic feelings for her best friend Eva (Leonie ter Braak). And most unexpected of all: these feelings seemed to be reciprocated.

Monkie and the soccer player

This storyline seems daring since the agrarian hinterland is supposed to be conservative compared to my uber-liberal hometown-by-choice Amsterdam. The matter of fact treatment of homosexuality in our capital is commonly mistaken for a national characteristic. Last year, viewers could witness a 24 half-hour episode long, well-developed and prominent coming-out arc, which appeared more realistic and thought through better than many lesbian storylines I have seen on national or international television. Therefore it’s astonishing that neither the production company nor the channel nor the critics were paying any attention to this particular character’s development, much less advertise it.

Monkie and Eva (Season 3)	Monkie and Eva (Season 4)

When the fourth season of VJLEOG started on November 2nd, and in all the promotion beforehand the lesbian storyline again hadn’t been mentioned once, I prepared myself for a major disappointment. After all, the season three ending had left enough room for a back out like we witnessed lately on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. Thank heaven, after some hesitation Monkie and Eva do commit to each other and what’s more, in an interview for the gay themed radio show ‘De Roze Golf’ (The Pink Wave) both actresses confirmed that their relationship will last:

Leonie (Eva): At the end of the last season I was entirely convinced, but Monkie was still questioning. (…) Anyway, after the first episode [of the 4th season] we are already in a relationship.

Esther (Monkie): Right. In episode one we decide to totally go for it.

Presenter: A lesbian couple in a regional drama. That’s quite remarkable.

Esther (Monkie): Somehow it’s a trend, I think. Well, maybe not so much a trend, but nowadays there seems to be a gay storyline of some kind in almost every show.

Presenter: A trend? Really?

Leonie (Eva): Almost never lesbian storylines, though. I find that curious. Queers, gay guys I mean, in committed relationships are much more common on television than lesbians.

Presenter: Actually, I can´t think of any.

Leonie (Eva): There is one show, very entertaining btw, the name of which I can’t remember…

Esther (Monkie): Dutch?

Leonie (Eva): No, no. American. About all these lesbian women…

Esther (Monkie): ´The L Word´.

Sadly, this conversation illustrates my point perfectly.

The dialogues in VJLEOG are written in Twents, an eastern Dutch dialect, but the episodes rerun subtitled on most regional stations and during the summer on national television as well. The show is also available on DVD, with subtitles provided of course. Since I think it’s true that we tend to look primarily beyond our borders for lesbian entertainment, I fear that many Dutch (reading) lesbians will overlook this so far very impressive representation of our lives. Give it a try. Hopefully you’ll agree with me it’s worth it, although I have to admit all characters do talk kind of funny…