Along those same lines, in a curious and metaphysical synchronicity, Joey: A Transcendental Love Affair, deconstructs gender in a similar way. There is, in fact, no way to determine *real* gender in a story, since all one has to go by is words and they, as we know, can be slippery things.

We don't know, for example, that "Richard" is *really* a male, or that any of the women at the bridal shower are *really* female, since the story itself claims that everyone is whole, not half of a dichotomy.

The songs are no help either, since they appear to shift gender almost at random. Tami Greer's Perfect Fingers, for ensample, addresses the object of her affections as a "wise man," yet the song *sounds* like something a lesbian would say about another woman and most manly *men* would probably prefer that places further south take precedence on one's lover's list of favourite bits.

The fact that this song is an Ani DiFranco recording as well only makes it more confusing, since one or both are *certain* to be lesbians. I've met Ms DiFranco, so I'm pretty sure about her, and Tami Greer appeared in Better Than Chocolate (Meilleur que le chocolat) as herself, which flick is a perfectly lovely lesbian romance which features a male to female transsexual in a central role, and in which Tami sings the song, Perfect Fingers, to a mostly lesbian audience, although in Canada, it seems, although there are the odd religious screwballs, people have a rather more laid-back attitude about what one is or does in the bedroom.

When Richard is referred to as a "putz," and Sarah's "husband" as a schmuck, is everyone just being polite?

When the women cheer "Pussy Power," is this just an extended late night comedy riff stolen from a Margaret Cho appearance on Showtime?

Cheers,

Puddin'