Lipstick is a movie about a closet lesbian and her fears and experiences when she was coming out. Lipstick focuses on Emily, a soccer player who has a girlfriend, unknown to her best friends. Although she loves her girlfriend so much, she couldn’t dare tell even her best friends because of the fear of being ostracized by them. She feels like this because of the stigma that society places on gays and lesbians. Her girlfriend, on the other hand, pushes her to become more open of what she really is, admitting that the process is indeed difficult, but is worth all the difficulties in the end.
The moment when Emily’s friends found her in the restaurant with her girlfriend after she excused to herself from going out with them, they were still oblivious of their deep relationship. Because of Emily’s girlfriend’s disappointment on how she was afraid of telling them what their relationship truly was, she left, only to be held back and kissed in front of Emily’s friends. This came as a shock to them and they left as soon as they could. After a while, Emily avoided them thinking they didn’t want to be with her. However, her friends continued to invite her and expressed their friendship by still being with her.
One of them, though didn’t feel comfortable about the whole thing for quite some time, refusing to talk to Emily and avoiding her as much as she could. It took her long to come into terms with what her friend was, but in the end, they all remained best friends, even knowing what kind of person Emily truly was. In the movie, Emily’s fears are well grounded in the context of today’s society. Although there are laws passed about the acceptance of same sex marriages, many still believe and feel that this is wrong and a few feel it’s condemnable.
Because the trend of acceptance is still in its formative stages, there are many gays and lesbians who do not want to openly admit who they are. One of the reasons is that they violate the social norms that have been established for a long time. Human nature often requires us to conform with the norms of society, despite the pull towards the opposite end of the spectrum. Secondly, because of this pull, people in society tend to shun those who do not follow the norm and react in various ways not conducive to the violator’s growth out of the norm. We can see these things reflected in the movie.
For gays and lesbians, it is indeed difficult to come out especially if all his/her friends are straight. Reactions can vary and sometimes, unlike the movie, gays and lesbians don’t get their friends back at all. Although society is more tolerant and educated now about sexuality, the reality of the whole matter is still very different when it’s someone close who turns out to be such, as opposed to textbooks, classroom discussions and talk shows. Their need to be accepted in society or even just in their small social circles is very important to them, thus making it difficult for them