Lexx - Homophobic or homoerotic?

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Considering that Lexx was originally aimed at young guys - which is why it stars a hot chick wearing a skimpy costume - there's lots of stuff which you wouldn't expect...

Sexuality is fairly fluid. Even the crew - the 'normal' people in this show - are hardly conventional science fiction characters:

Kai - androgynously pretty, but celibate
Xev - highly sexed, but a virtual virgin
Stan - all male, but often almost passive
790 - male.. or female... and confused
The Lexx - probably a hermaphrodite (the design of the Lexx itself is basically one long tease - nozzles and orifices galore...)

Compared to most science fiction television series, there are lots of sexual scenes. Female/female scenes are almost certainly intended for male, rather than female, titillation.
But male/male scenes are often quite ambiguous (more like some Japanese animation). Sometimes homophobic, sometimes homoerotic - sometimes both...

So here's a quick look at same-sex content, and attitudes towards it, in Lexx.

I Worship His Shadow - from what we can see, the Cluster is basically a heterosexual man's world. His Shadow, who has been in charge for ceturies, always seems to take male hosts. All clerics are male, all love slaves are women - wives are totally subservient, possibly in an even worse position - at least love slaves are programmed to enjoy being used for sex.

One of the earliest scenes in Lexx has one man transferring his essence to another man through a 'kiss'.
Look at what Thodin is wearing. Gay, or confident in his masculinity?
(For all we know, sequinned kilts may be the norm in parts of the Dark Zone. There are a few examples of cross-dressing men in Lexx - scary doctor in Tunnels, girls in Girltown, Renfield in Walpurgis Night - and no-one seems bothered by their wardrobe.)
Thodin does kiss Xev, so I'm guessing straight. Not too sure about his friend though - Thodin does look a bit surprised when that rebel kisses him on the cheek.

The first Lexxian catfight, between Zev and Giggerota.

Supernova - milk-fed boys...not sure if this is meant to be a turn-on for guys or gals - or both...

Giggerota is interesting - calls Xev girlfriend... kills her husband.. eats clerics in 62 temples... her failure to perform her wifely duties was probably very different to Xev's... seems to have no sexual interest in milk-fed boys... later, she ends up on Girltown, as Queen of the 'boys'... as Pope, surrounded by celibate men... goes off with Lyekka, to be eaten... so, is Giggerota a lesbian?
Possibly Giggerota only loves Giggerota...

GigaShadow - this is probably the first episode of Lexx which is really homoerotic. In a room decorated with Greek wrestlers, men give each other massages, while Feppo and Smoor look at holograms of oiled hunks - and Stan.
Feppo and Smoor are a pair of evil gay guys - but they seem to be in an affectionate long-term relationship (8 years at least).
There are scenes with Kai, and Zev, and protoblood - I'm sure that's meant to turn someone on...
Directed by Robert Sigl, who also directed K-Town - more on that later...

Mantrid - Mantrid and Vigl? Another same-sex relationship, though not as happy as Feppo and Smoor. Possibly not sexual, as Mantrid was mostly body parts in a jar - but then, this is Lexx - and Mantrid has all those drone arms, with their various attachments...
On Fire, Mantrid doesn't end up in Girltown - he ends up in K-Town...

Luvliner - Schlemmi - ewww. A pervert, but not specifically represented as gay. Luvliner caters for all sexual tastes.

791 - it doesn't get much scarier than a gay rapist robot - but is it gay? The cyborg does seem to be checking out Xev - but prefers Stan.

Wake the Dead - another Lexxian catfight - Xev and Kanana.

Nook - no women, so homosexual sex is the only sex available - and then only once a year. The sin is not sex - it's having sex at the wrong time.
Manly Stanley even considers this (can you imagine Captain Kirk in this situation?!) but he does say:
Men are attracted to women, women are attracted to men, it's natural

Most of the men would apparently prefer to have sex with Xev, even though they've never seen a woman before.
Surprisingly, in this episode, no-one seems interested in Kai that way at all!

Twilight - Lomea wants Xev, but she's happy to be eaten by Lyekka - who also eats Hidea.
HIDEA: No. I don't - I mean, I have thought about it, of course, I mean, who hasn't, really, I just, oh my, oh my - do you find it hot here?

Woz - The 'beloved sisters' have been force-fed feminist propapoganda, and brainwashed to put the 'sick male need for penetration' behind them - does this mean they're lesbians?
Stan does look a little worried when asked if he wants to be a beloved brother.

Fire - Prince and Duke seem to exist in an all male environment, apart from May - and it's not entirely clear which planet she comes from.

Boomtown - No same-sex activity shown, apart from Root kissing Kai - though this would have been an ideal oportunity.
ROOT: Everything's OK. We're on Boomtown

(There's a wall of boobs, but no wall of cocks - surprising, given some of the designs on Lexx. They could have gone for a wall of cute butts - that would work for everyone...)

Schlemmi is back (as Fifi) and this time he seems to be more specifically interested in men - involved with Duke (also Prince/Kai in Gondola).

K-Town - Mantrid again. If the scene with Xev handling Kai's rods is sexual, then that makes the scene with Mantrid sticking Kai's rod into the wrong hole homoerotic... possibly...

The Key - Stan and Prince - in Xev's body. (For more on Prince and Stan, see Studman Stan).
Stan calls 790 "a poofter robot head" - this is the only example I can think of in Lexx of someone being insulting about someone else's sexuality.
790 is an interesting case - claims to be male when he is in love with Xev, and female when he is in love with Kai - so neither of these counts as a same-sex relationship, technically... but he does get a penis grafted on (in 769) so he can have sex with Kai - so does that mean he's a man? My brain hurts...

Girltown - apparently everyone there, male or female, is homosexual. Though as we learn in The Beach, people try themselves - if you're on Fire, it's because you believe in your soul that you deserve to be there.

The inhabitants of Girltown are really presented as typical television stereotypes - gay guys just wanna have fun, gay girls are scary.

The 'girls' think of themselves as good people, who have been sent to Fire because of their sexuality.
(Fifi has homosexual leanings, and is not a nice person, but ends up on Water - has he slipped through the cracks, or does he feel no guilt, and so not judge himself? Of course, for him, Water may be hell...)

The 'boys' - it's never made clear how they feel about living on Fire. It may be they are quite happy, in which case, for them, this could be heaven...

Stan seems quite well disposed towards the 'girls':
STAN: Yeah. I think they deserve it
KAI: What?
STAN: Well, to be on Garden City, on Water, instead of Girltown. Yeah, I think they'll be happy there

Xevivor - features the most homophobic - and most homosexual - character on the show. Yes, it's Farley (Fifi again), desperately trying not to get turned on by men (did those hunks really turn anyone else on?!). When he mentions being attracted to men, Stan and Xev don't seem disgusted - they have never heard the term 'gay' - so is this socially acceptable on the Cluster? It certainly doesn't seem to be the norm.
The guys doing Xev's costume and hair are both quite camp.

Walpurgis Night - Davinia and Mandragora get cozy with Xev - but leave just when Xev is starting to enjoy it.

Vlad - Kai kisses Stan! - but, it's not really Kai, it's Muffy. Either way, Stan really doesn't enjoy it. (I think this is the only male mouth to mouth kiss - all others have been a peck on the cheek.)

Fluff Daddy - Dick Dongler seems pretty relaxed about having Stan as his fluffer. As for Stan's cellmate - ugh.

A Midsummer's Nightmare - camp as a row of tents (the fact that this was partly filmed in Britain was purely coincidental, I'm sure). Oberon, King of the Fairies, seems a bit confused - at various points in the episode he seems straight/bisexual/gay/closet case. But then, these are human labels, and maybe they don't apply to fairies. Titania is treated very sympathetically, considering he's a transvestite gay dwarf - of course, in Shakespeare's time, the role would have been played by a man in a dress. Still doesn't make him kissing Kai a pretty sight. Puck is very much a gay stereotype.
Stan doesn't want Oberon's ring on his finger - but tells him he's a good dancer - even after Oberon's kissed him. He doesn't like Puck touching him - but he's prepared to admit that he feels pretty in a dress - though not high heels!

Bad Carrot - Xev and Bunny fight in Xev's bed.
The carrots can't really count as homosexual, as they will insert themselves into anyone - even animals. But they are probably a homophobe's nightmare...

769 - 790 + Mothbreeder + body parts + Kai = Yuck! Xev, strangely, doesn't seem to have a problem with this - but Stan is disgusted by 790's advances on Kai - possibly not the homosexual aspect, so much as by 790 trying to have sex with someone (using someone else's body!) who can't really say no (though Kai has never had any difficulty saying no to Xev - hmmm).
Xev kisses Bunny when they play Truth or Dare - which Bunny enjoys...

Moss - Moss is definitely homophobic:
MOSS: It's a well known fact that all English are homosexual. It is also a well known fact that all homosexuals lie.
However, it's clear in this episode that he's also insane.

Dutch Treat - Xev and Bunny finally go all the way - President Priest is worried that she might have "gone over to the other team".

ApocaLexx Now - Lyekka eats Giggerota (which is usually shown as an enjoyable/sexual experience).

Trip - Stan and Kai in bed together - which turns out to be just a nightmare for Xev.

So, what's the verdict?

Homophobic? Actually, Lexx seems fairly gay-friendly, especially for science fiction television. Homosexuals are shown as being sometimes good, sometimes bad - just like heterosexuals.

Homoerotic? Sometimes, definitely - though Lexx is sexy in its own unique way. I'm sure if you asked a hundred Lexx fans which scene was the sexiest, they'd all have a different answer - and some of those scenes might not be conventionally sexy at all.

No matter what you're into - men, women, robots, corpses, vegetables, aliens - there's probably someone who swings your way on Lexx.

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