(smooches)
- You look so glamorous.
- You don't have to repay any kind of compliment.
- No, was actually a bit
stunned by your beauty. - I wasn't fishing.
- Hi. - If we were gonna
compare ourselves to flowers,
seeing that's actually related,
what kind of flower would you be?
- Darling, I haven't you done the intro.
- Oh, power of editing.
You kind of like mitch and match.
- Mitch and match. - Mitch and match.
- You're Mitch and I'm Match.
(coil springing)
- Hello, lovely people.
- Hi. - In today's video,
which was meant to come out on Lesbian Day of Visibility.
- Oh my gosh, did we miss that? (laughing)
- Yeah.
So this video was meant to come out
on the Lesbian Day of Visibility.
But we are chronically late.
- We try.
- Individually, within our relationship,
and also now as a family.
- I don't know how
we are late to everything. - Chronically.
- Poor Rupert - Late.
- is last to school almost every day.
But we're here. - Yeah.
- And that's what matters.
- We always show up.
We're always late, but we always show up.
- That's not true. - Love.
- I'm a bit of a flake, but yeah.
(both laughing)
Anyway, that's not what this video is about.
(dog barking) Oh.
- Anyway, while she's gone,
I'll let you know what today's video is actually about.
Today we're going to be ranking flowers on their queerness.
We originally thought we'd do it
on a scale of lesbianness, but Claudia,
as if you and how she identifies in the scale of,
well, basically she's not straight.
That's currently how she identifies.
Yeah. Let's actually get into that video, shall you?
Shall we?
Shall you, shall we?
Today's video is sponsored by BetterHelp.
Find out more about them later.
Lilies, zero to five.
- [Claudia] And if they weren't yellow?
- If they weren't yellow, three and a half.
Dislike the color yellow.
- You know what, it looks to me
like a flower that represents the universe
and that is precisely what lesbianism
represents to me. - Right. Okay darling.
These on the other hand, snapdragon, I think are very,
I mean, I personally really like them
so therefore lesbian, but, (popping)
and what's really nice about them is
if you press on here, it opens up for you.
That is not designed for our, you know, intrusive fingers
to poke into flowers. (Jessica laughs)
It's actually been designed because that's where
honeybees and insects land.
Four out of five.
Because it's got this quite phallic part as well.
- It's got gender fluidity going on there, perhaps.
- [Claudia] Whilst we are on this bouquet,
what about the pussywillow? - For the name? 100%.
Is it a flower though?
Answer IN the comments below.
an orchid, this is my five stars.
Queerness level, five stars.
- I would definitely agree.
There's something very feminine about an orchid.
- That doesn't necessarily make it queer .
- I think all flowers are very feminine to be honest.
I mean, I'm trying and think of a masculine flower.
I actually had to Google it.
A masculine flower is like,
strong lines, no heavily scented things.
- Well, I highly disagree. - Apparently,
a bold colored tulip is a a masculine flower.
- Hmm. - Or a sunflower.
I would say yeah, probably five stars. (laughs)
- There we go. - A larger orchid.
I actually got so fascinated with orchids
in my GCSE years that I painted a massive orchid.
Very much focusing just on that middle section
which obviously is the classic kind of...
- And that wasn't a hint to your gayness?
- Fair.
I think my art teachers knew before I did.
Let's just talk about Georgia O'Keefe for a minute.
I mean gay icon, not gay.
- [Jessica] Not actually gay. - Not actually gay.
Not apparently even bisexual.
There's no evidence or like documentation of it.
She was married to a famous man who was a photographer
who did lots of nude photography pictures of her
and she had a clear fascination
of the innermost private parts of a flower.
- Two terms, of course we're talking about flowers,
are particularly connected to the male homosexual community.
We're talking about pansy, obviously we've all heard it.
Now this was originally started as an American term
for a homosexual and it's really stuck around.
There were other terms used
for gay males that also related to flowers.
We've got the buttercup. - [Claudia] Daisy.
- We've got the daisy.
But for a long time there were many queer-friendly
establishments that were named things like The Flower Pot.
Ah, just so you know, give people a hint.
- Interestingly, anyone from the island of Lesbos
is a Lesbian, as in they're called a Lesbian.
And in 2008 the lesbians decided,
of Lesbos, the Lesbians of Lesbos,
there was this whole court case in 2008
where they tried to sue and claim back their rightful name.
They lost.
And if you had to know more about Sappho,
Jessica did a whole video about her.
- [Jessica] I did.
Hello again, lovely people.
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Hi, it's me with some tulips.
I asked, and apparently this is gay.
I'm trying to see it.
I do see a great beauty within them.
Colorful, these particular tulip are delightful, Claudia.
- [Claudia] I mean your answer is very much
like a one out of five, I'd say.
- I like them. - [Claudia] I think from above
that's my fascination with the internal parts of flowers.
(laughs)
- Oh, Claud.
- I mean when I did my Google, as I said earlier,
apparently tulips was like,
I typed in, what's a masculine flower,
'cause I was like, well, all flowers are quite,
I always think of flowers as quite feminine.
I think of nature. - [Jessica] Dun dun dun!
But, - You weren't even
listening to me. - [Jessica] Is that not just,
very gendering? - No, I was about to say,
I just think of like, why is it like, Mother Nature?
And like when people talk about embracing your femininity
for both men and women, it's like going into nature,
feeling connected with the spirit side
and stuff like that, isn't it?
- [Jessica] Don't people say embracing your masculinity
and they mean going out into the woods?
- Yeah, and making fires and being destructive, making dent.
- [Jessica] Very reductive idea of gender.
- I think it's because women,
like the womanhood and like motherhood and Mother Earth,
it's about the cycle of life.
It's like death and rebirth, death and rebirth.
I would rate them maybe like a two out of five.
It's all very arbitrary.
Where are you going?
- Looking for a queer flower.
Is it queer, though?
- Well I think these are a little bit like,
they look like hyacinths, don't they,
like little mini hyacinths, and I mean,
what's their actual name?
God, I'm being so rubbish today.
What are they called?
Look, I wrote it on this stick but it's all washed away.
(Jessica laughs) Apparently, hyacinths
are listed by Sappho in her many long lists
of many flowers as being associated with lesbian love.
So obviously anything that Sappho mentions
has lesbian stamped on it. - [Jessica] Very fair.
- So, five out of five.
- [Jessica] That's just your veg.
- Oh yes, well, whilst we're in the garden I just thought
I'd take the opportunity to tend to my lettuce.
Five out five.
(Jessica laughs)
- [Jessica] The three veg beds that she has
at the end of the garden just weren't good enough.
They were too far away.
- Well no, last year I planted lettuce from seed.
There was just like an abundance of lettuce
and because I planted the seed all at once, it just came up.
They all came at once whereas you're meant to stagger it
and so on so that you end up with,
- [Jessica] We did have a lot
of lettuce. - Anyway, I had a lot
of lettuce all ready at the same time
and no one wanted my lettuce because there was like
little bits of insects and stuff
because it was so far from the house.
I couldn't tend to it regularly.
So it got quite like a little bit infested really.
And it was completely edible.
So I thought I'd have it here.
But then we went to Valencia.
Evelina had these lovely plastic raised beds like this
for her lettuce and completely slug free.
I mean it's completely different country,
they probably don't suffer with slugs
as much as England does, but anyway.
- [Jessica] How would the slugs get across that sand?
- Oh, in Spain.
Yeah, I know, that's true.
Did you know that a slug has,
- [Jessica] Oh, no.
- That's an interesting fact, I'll have you know,
a slug has more teeth than a crocodile.
You know where I know that fact?
Not from my five years of dental training.
No, from my child's book.
- Why you should brush your teeth.
- Yep.
(ambient music)
- This is my cherry blossom tree.
It's a Kanzan cherry blossom tree and I love it very much.
I like it a lot.
I guess that makes it gay but also not really
'cause you know it's on every straight girl's Instagram.
So, but that's fine.
We can all like the same things.
Doesn't mean anything.
- Maybe these straight girls are trying to say something.
- Sell me something.
(laughs)
What are they trying to sell me?
- They're probably trying to sell you lots of things,
like dress and that handbag and the shoes.
- It works, you just stand
next to a Kanzan cherry blossom tree, I'll buy it.
- Yeah, no, I said they may be trying to tell you.
- Oh. - But you still didn't really.
- All the time. (laughs)
- [Claudia] The one time I try and film him.
He normally stays still 'cause he's so old
he can't move anywhere and then he tries to walk away.
Walter. (clicks tongue)
Old man.
What do you think about tulips?
Just gonna have to look at them for a while and consider.
(record scratches)
- Okay, ready?
Let's get it.
Somehow it's so much worse when it's a slug.
Ah! Nothing happened.
It's fine, it hit the grass.
- [Claudia] She's still obsessed with this bonsai.
Are we coming back to film the rest of this video?
- Yes, yes, coming back, coming back.
Violets have been associated with lesbian love
since the sixth century BCE, thanks to Sappho, of course,
that wonderful, wonderful poet from the aisle of Lesbos
who wrote about them often along with the color purple
or violet, which we think is how it became
first connected to the queer community.
This is the second lot
of purple violets that I have purchased.
Not for this fact.
I just felt very drawn to them
therefore bought them and then learnt this fact,
so, fun, fun.
- So velvety.
Lavender, being purple perhaps, but not really sure why.
But has always been associated, probably not always.
I'm not the history buff here.
Since 1920s, I have no idea.
And lavender I do know is associated
with both gay men and women.
The lavender scare where they came and persecuted people,
or went after people who were gay.
And then that was met by, what was it?
Those women who then reclaimed the name
and said it was like the Lavender Menace.
I got a lavender tattoo on my arm.
So like those ladies who went round
with blazoned T-shirts, reclaiming their name
and their sexuality and their identity,
I went and got it stamped.
Well actually like, cut into my arm.
I didn't even know anything about lavender and gayness
'cause I'm not very good at that sort of thing.
But I just knew I was drawn to lavender
in the same way I was drawn to Georgia O'Keefe as a child
and Sarah Waters novels and "The L Word."
- And then we come to Oscar Wilde's carnations.
Now this was really popularized because Oscar Wilde
asked his friends to wear a carnation in this lapel
on the opening night of one of his plays,
and his friends all did so.
Everyone is like, clue in,
oh, you're a friend with the carnations.
When he went into prison, more people then took it
as a sign of support, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And we were able to do so.
So wearing a carnation in your lapel became
just a very easy little hint to those in the know.
- That's similar to like, I'm not as bad as Jessica.
I mean, I'm not as good as Jessica with like the facts
and the numbers and the names and the dates.
But I do know that there was a play
that happened in New York, maybe?
America, I'm going to say, where a character,
a female character gives a bunch of pansies
to another female character.
Is it pansies? Maybe it's violets.
Probably more likely violets with the whole Sappho.
(Jessica laughs) So I think
she gives her violets.
And there was an uproar because obviously the play
was depicting female-female romantic love.
There was a massive drop in the sale price
of violets slash pansies.
Weird, but, so that's what happened in America.
But in Paris where the play showed,
there was an up sale of these flowers, violets or pansies.
I'm guessing it's probably violets,
because French women put them onto their jackets
as a sign of support of, actually, this kind of community
that they may be expressing themselves or just supporting.
But I think that's really great.
Interesting.
(ambient instrumental music)
Come into my shed.
This is not a Sweet William, but it is a sweet pea
which is very similar and it produces abundance
of lovely scented beautiful flowers.
Oh my God, I feel like I'm a presenter
from "Gardener's World" right now,
my dream job. - [Jessica] Your dream.
- Apparently a Sweet William is one
of the few flowers that actually represents,
you would give this to represent gallantry.
And it's so funny because it's so heavenly scented,
delicate, it's colorful, the petals are so paper thin.
It's like all the things that are meant to be
anti-man compared to the other thing I found on Google
which was like strong lines, bold colors, no scent.
So you know, who knows what masculine is.
- [Jessica] (laughs) What is that voice?
I don't think you can say that from "Gardener's World."
(upbeat vintage music)
And thank you again to BetterHelp
for sponsoring today's video.
Remember to click the link in the description,
Betterhelp.com/jessica.
That's BetterHelp, as in H-E-L-P,
for 10% off your first month.
See you in my next video.
(smooches) Bye.
(upbeat vintage music)