I've started this blog to celebrate those who don't conform easily to the conventional heteronorms of western society. They may be real or fictional. Being non-heteronormative doesn't mean they'll be gay necessarily, in fact I'm most interested in those who may be straight but manage to resist what that's supposed to imply and be more maverick and individual. Having said that my first choice, Sara Gilbert (right), is a lesbian. I don't actually know much about her real life, apart from that, but I do remember her brilliant characterisation of Darlene in the long running series of Roseanne. Darlene was the patron saint of girl grunge, the antidote to Barbie and icon of dressed down cool. Her strength was her intelligence and wit. She didn't need to obsess about cosmetics, her body, clothes or even boys, so as such a total inspiration to girls of intelligence and discernment. I suppose she was created in the first instance by Roseanne Barr herself and hats off there too, but Sara's timing of dry wisecracks was the work of a genius. She sent out a message of unapologetic individuality, saying that bright girls didn't have to be insecure. Darlene was never presented negatively for not conforming, she stood askance from the world she lived in but wasn't rejected by it. These days, one of the most common insults young people throw at others is 'freak'. To refuse to conform is seen as undesirable. Yet once upon a time, young people aspired to be freaks, even 'drop-outs'. The eighties began a time of not only aspiration but cultural conformity. Roseanne mainly aired at the end of that decade, so it's perhaps its all the more surprising that Darlene dared to be different.