mistress of darkness

There's plenty to enjoy in films you may have overlooked because of their age or genre, or because they vanished so quickly from cinemas. Some offer top actresses as out-and-proud lesbians, some have same-sex desire simmering under the radar, and some simply depict solid female bonding that makes you want the characters to take it up a notch.

Season 3, Episode 15 of Pretty Little Liars brought us an unexpected battle of the brains, a strange new bond between Aria and Meredith, and a late night stroll in the woods, followed by a PG-rated sleepover for Rosewood's little lesbians Paige and Emily.

Last week we delivered randy memories in the form of early lesbian crushes, featuring Tomboys, Straight-up Femmes and Bitch Femmes, but here’s our list of clear-cut winners -- the Bad-Assed Femmes. From Angelina Jolie to Jennifer Garner (and who could forget the babes from Charlie's Angels), we’re also serving up a pair of Sci-fi Bad Asses, some Sophisticated Ladies and a few Oddballs... like The Addams Family's Carolyn Jones.

While Oscar – or Hollywood as a whole – has rarely sought to represent queerness positively on film, there remain a few handfuls of performances that, for good or bad, helped to bring visibility to lesbian, bi, trans and queer characters throughout the years including turns by Cher, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Whoopi Goldberg, Kate Winslet, Whoopi Goldberg, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman and Annette Beining.

Here’s a round-up of actresses nominated for queer roles since Oscar began, including a couple of gender-bending or ‘coded’ roles. We wholly admit we may have missed a few. Happy Oscars' season! We'd love to hear what some of your favorite 'queer' Oscar nominated performances are.