We all love lesbian comedies, touching coming-of-age stories, or hauntingly beautiful period pieces, but sometimes we want to get a little dirty — in a sapphic way.
That’s where the lesbian dirtbag comes in. Perfection is boring, so we love these messy characters. Lesbian dirtbags are often working-class characters pushed into difficult situations where their backs are against the wall. These are not polished characters who can hide their bad behavior behind a veneer of respectability, they are liars, cheats, women who treat their lovers badly or sometimes kill to protect them. They color outside the lines, and we love them for it!
Lou — 'Love Lies Bleeding'
Kristen Stewart’s character Lou from Love Lies Bleeding was born into the criminal underworld and as much as she tries to separate herself from her mobster father, she’s a dirtbag at heart. She may ply her girlfriend (Katy O’Brian) with illegal steroids to help her win a bodybuilding competition, but she’s also willing to get violent to protect the people she loves and knows how to hide a body. Add in a hot mullet and her propensity for sleeveless tees, and we’re in love.
Where to watch: Max
PJ and Josie — ‘Bottoms’
Bottoms is the raunchy teen comedy that lesbians have needed for decades and stars two major dirtbags. Main characters PJ and Josie, played by Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri respectively, are horny and desperate to lose their V cards, so they do what any teen dirtbag would do: they start a fight club to aid them in hooking up with hot cheerleaders. That’s scumbag behavior, and it’s hilarious to watch.
What to watch: Prime Video
Corky — ‘Bound’
The most iconic “Be Gay Do Crime” movie, Bound is the blueprint for lesbian erotic thrillers. Gina Gershon’s endlessly hot butch character Corky is the working class bad girl of your dreams, and a quintessential lesbian dirtbag. She’s fresh out of prison, works with her hands on a renovation (so she’s always looking hawt covered in grime), and manages to steal a violent gangster’s girl (Jennifer Tilly) and plan a heist.
Where to watch: Pluto TV
Cleo — ‘Set it off’
Queen Latifah’s character Cleo in Set it Off may not be your typical lesbian dirt bag — she’s a single mom who’s only committing a crime because she’s broke — but she’s definitely a queer woman behaving badly so we’re counting it! And you still get a lot of charms of other lesbian dirtbags, Cleo is boisterous, knows how to wield a gun, and is willing to be a jerk to get her way (like when she intimidates a sex worker so she won’t identify her to police).
Where to watch: Rent on VOD
Dawn — ‘Female Trouble’
Pretty much every sapphic character in a John Waters movie falls into the lesbian dirtbag category, and Divine’s Dawn from Female Trouble is no different. Dawn is a delinquent high school student who goes berserk on her parents before running away from home, hitchhiking, and getting pregnant. She then becomes a terrible mother and throws herself into a life of crime. Basically, she’s the ultimate dirtbag who is still a blast to watch in large part because of Divine’s performance.
Where to watch: Rent on Fandango At Home
Marian and Jamie — ‘Drive Away Dolls’
It’s rare to get the chance to watch lesbians acting out, being funny, and oozing sex appeal all in a single movie, but that’ actually what you get with Drive Away Dolls. Starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan (along with queer actors Colman Domingo and Beanie Feldstein), this comedy caper features the uninhibited lesbian lothario Jamie, who loves to pick up girls in dyke bars, unapologitcally embraces her sexuality, and seems to fall effortlessly into interacting with the criminal underworld.
Where to watch: Prime Video
Fritzi — ‘Desert Fury’
Film historian Eddie Muller once described Desert Fury as “the gayest movie ever produced in Hollywood’s golden era,” and while the thinly veiled gay love story is between Eddie and Johnny, side character Fritzi (Mary Astor) is a lesbian dirtbag in all but name. She is a female casino boss who sports masculine clothing and is a terrible mother who has a bizarre (bordering on incestuous) obsession with her daughter Paula (Lizabeth Scott). The film was made in 1947, smack dab in the middle of the Hays Code, so while all of the queerness is purely subtextual, Fritzi may just be the prototypical lesbian dirtbag.
Where to watch: Buy on Amazon Prime
Heather — ‘My Animal’
Lesbian werewolf movie My Animal, stars nonbinary actor Bobbi Salvör Menuez as Heather, a young woman who is struggling with her sexuality and the fact that she keeps turning into a werewolf. That alone isn’t enough to label Heather — who is falling for Amandla Stenberg’s character Jonny — as a lesbian dirtbag, but her role as the town outcast and her violent streak while in her werewolf form definitely qualify her.
Where to watch: Rent on Amazon Prime
Sophie and Bee in ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’
Bee may be the most sympathetic character in the horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, but she’s still a lesbian dirtbag. She’s a working-class lesbian who’s been lying to her girlfriend about college, steals things from the rich kids throwing the hurricane party, and she and her girlfriend (Amandla Stenberg) are quick to turn on each other when things start going south. Bee’s girlfriend Sophie, on the other hand, is too wealthy to be a classic lesbian dirtbag, but she is comfortable lying to Bee and cheating on her and treats her friends terribly too — full dirtbag behavior.
Where to watch: Rent on Amazon Prime
Diane in ‘Jack & Diane’
Ok, So Jack & Diane isn’t the best lesbian movie out there — we can admit that. But this metaphorical lesbian werewolf movie features two baby gays stumbling their way through their first love and while both characters are naive, it’s Diane (Juno Temple) who falls into the lesbian dirtbag camp by lying to Jack (Riley Keough) over and over again.
Where to watch: tubi
Claude — ‘All Over Me’
Butch teen girl Claude live with her divorced mom in Hell’s Kitchen circa 1997 in All Over Me, about Claude on a journey of sexual discovery during summer vacation. While most of Claude’s bad behavior can be chalked up to youth (she yells at her crush Ellen when she was the one who just rudest to hookup with another girl), she’s still a messy baby gay who may just grow up to be a full blown lesbian dirtbag.
Where to watch: YouTube