The L Word’s Joyce Wischnia is one of those lawyers we love to hate. She fanned the flames of the Bette-Tina breakup. She tries to sleep with her clients. And well, she has terrible taste in art. (Just check out that painting above her desk.)

Few other women have honed the role of the oily, wickedly funny “bad guy” as well as Jane Lynch, the actress who plays Joyce Wischnia. Given her onscreen smarminess, it’s not difficult to understand why L Word producer Ilene Chaiken wrote the part of the arrogant attorney with Lynch in mind, after meeting her at a panel sponsored by Power Up, an organization that aims to foster the involvement of gay women in the movie industry.

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Losing Control:
Does she make all the decisions?

“Well, thanks for the session, guess I’m going home to another episode of Controlling Woman.” With that, Dionne* pulled herself up and carefully folded the afghan she’d been using. Replacing it exactly where she had found it, she picked up her coffee cup and wiped the coaster clean before returning it to the little holder on the side table. Still trying to be perfect and to remove every trace of herself, I thought, lest she upset anyone by existing. At least she’d been laughing more, able to get some distance from her situation at home.

Dionne’s relationship struggles were fairly extreme. After five years with Catherine, Dionne had slowly curtailed her life until, as she put it, “I found myself standing on a tiny square of leased reality.” How did a strong, independent and capable woman wind up giving over her life and will to another person? How did she lose control over herself? Perhaps you’re dismissing her with the thought that she “gave up.” But before you judge her, let me tell you that over the past nine years, two in 10 women who have come to see me have complained of a partner’s overcontrol.

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