Media Affects Views On Homosexuality

For this project, we intend to argue that television shows portray male homosexuals as feminine and female homosexuls as masculine, which impacts the way society views LGBT members' act, and this impact is primarily furthering discrimination to the...

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

        I will be analyzing a clip from the popular show The L Word, a show that lasted from January 2004- March 2009 about the lives of a group of lesbian, transgender, and straight friends living in Los Angeles. To me there is no one scene that the show depicts the various ways that it breaks the stereotypical views of homosexuals in the media. So I will be analyzing the show as a whole. The purpose of this show is not only to entertain but to educate and relate to LGBTQ community members lives. The audience of this show is mainly lesbians but can be for everyone. It has everything any other show has, just with lesbians. The stance of this show was that lesbians are just like everyone else. They go through love, loss, depression, and happiness, just like straight people. The show also hits some major conflicts in our society such as same-sex parenting, the don’t ask don’t tell policy, and cancer. The design of this show is to show the lives of these people and the raw graphic content of what they go through. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory, and critical theory, commends the show The L Word in the Reading of The L Word by saying, “[It] repositions the television viewer as an active and agentic consumer of the visual while also highlighting the limited capacity of television texts to adequately represent queer bodies and lives. (pg. 175)”

[lgbt-equality-for-everyone-blog]

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

lgbt-equality-for-everyone:

I believe that while using rhetorical listening society could better understand and accept the LGBTQ community by erasing all judgment and stereotypical beliefs before learning about their lives. The consequence of letting the current media portray their version of the LGBTQ community is the continuance of the stereotypes. People who are only exposed to heterosexual versions of the sexuality and have no access to alternative information, may have little choice but to accept media stereotypes of the LGBTQ community.

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

The stereotypes of homosexuality in today’s media is most commonly found in movies or on TV shows. These shows often portray male homosexuals as feminine, such as Cameron Tucker from Modern Family, and female homosexuals as masculine with short hair, such as Big Boo from Orange is the New Black. There are many popular shows that portray homosexuals as the stereotypes that some may perceive them as. However, there are also show that portray homosexuals as they really are or how different they are from the stereotypical way society perceives them, such as the show The L Word, which shows a variety of different lesbians and everyday problems they face that have nothing to do with their sexuality.

[neighborhoodss]

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

    The media, The L Word, was aired on the network Showtime, which cannot be accessed without paying extra for it. The LGBTQ community is very misunderstood and the media education is not easily accessible because some people don’t approve or understand. Anzaldua mentions a quote that goes with this statement saying, “Man like all other animals fears and is repelled by that which he does not understand, and mere difference is apt to connote something malign.” In Heilker and Yergeau’s discussion about autism, they mention rhetorical listening, which is a practice that urges us to fundamentally alter how we hear and respond to the discourses of others.

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

In Geneva Smithermans article titled “God don’t never change: Black English from a black perspective.” she talks about how black English is not taught in schools or used often because it is not “standard”. Although my topic does not have to do with race I think it ties in with what my topic is about because one reason that homosexuals are stereotyped and discriminated against is because to some people they are not considered “standard” or “normal”. This affects those of the LGTBQ community not only in a social way but also in an academic way.

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

Glee is a television show written for an audience of mostly teenage girls and some boys. I am analyzing this video on the issue of this show using LGBT stereotypes. For the show the purpose of this video is to show gay men that it is okay to be yourselves but the purpose of me writing this is to say that if these shows only present gay men as overly flamboyant that this could harm society. This video uses pathos because it could make flamboyant gay men happy, neutral gay men angry, and women either surprised or judgmental. This video also uses Kairos because in this particular social context where gay rights are becoming more accepted, television shows are also showing that homosexuality is being accepted, but they are doing this in a stereotypical way.

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

If heterosexual people only identify homosexual men as overly flamboyant or put a stereotype on them it is hard for the homosexual man to know his own identity. Without identity it is almost impossible to write. They also are not able to write about their personal life because it is not accepted by others. Geneva Smitherman tells her story as a black English writer. In her article “God Don’t Never Change”: Black English from a Black Perspective (1973) she says, “ain nothing in a long time lit up the English teaching profession like the current hassle over Black English” (p. 311). Although I am not discussing people of color writing, it is similar because neither people of color or members of the LGBT can write the way they want and it be accepted.

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

Scholarly writer Jay Poole says "Media is a central location for not only reflecting social and cultural phenomena but also defining who and how we can be."

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

In Gloria Anzaldua’s article titled “Speaking in tongues: A letter to 3rd world women writers” she talks about her writing not being as credible or her writing being judged because not only is she a woman but she is a woman of a different race and not the white race. I think this affects the LGTBQ community in the same way. Some people may not take their writings seriously or not think of them as credible based upon their sexuality even though sexuality has nothing to do with your ability or how well you can write. Just like your sexuality has nothing to do with who you are inside as a person. So why should a person be judged based upon another person’s beliefs about what is considered normal, standard, credible and acceptable? At the end of the day we are ALL human and still have the same abilities and feelings as any other human being.

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

Glee makes it out to be that every homosexual teen boy is as overly flamboyant as Kurt, but it is not just Glee, other shows do it as well. Our nation is getting the wrong view on homosexuality. This is harmful because, as Sheng (2007) puts it, “they are likely to develop false assumptions and prejudiced attitudes, possibly even discriminatory behavior, toward lesbian and gay people” (p. 99).  

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

LGBT stereotypes in the media is a problem because that is where most teens learn about homosexuality. Sheng Kaun Chung (2007) from the University of Huston, Texas says, “Most likely, the media generation learns about social issues like homosexuality not from direct contact with gay people or from their parents, teachers and peers, but from characters and scenes depicted in films, television programmes [sic], fashion magazines and commercial advertisements” (p. 99). If most teens are learning about homosexuality from the media it should not be presented to them in a stereotypical way.    

[sogaysoalive-blog]

[lesbian-through-life]

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

lesbian-through-life:

Lets avoid stereotypes. I believe in us lol

[knowhomo-deactivated20191124]

“Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart." – Ed Koch

There are stereotypes in every community. The LGBTQ* community is no exception. Remember, while you may use a stereotype to describe yourself or someone else, we are always so much more than a label. (Photo Source)

[the-glitter-clit]

[sogaysoalive-blog]

[lgbtstereotypes-blog]

One stereotype frequently associated with the LGTBQ community is that homosexual men are feminine and lesbian women are masculine. This stereotype is often portrayed by the media in main stream America.  The video shown above is a clip from the popular television show Will and Grace. It features Will and Jack who are both homosexual. But Will is not openly gay and seems to be trying to hide being homosexual by acting masculine and actually denying that he is gay. It then features Jack who is openly gay. Jack is portrayed as being feminine and over flamboyant. Jack then finds Wills Dream girls soundtrack and says that the soundtrack tells him that Will is gay, basically saying that if you find interests in things that may be more feminine that means you are homosexual.