Gay, Lbian, and Bisexual Content on Televisn: A Quantative Analysis Across Two Seasons - PMC

Contents:

• GAY STEREOTYP: ARE THEY TE?
• 15 STEREOTYP THAT LIM OUR PERCEPTNS OF GAY MEN
• GAY STEREOTYP AND THE PRSUR THAT LGBTQ+ PEOPLE N FEEL TO EHER ACCEPT OR REBEL
• GAY, LBIAN, AND BISEXUAL CONTENT ON TELEVISN: A QUANTATIVE ANALYSIS ACROSS TWO SEASONS

GAY STEREOTYP: ARE THEY TE?

Homosexuals are feelg more fortable and open wh their sexualy maly due to the rise of new shows on Amerin televisn that feature gay dividuals and this exposure has rulted a ep awarens of the issue of homosexualy amidst the general public.

15 STEREOTYP THAT LIM OUR PERCEPTNS OF GAY MEN

Christa Roh and Tawnia Simpson the study tled “Portrayal of Homosexualy the Movi” pot out that the first realy show to portray the life of a homosexual on natnal televisn was MTV’s The Real World 1992 (Shapiro et al, p. The program featured asssments om psychiatrists such as “The fact that somebody’s homosexual… tomatilly l out the possibily that he will rema happy for long, ” or unplimentary self-asssments by gay men such as “I know that si now I’m sick – I’m not sick jt sexually; I’m sick a lot of ways” (Alwood, pp.

Begng 1995, producers of the daytime soap opera All My Children troduced several gay characters and featured them tertg storyl – one of them beg a romantic relatnship between Michael and Brad that clud a New Year’s Eve proposal and the men tablishg a jot life and home together (Kent, 1997). Melrose Place clud a regular gay male character, Matt Fieldg (Doug Savant), and by featurg a gay male character each week who was nsistently likable, well-adjted, and civic-md, Melrose Place took a major step forward the reprentatnal right directn. While the portrayal of homosexual men most of the media has tilted towards femizatn, the news and broadst of terviews of real-life homosexual upl are helpg the viewers of media get a better perceptn of gay men.

GAY STEREOTYP AND THE PRSUR THAT LGBTQ+ PEOPLE N FEEL TO EHER ACCEPT OR REBEL

Reprentatn of the LGBTQ muny on televisn has creased acrdg to GLAAD’s (Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn) most recent report “Where We Are on TV” which analyz the overall diversy of primetime scripted seri regulars on broadst works and LGBTQ characters on ble works for the 2015-2016 televisn season. Wh latt shows, for example Orange is the New Black, dienc show tert stori they are not often exposed to, but there are still many perspectiv of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenred dividuals to be nveyed through televisn shows.

In most televisn shows and movi wh a gay male character we only know that the character is gay by how they portray them wh over exaggerated femy, most of the time on televisn the gay male is never seen showg affectn to another male and is ually not a relatnship wh another male. Stereotyp about gay men are stctive to both how society views , as well as to how we view society mak fun of and gras gay men for thgs that are patently unte, young gay men are left whout proper role mols, failed by a society that scrib them wh generalizatns. Stereotyp may be ground the tth or be plete and utter falsehoods, but they are dangero regardls of where they e opprsn and reprsn of gay men throughout history — om ancient tim and early Christiany to the morn AIDS crisis — has been rooted fear and falsi.

GAY, LBIAN, AND BISEXUAL CONTENT ON TELEVISN: A QUANTATIVE ANALYSIS ACROSS TWO SEASONS

At this time, gay characters were often reprented as beg dangero, vlent, predatory or suicidal such as the films The Children’s Hour (1961), The Boys the Band (1970), Midnight Exprs (1978) and Vanishg Pot (1971). In the 1990s, Hollywood improved s portrayal of gay and lbian characters, but films such as The Birdge; Brokeback Mounta; Philalphia; and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everythg, Julie Newmar were nearly all “issue” films that foced on the challeng facg LGBTQ+ people.

Montgomery nclud that “the requirements served as a filter through which the issue of homosexualy was procsed, rultg a televised picture of gay life signed to be acceptable to the gay muny and still palatable to a mass dience. Set a world where the alpha male and heterosexual masculy is the only accepted form of masculy, Empire sets an example wh s proment gay characters and storyl, ntextualized wh a disturbgly homophobic ambiance.

Although the show largely follows Otis and Eric is technilly Otis' bt iend, would be wholly accurate to place Eric the "gay bt iend" box; actor Ncuti Gatwa, who is also gay real life, says that's by sign. It was jt one year after Ellen Man beme the first character to e out on TV — a move that subsequently tanked "Ellen's" rankgs and likely led to the show's "Will & Grace, " a show that largely foced on two gay men, was so popular that was revived 20 years Msg, who plays Grace, told TheWrap that she origally saw their gay lead (Eric McCormack's Will) as the most "revolutnary" aspect of the show. Fox's "Glee" was often praised as an LGBTQ haven, but Kurt — the show's first openly gay character, who famoly kicked a field goal for the football team while performg Beyoncé's "Sgle Ladi" dance — had a particularly strong one of his most memorable moments, Kurt shared a climactic kiss wh Blae that produced ltle to no outrage, a symbolic moment of progrs for onscreen queer reprentatn.