4.5 media representations - sexuality Flashcards
What does Gerbner et al(1986) argue about the representation of homosexuality?
- the media participate in the ‘symbolic annihilation of the LGBT by negatively stereotyping them/by rarely portraying them realistically/ by not portraying them at all
What does Craig(1992) suggest about the representation of homosexuality in the media?
- homosexual characters are often stereotyped as having amusing or negatively psychological and social characteristics
What does Dyer(2002) argue about the representation of homosexuality?
- the media construct stereotypical ‘signs of gayness’ e.g. vocal tics, facial expressions, stances and clothing in order to ‘make visible the invisible
What does Batchelor argue about the representation of homosexuality?
- when they did appear, it was represented as a source of anxiety/embarrassment or as a target for teasing and bullying
What does Batchelor argue about young people’s media and the representation of sexuality?
- the mass media have an important role to play in shaping the knowledge and attitudes of young people about sexuality
- some aspects of sexuality were represented positively in terms of publicising sexual health information
What limitations in media coverage were identified by Batchelor?
- it was assumed that young people were sexually active
- contraception and managing how far to go were female responsibilities
- there was a lack of positive imaged of lesbians and gay teens
- there were no examples of how people might raise concerns such as safer sex
What are the three typical representations of homosexuals?
- camp
- macho
- deviant
How does Dyer define camp?
- ‘a characteristically gay way of handling the values, images and products of the dominant culture through irony, exaggeration, trivialisation, theatricalisation and an ambivalent making fun out of the serious and respectable’
What is meant by a macho representation?
- relies on exaggerating masculinity
- an openly sexual look, transforming practical male clothing into erotic symbols e.g. safety helmets and police caps
What is meant by a deviant representation?
- gay people are often stereotyped as deviants by media representations
- they are rarely presented in a sympathetic manner
- in many cases, gay characters are completely defined by their ‘problem’
What do Stonewall argue about the typical representation of homosexuality?
- the LGBT community is undergoing symbolic annihilation
- they are frequently consigned to the status of comic relief
What do Stonewall argue about the representation of lesbianism?
- its presented as over-sexualised and exotic decoration to titillate male views
What methodology did Stonewall use?
- examined TV programmes specifically aimed at young people
What did Stonewall discover?
- 6 out of 126 hours were focused on LBGT related characters or issues and only 46 minutes of this coverage portrayed them realistically
- the rest of the coverage depicted gay people as effeminate and bitchy figures of fun, and as predatory or promiscuous
What did GLAAD(2015) report about the representation of homosexuality?
- only 7 of the 17 films that included them featured LGBT characters who weren’t ‘solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation’ and who, if removed from the film, would significantly affect the plot
How has the new media affected the representation of the LGBT community?
- representations on the new media are more positive because much of the content is user-generated
How has social media improved things for the LGBT community?
- Twitter and Facebook have been used to generate support for same-sex marriage both in the USA and Northern Ireland
