E L I Analysis

Chase Ross, a twenty-six-year-old transgender male, creates YouTube content focused on promoting LGBT issues along with educating LGBT youth. His content deals primarily with transgender informative videos, most being for transgender men, and he works as a major educator within the community. His stance on how he used to bind within his life demonstrates the power of the structures of masculinity in addition to how the habitus creates guidelines which those who bind must follow, while also depicting an internal rejection of his own initial habitus of being socialized female in favor of identifying as male, thus creating a new set of structures.

Growing up as a Catholic, Puerto Rican gay boy in the 90s and early 2000s, I struggled to discover my queer identity as well as queer representation in the media I consumed. Being gay was something that was never discussed. If it was brought up, it was usually in hushed tones (I remember being introduced to my uncle 's close 'friend ' each holiday) or as something negative (I still remember the sting of being called a faggot in elementary school). This reflected exactly how homosexuality was portrayed in media at the time. Queer characters and homosexuality were at best portrayed in codified, 'blink-and-you 'll-miss it ' labels and affectations, or at worst, something to laugh at, pity or even hate. As someone who still regularly watches reads comics, watches Saturday morning cartoons and plays video games, it is so exciting to discover the lengths of progress that has been made in queer representation in all ages media. In this paper I hope to detail the highs and lows of LGBTQ representation in all ages media and highlight the impact of media representation.

The main setting of Trans-Sister Radio is within the small town of Bartlett, Vermont. The primary focus is set on Dana, a chromosomal-male college professor who is in the process of transitioning into the female gender. As a male, Dana is well-received by her community, even though she is perceived as strange and effeminate. She forms normal romantic relationships with women, has a fulfilling career, and is admired by those surrounding her, however she still feels incomplete. Unfortunately, what is missing from Dana is not externally noticeable, it is intrinsic happiness. From a young age, Dana suffered from gender dysphoria, a mental disorder that causes individuals to experience serious distress due to frustration with the sex and gender assigned at birth (APA, 2013). To alleviate the traumatic pain that has burdened her for decades, Dana makes the bold decision to partake in complete gender reassignment surgery. Trans-Sister Radio challenges the prototypical ideologies of character growth, morality, and relationships through its descriptive insight on transsexuality and thus gender.

Becoming a Visible Man was an insightful and intriguing book to read for this course. It first caught my attention with the picture of the author on the cover smiling next to a billboard of a man bursting through water, almost as if he was being reborn. The process of being reborn was then seen as a common theme throughout the autobiography. The concepts of transsexualism caught my attention during class because I was least familiar with this sub population of individuals within the queer community. I strived to know more about the understandings of what it was like to go through changes in gender, its effects on relationships both sexual and non, as well as the emotional struggle that some people faced with themselves through the process

“Passing - Profiling the Lives of Young Transmen of Color” is a documentary that reveals the negativity that three transgender men of color encounter with the cisnormative society as they were transitioning. These men unfortunately experienced both the mistreatment when they were women as well as the social expectations they feel the need to fulfill as men. Although they were able to recognize the toxic masculinity and misogyny that they experienced as women, they also faced an entirely different and new reality when they transitioned. After transitioning, one individual mentioned that as a man, he felt that he was unable to voice his opinion when he disagrees about something, because unlike women, it was not socially acceptable for a man to

Through out her book she continues to raise questions to make you think such as: “What does it mean to be a man?” and “What does it mean to be a woman?” In her circumstance she is a male to female transsexual who is also a lesbian, whose girlfriend actually ended up transitioning from female to male. And she raises the question, “What does all of this mean?” she also talks about those who define themselves as neither gender (Bornstein). Through her book she strives to make readers think about their life and the people around them. The overall questions she asks are: “What is Identity?” and “What is your identity?” She uses personal experience, stories, theories, political activist, television shows, and humor to back up her theories and arguments while continually raising questions about gender, orientation, desire, and why we as a society are so attached to a dualistic gender system. She does a great job of achieving her goal in teaching readers about the basics of the topic while making readers think.

Perhaps not the same way that a transgendered person does, but his identity as a man is complicated because of his inability to reconcile his insecurity, I saw insecurity because his confidence in his own identity seems to be down right hostile in the opening sentences of his essay. He calls “manly” a “... hideous and crippling lie; it not only insists on the difference and connives at superiority, it is also by its very nature destructive—emotionally damaging and socially harmful.” Harsh words from someone who is secure with who they

“I am transgendered. I was born female, but my masculine gender expression is seen as a male…it’s the social contradiction between the two that defines

The representation of the LGBT community in the film industry has long been a topic of much debate. In her article, “It Ain’t Easy Being Bisexual on TV,” Amy Zimmerman addresses this topic with specific interest on bisexual representation. By appealing to the logic of her audience, using an informal tone, and referring to relatable content, Zimmerman constructs an argument which persuades readers of The Daily Beast that the film industry is unfairly and inaccurately representing bisexuals. However, her argument holds little influence over those who are not movie fans or The Daily Beast readers.

Transgender characters in scripted television can seem like a phenomenon. The very fact that there are shows on air that feature transgender characters in reoccurring or starring roles is a huge step for the transgender community. Visibility in the media is the first step in the long journey of erasing the bias and hate that the transgender population faces. However, these steps are only productive if the depictions are positive. Television helps inform and shape the public opinion of the transgender community, and has a strong effect on the formation of self-identity when watched by transgender individuals. Using examples from The Golden Girls, Matlock, Orange is the New Black, The L Word, and Transparent, this paper shows common tropes and characters of transgender representation. Although scripted television shows have become more inclusive in regards to transgender visibility, the onscreen depiction of transgender individuals is still misguided.

American society today is not any different from the past, except today people are apt to discuss everything publicly on various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram just to name a few. Transgender persons happen to be one of those subjects that have become the hot topic of the new normal. Nowadays there are blogs, tweets, and pictures posted online of people’s transition “coming out.” Like the past, society is still tough when it comes to judging each other. Although transgender might not have had a recognized community in the past, it is prevalent that society is becoming more accepting of their community, and aware of issues their community faces. In this essay the names, nouns, or pronouns used will be in accordance to the individual’s preference.

LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender. It is intended to highlight a diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. Historically, LGBT people have had to deal with being brutalised and misunderstood because of the misconception that being gay is different and deserves different treatment. However, there are efforts being made daily by the community in order to educate people and ease their fears. The purpose of the following analysis is to deconstruct how people who fought back while growing up realizing they are apart of community help shaped and/or will shape them to become strong roles for LGBT people around the world.

Media has always been highly influential in our society; it’s carefully constructed in order to show certain values, beliefs and messages. When viewers are exposed to topics they have little experience or knowledge in, media can especially play a large role in shaping their own opinions. It has been shown that people who know a LGBT+ person in their lives are much more likely to be supportive of same-sex marriage and the community in general. In place of that, viewing characters in film or television can adequately supplement the empathy gained from personal experience. This is exemplified by Wilson Cruz, the actor of Rickie Vasquez, a gay character on the 1994 television series My So-Called Life: “...Vasquez was the first gay person that they knew and because of the light he shed on the issue...I think people took up the cause of LGBT rights...I know for many people the only LGBT people that they know are people that they meet on their television screens or at the movie theater.” Since then, the amount of programming featuring openly gay characters has steadily increased, and with it, people are gaining a better understanding of the issues they face. As the years progress, Canada is being exposed to greater diversity: both on the television screen and within its community.

The depiction of transgender women characters in mainstream television has been offensive, insulting and derogatory. An article from GLADD called “Victims or Villains: Examining Ten Years of Transgender Images on Television”, examines 102 episodes and storylines on mainstream television that contained transgender characters since 2002. Of these, more than half were characterized as containing negative representations of transgender. In 2007 only 1% of television series had a recurring transgender character, which has slowly increased to 4% in 2013.

Media and its representation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual (LGBT) themes has been prevalent throughout time. According to the collections of studies and stories by Meem, Mitchell and Jonathan (2010) concerning LGBT individuals, it is important to represent such themes because it is able to enlighten people on how our society as a whole, has become dynamic. The Media can be seen as a “central source” where negative perceptions can be created. As a result, stereotypes can be either created or perpetuated about this group, negative or otherwise. Media as a medium, therefore, is an extremely powerful tool in our society, and can be used to change or create people 's perceptions about this particular segment of our world (LGBT).