Has Media Portrayal of Homosexuality Shifted/Changed Attitudes About the Subject?

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.

As the years have gone by, you can see the change of how gays and lesbians are widely seen in mostly every tv show or movie in today’s society. This is something most of our own parents didn’t even grow up seeing gays throughout the media. Living in today’s time period, you’re able to see how the influence has changed the way people see gays and lesbians. The nation has become more accepting of the gay and lesbian culture verses back in the days of when our parents and even grandparents were our age. Not only was is rare to see homosexuals on television, it was portrayed negatively, and now you can see it portrayed positively.

Ideas about sex, gender and homosexuality have been changing rapidly over the past several decades in the United States. There are several obvious reasons for this. The primary one is legal: various legal decisions by the United States Supreme Court have altered existing law on the subject of sex and homosexuality, and substantially affected matters of gender as expressed in law. But there has also been a social shift driven by medicine, largely based on response to the AIDS epidemic at its height in the 1980s and 1990s, but also in terms of other medical matters such as contraception and abortion.

The 1970s was considered the “Me Decade” because of the increasing amount of individuality that people were beginning to exhibit. Americans started discussing important issues, such as divorce and gender roles but remained silent on the subject of sexuality. One of the reasons was because television in the 20th century hardly mentioned homosexuality. The idea was considered taboo, and many Americans were not comfortable or familiar with this issue, much less talking about it. In recent decades, Americans have made tremendous progress towards the acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in just forty years because of the television programs that have introduced Americans to these types of people. Many of the individuals that belong to either one of these categories have long struggled for equality and respect, just as other minorities have in the past, and continue to do so. Although American culture is more focused on individuality than conformity in today's times, the idea of what is “normal” is still an issue for many people. However, more television programs are bringing awareness to the idea of homosexuality, which makes for the gradual acceptance of it. The increasing amount of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender characters portrayed on television programs in today’s society has helped change the views of many Americans into embracing gay individuals into their lives. People are also more accepting of same-sex relationships or marriages and are

The uprising of gay and lesbian entertainment in shows such as “Will & Grace,” Showtime series “Queer As Folk” and “The L Word,” has overthrown the former cookie cutter husband and wife TV series. Gay and lesbian affairs in the media emerged quickly after the coming out of Ellen Degeneres in her hit sitcom, “Ellen.” The comedian now has her own daytime talk show, achieving mainstream popularity for obvious reasons: she’s funny, down-to-earth, and openly gay. In earlier decades homosexuality was previously limited to a closet of taboos, where no one knew about it, and no one admitted to it. Primetime programming would never house a show in which gay men and lesbian women openly discussed their sex lives and sexual preferences, nor a show that based its entire plotline on gay and lesbian couples.

In the current society that we live in, there are many things that help shape our perception of sexual identity. In the discussion with the class, there was a consensus that family, media, religion were the major influencers on how we develop our sexual identities and how we view other’s sexual identity. From childhood, most of us are shaped by the view of our parents and often follow the same principles and views at them. Though many people usually divert from this thought process, it still serves as a foundation for our future views and principles, whether we agree with our parents or not. Going through our individual groups discussions, many people in my group felt that a large part of their perception about the LGBT community came from the media and how the community was portrayed in the media. We discussed that in our childhoods we were often presented with gay characters that were often very flamboyant, feminine

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.

In the article “Media's portrayal of homosexuality as a reflection of cultural acceptance” Austin Rowe uses the contact hypothesis to address the topic of homosexuality in media. This article is about how in recent years since homosexuality has become a positive media has began portraying it as a positive as well. This article is for all people who support the LGBT community and who just want to see in a different perspective how media is portraying the LGBT community. The article was written by Austin Rowe who is attending college at Georgia state. Rowe uses evidence to his advantage to make a very effective argument.

Bonilla, L & Porter, J (1990). A comparison of latino, black, and non-hispanic white attitudes toward homosexuality. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral

Stereotypes and false media portrayals of gay and straight male interactions are inaccurate and allowing people to believe that these interactions are true. In society’s standards, masculinity is reserved only for those willing to deny all effeminate traits.

As time went on, homosexuality came to be accepted as more mainstream. To confirm an article entitled “Most say homosexuality should be accepted by society” reveals that among the findings from the latest Pew Research Center political typology survey, released May 4, 2011. The survey conducted ,stated that while the public is divided over same-sex marriage, a majority of Americans (58%) say that homosexuality should be accepted, rather than discouraged, by society. Among younger people in particular, there is broad support for societal acceptance of homosexuality. More than six-in-ten (63%) of

My analysis of major themes and how the media participate in the construction of attitudes about gender and sexual orientation is predicated upon 16 articles drawn from three major news sources: Newsweek, The New York Times, and The Advocate. The articles were published in the months of January, February, and March. The selection of the articles was not random; I specifically chose articles whose titles and introductions were of particular interest. The three news sources, particularly the Times and The Advocate, published many articles related to LGBT issues—typically greater than a dozen for each weekly search—from which I selected only two per week. In sifting through the 16 articles, I identified three important

Homosexuality has become a vital topic of discussion throughout the modern world. In this paper, I talk about how my own perception regarding homosexuality has changed over a period of time. Firstly, I will provide an overview of my cultural background and my initial understanding regarding homosexuality. Secondly, I will elaborate on how my views and perception of homosexuality have evolved over time. Lastly, I will analyze what led to my belief regarding homosexuality at first place and what catalyzed the change in those beliefs eventually. Therefore, this paper is a reflection on my own evolution of perception regarding homosexuality.

In its recent annual report, media organisation GLAAD (2016) claim that the number of gay and lesbian characters counted on scripted prime-time series has increased since the past twenty years. For television networks, depicting gay characters may be a convenient method to show how open-minded media producers and their advertisers are, as they seek out this sought after demographic in an intensely competitive market (Becker, 2006). When lesbian, gay, or bisexual characters are depicted, they are typically shown in a stereotypical manner, and their sexualities are central to their roles in the television programs (Bond, 2014). The Netflix original show Ozark (2017) attempts to free itself from such stereotypes, an important step in documenting gay characters on television shows. However, the show still manages to place heteronormative ideologies onto its gay characters. Despite there being a substantial increase in gay representation in contemporary television fiction, it can be argued that the representation of gay men in television is governed by a heteronormative ideology and in relation has detrimental effects on gay individuals in our society. In television shows the audience can see a gay man in a relationship, but what is harder to see is the underlying discourse. A semiotic analysis of this can allow us to understand this underlying discourse. This analysis aims to show that even in contemporary shows such as Ozark, the representation of homosexuality are still ruled

Homosexuality has existed going back to 600 BC or maybe even longer. It was never accepted in cultures all over the world until 2000. In recent years the United States has legally accepted same sex marriage by a Supreme Court ruling. The reasoning behind why it was never accepted were various different reasons. Some of those reasons are tied into religion, taboo due to the norms, or from an individual’s personality. From these major reasons, it has caused homosexuals to be discriminated from verbal assault, physical assault, and to the point of even death. The victims from this issue is not only the homosexual, but also their family and friends. For some homosexuals their family and friends might be accepting of their sexuality or reject it. Fearful of their own lives, their friends and families are put in a tough position. For the world it is the same case as well. With it gradually becoming more accepted in early 2000’s all over the world, will it fully be accepted all over the world. In this research, we will see how homosexuality has been living in a society that views it as an issue, and people’s personality towards it. The ultimate goal will be if there has or is any compromise from the recent to present not just in the United States, but globally as well.