Homosexuality In Lost Girl

This approach to queer subtext has been has always been a part of Western media as we as we explored in the film “The Celluloid Closet” (1995). Queer representation for many years was an continuous uncategorized personification that was vaguely acknowledged but to those who understood the subtext, it became an undercurrent of complex coded information that eventually paved the way for the integration of queer identification within the hetero film storylines. Doty speaks about this and also mentions that at some point in time representation of queer culture and sexuality

On the same cable networks that act as the home for gay and lesbian television series, America finds its new woman for the new millenium: she’s smart, independent, gainfully employed, sexually confident, and, usually, she’s single. Television finally has room for a woman to fly on her own, without her minivan, Cub Scout den-mother meetings, or workaholic husband to feed and clean up after. The prime example for TV’s new “wonder woman,” is found in the four women of HBO’s Emmy Award winning series, “Sex & The City.” These

have looked at the history of sexuality since the 18th century in what Foucault calls

Television has changed to include the LBGT community, but seldom do you see the Gay community with HIV shown on television. This chapter covers a study about Gay undergraduate males and the way it makes sense of HIV and its storyline on television. The study draws from the fictional television series Queer as Folk, one of the highest rated programs on cable television.

When a writer does decide to add a queer character seen beyond the use of the “one time experiment” episode, these queer storylines end up formulaic and lacking substance (Kessler, They Should Suffer Like the Rest of Us, 1). For example, in Torchwood, when Toshiko gets involved with a woman in the first season, her sexuality does not change because this “one time experiment” was due to ‘otherworldly’ reasons. This in contrast to Grey’s role in breaking that experimental phase and incorporating that as a base for sexuality opens up a forum to add more to the sexuality discussion. Most queer characters are usually depicted as either Lesbian or Gay, thus leaving the Bisexual and Transgender characters much harder to come by. When writing about the use of homodomesticity within today’s current television stories to, “configure ‘good’ gay and lesbian subjects,” Steven Doran makes the point that good is equivalent to heteronormative storylines for queer subjects (96).

Heteronormativity is when heterosexuality believed to be the only natural norm in our society for sexual orientation. “New Girl”, an American sitcom, aired in 2011 on Fox, follows Jess (Zooey Deschanel) as she lives in a loft in Los Angeles with three men she meets on Craigslist. The second episode of the second season is what will be focused on in this essay. During which Jess meets a stranger when he accidentally mistakes her for his blind date, Nick (Jake Johnson) believes he has met his future self, and Schmidt (Max Greenfield) tries to make a good impression on Winston’s (Lamorne Morris) mom and sister. The writers of “New Girl” follow basic gender roles within the story-lines of the television show. The show follows a heteronormative plot. Through examining “New Girl”, a viewer can see the issues arise when considering the portrayal of men and women in media, and heteronormativity in television shows.

Media, whether it is social media or television, magazines or books, has played an important part of shaping the American view on the queer community over time. Media has been the main source of information of popular culture and has shined a light to the issues facing this community. Television shows are the products of historical changes and their content and themes provide indications of shifts in the American societal views and culture of the time period. The understanding of gay sexual relationships on television in shows such as Modern Family, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder, show the gradual shift away from the negative stereotypes that have followed the characterization of queer people in television, towards a more normal portrayal of the queer as people, members of their families and communities.

The essay “Gonad the Barbarian and the Venus Flytrap: Portraying the Female and Male Orgasm” by Anne McClintock, argues that the portrayal of male and female sexual pleasure varies between the two. Not only are they portrayed in different ways, but the way that they’re seen socially and historically is also different (McClintock). McClintock argues that the denial of orgasms for women is not because they lack the ability to, but because of views of gender. McClintock wants to expose the reader to the cultural phenomena of the denial of female sexual pleasure. I will be analyzing how McClintock argues the idea that women are denied sexual pleasure by giving historical background of female orgasms, and personal experiences.

Media will always play an influential role in the public’s eye. Whether we are watching television or watching a movie, in some way we are being influenced. It is through the media that we form ideas and opinions of individuals and we begin to associate them with certain stereotypes based off the different characters that are being portrayed. More than ever we are seeing how sexual relations other than that of the general male/female relationship are becoming generally accepted not only by society, but on television screens as well. In present day society the way that lesbian and bisexual females are portrayed in the media, is by far more different than what it once was in the past.

Media Critic: Orange is the New Black Television revolutionizes the way people see themselves and the world around them. It has made a significant impact in society whether it is for better or worst. Writer Jess C. Scott said “People are sheep. TV is the shepherd.”

What is abundantly apparent and problematic about the succubus trope is that these female characters are not necessarily exploring or taking pleasure in their sexuality. The succubus archetype is a villainous depiction of women portraying them as seductive, exploitive, and devious beings who invariably have ulterior motivations and whose sexuality is deceptively treacherous. This damaging and overtly misogynistic cliche perpetuates the toxic myth throughout society that women generally utilize their sexual influence to control, manipulate, and

The molds of gender norms have softened in the last couple decades with the acceptance of formerly radical identities such as cross dressing, drag, but these norms are difficult to break because genders are assigned to individuals at birth and complying to the norms associated with that sex is deemed as socially acceptable. Another reason these norms may be hard to break is that they provide comfort towards those who already been accepted into society. This provides a little insight as to why there is a restriction of genderqueer identities in television. Especially when accustomed to writing for an audience that has grown up with only the female/ male binaries, expanding past and between is a frightful risk for the television market (Killermann 51-52).

Repression hypothesis claims sex has been repressed by power for the last three hundred years, and we can achieve sexual liberation if we free ourselves from this repression by talking openly about sex. Foucault disagreed with repression hypothesis. He was not saying that the repression didn’t exist, but he claimed that the discourse about sex had in fact intensified and grown because of the repression.

Both Foucault and Butler claim that sexuality is not what makes us who we are, that it is simply a social construct. In addition, they both believe that by submitting to the mechanisms of power and categorizing ourselves sexually, we are giving impetus to our own subjugation. While they hold similar beliefs in many ways, and much of Judith Butler's work is building upon work done by Michael Foucault, Judith Butler does diverge from Foucault's ideas. The reason Butler revises Foucault is that his concept of biopower leaves no room for resistance to power. For Foucault, a shift in the 17th century from a top-down monarchial model of power which focused on the individual gave way to a political technology for controlling entire populations.

In the case of Spargo’s interpretation of Foucault the hegemonic ideal sexual subject is that of a straight man, who is presumably white and middle class. According to Foucault the category of homosexual emerged in the 19th century out of the development of the field of sexology, when medicine replaced religion as the primary producer of discourse on sexuality, and enforcer of (hetero)sexual norms . Foucault argues that despite their relative position individuals categorised as homosexual were able to create their own discourse (or counter-discourses) to the narrative on unnaturalness promoted by sexology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thus finding agency within constraining discourses . In this way sexuality and sexual subjects are constructed, understood and questioned through the discourse produced by those individuals and institutions with access to power.