Queer Culture Has Long Been K.d. Lang, Ellen Degeneres, And Elton John

RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) is a reality competition television series that main goal lies in finding America’s Next Drag Superstar (ANDS) by challenging drag queens with various tasks that include creating a couture ensembles, presenting oneself tactfully on camera, and acting in parodic challenges mocking pop culture and social norms. Each episode consists of a mini-challenge, where a queen has the chance of winning an advantage or title of team leader, a main challenge, where queens are judged on various skills of performance, and then a runway, where queens model costumes or clothes based off of a certain theme and then judged on their performance as a whole. Each form of expression represented on the show exemplifies Judith Butler’s queer theory by blurring the gender binary while also rejecting criticisms of being impediments to feminist movements. These actions that disavow the prominent gender binary system in America reveal that drag can be used as a tool to combat heteronormativity and promote a more progressive outlook on gender identity.

Misrepresentation, along with a lack of representation, in the media is a problem that has plagued and continues to plague the LGBT community throughout the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Originally, it was seen as taboo or, in some cases, illegal for LGBT characters to be shown in the media. Over time, however, these characters filtered their way into the media and although they were present, their characters were subjugated to stereotypes and ridicule. Amber B. Raley and Jennifer L. Lucas analyzed LGBT presence in television during the fall of 2001 using Clark’s theory for documenting minority representation by utilizing four categories: non-representation, ridicule, regulation, and respect. They concluded their experiment by

Women are sexually exploited in the media. In today’s society if people watch television programs such as Chingy featuring Snoop & Ludacris – Holidae; Charlie's Angels; the Z100 commercial with Britney Spears; or Baywatch they will see that the feminine image is presented differently than the masculine. In these programs men are typically placed in sexual situations fully clothed, while women are presented in provocative clothing or less. The camera will frequently zoom in on body parts to focus on the woman’s buttocks, midriff, and legs. Society is still dominated by men who control what people see. As a result women are increasingly portrayed as sex symbols as a way for a media company to turn

Orange Is the New Black is a television series created for the streaming video website called Netflix. The online television provider is known for attracting many users, not only does it include television series but also movies. However, it is a global expansion that allows this specific series to seek attention from each median as well as international audiences. This brings me to my point on how female bodies throughout this series are represented. It explores patterns in representing sexuality and how these representations influence the messages that viewers take away. The portrayal of sexuality is one of the most attention-grabbing aspects of Orange Is the New Black, as an example, at the beginning, the first scene in episode one shows

The second pattern that the show demonstrates is the dominance of heterosexuality and heterosextual privilege. All the character in the show are in a heterosexual relationship which are reflected in the nature of the space that they occupy. In the workplace and within the household the representation of heteronormative culture dominates. There is no representation of homonormative spaces or other sexual minorities in the show. The third pattern that the show demonstrates is gender performance. West and Zimmerman refer to gender performance as “doing gender” which will be later discussed in the next section. Due to the strong heteronormative nature of the show, the pattern of explicit gender performances are portrayed through clothing, behaviors, and interactions.These patterns are all related to specific locations in which each of the genders occupies. It is through this segregation of genders that the show perpetuates societal norms that support heteronormative culture and result in gender inequalities.

In many aspects of society, there are often unfair and inaccurate stereotypes on full display of certain people who belong to various demographics. Media, or more specifically TV shows, are no different in this regard. For example, men are painted out to be leaders, unemotional, and sometimes aggressive individuals who should be admired. Women tend to be shown as secretive and manipulative in order to get their way in a men driven society. It is also noteworthy that several homosexual characters are depicted as attempting to hide the fact that they are homosexual, and as feeble minded, even if the person in question is a male. While many times these stereotypes are untrue of the entire demographic being portrayed, people who attract to popular

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).

Drag performances have a long world history and have seen much contemporary popularity through pop culture avenues such as the television program RuPaul’s Drag Race and movies such as To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. On the other hand, gender scholars have spent many years debating the origins of modern drag. While some say that modern drag emerged in the late 1900s, others claim that modern drag actually emerged following the Stonewall Riots. (Taylor and Rupp 2003). There is ample literature on drag queens and/or their performances. Many authors write about how drag reinforces stereotypes about gay men, how it can be misogynistic, and how it reifies the masculine/feminine, male/female, hetero/homosexual dichotomies. In contrast, some scholars assert that drag performances can break down dichotomies associated with gender, sex, and sexuality. Drag research has gone through many stages beginning with a fundamentalist approach taken by Ester Newton in the 1970s to a performativity approach taken by Judith Butler in the 1990s; often these foundational pieces gave a perspective of dragging as deviant (drag queens) within a deviant status (LGBTQIA+). Though, as mentioned previously, drag research is missing discussion of drag minority communities and of whether these individuals feel they are connected with their community. The one exception, although not solely on the topic, is Taylor and Rupp’s work with the

The purpose of this research was to discover the role of make-up as a primary tool of consumption and as a result, it shed light on the act of doing drag to create an illusion of gender performance. From watching the transformation that takes place in the dressing room, and listening to the accounts of their character creation, it is easy to see in concrete terms how unstable the categories of “masculine” and “feminine”, and, “heterosexual” and “homosexual” really are. In fact, it can be argued that drag is a specific type of performance akin to method acting that has enabled drag impersonators to unintentionally remove the dichotomous relationship of gender and sexuality through the authenticity or parodic quality of their performance. They achieve this destabilisation of gender and sexuality through their use of cosmetics and artistic techniques such as, studying existing characters and using lights and shadows to build upon themselves so to create a character. This research demonstrates that a person’s desire to impersonate the opposite gender is not always evidence of a motivation related to gender

This is evident throughout RuPaul’s Drag Race. The show has been critiqued for favouring certain types of drag over others, thus not fully allowing the contestants to play with their gender identity freely. The contestants are criticised if they do not appear feminine enough. ‘Gender-fuck’ drag, in which an individual will embody both masculine and feminine characteristics, such as a beard also with a dress, is usually criticised in the show. Contestants have been slated for their choice to wear a suit, beard, or not wear a wig with their outfits and have been told that a ‘drag queen in a suit is a man’.

Lena Dunham, a privileged New York native and self-proclaimed feminist, created a video sponsored by Vanity Fair, a popular women’s popular culture magazine, entitled “8 Thoughts on Feminism.” Here she discusses her personal views on feminism and its future in 2025, that has also has reached over 25,000 views on Youtube. Dunham, although known mostly for her performances in Girls, is also infamous for her outrageous viral pictures that often include her posing in seemingly unflattering ways that challenge fat shaming and hegemonic beauty standards. While she often posits herself through queer, physical expressions and fashion choices that blatantly critique hegemonic femininity, Dunham continues to benefit from heteropatriarchal society as a upper class, heterosexual, cisgender, able-bodied white woman. She has most recently become a social icon for basic

From the New York Times an article “Warhol and Mappletherope: Exploring Gender as Disguise and Identity” The author takes the reader through a brief history of paintings in the late century in relation to gender Identity. Male figures in their works were changed and given female social constructs of gender relation with winged eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, and other “female” products. Their appearances were also altered with assortments of clothing they related to females.

Orange Is the New Black has started to redefine various gender and sexuality expectations that have been concreted in to media for many years. Women are not always portrayed genuinely in mainstream media, many television shows place women on a sexualized pedestal, where they are subject to male gaze due to hegemonic femininity representation. Diane Ponterotto (2016) describes how male gaze can affect media, and social notions, “Through the male gaze, the female body becomes territory, a valuable resource to be acquired,” (p. 147.) Ponterotto continues, mentioning that many women have

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).

Books, plays, and movies that depict culture and social life often make statements about social issues such as gender roles, racism, and class distinction. Stories set up a context in which characters relate, often representing “stock” characters chosen from society and placed in situations where their stereotypical behaviors—and sometimes their breaking of these stereotypes—are highlighted. As feminism became a popular movement in Western countries in general and the United States in particular, female voices were naturally heard through fictional characters. Social and political issues commonly fuel entertainment; feminism, racism, and classism—recurring themes in entertainment through the 20th Century and into the modern day—have