Queer Culture Research Paper

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.

Since the late 1960’s, the LGBTQ community have started to seek equality towards rights. Even though the LGBTQ community are still discriminated today and were discriminated in the past, they now have the formal legal equality as everyone else. Canada is seen by other countries as a leader to the respect of the LGBTQ community. The community has received many equality benefits throughout the year which vary from, same-sex marriage to health care. Before 1861 (laws were controlled by Britain) it was illegal to be a homosexual and the penalty was a death sentence. Many look back with disgust at the horrible past that Canada had with homosexuality. After 1861, the sentence was reduced to 10 years in prison which is still obscure. Homosexuals at this time were mentioned as

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.

As being developed by poststructuralism, feminism, lesbian & gay studies and even American pragmatist theory (Parker,2001; Seidman,1997), queer theory has become one of the most important theories, which contributes to the research of sociology, arts and organizations. On the one hand, queer theory has been used to study the relations between the sexuality, gender and workplace. On the other hand, by utilizing denaturalized, deconstructive and performative methods to queer the presumptions of the taken-for-granted norms, queer theorists question and disprove the traditions which people cherish (Seidman,1995).

Drag performers take on the look and mannerisms of their opposite gender as a way to entertain and inform their audiences of social issues that can be addressed with humor. Fortunately for the drag community, there has been a recent increase in the popularity of drag queens since the TV show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” won an Emmy in 2015. However, the female equivalent, drag kings, are given little media attention, thus casting them into obscurity. I argue that the lack of positive media coverage of drag kings in television, advertising, and social media, further isolates drag kings from potential viewers and their fellow LGBTQA community, causing strife for individual performers and their respective performing groups, and furthermore, depriving

I wish to use and understand the word queer space to refer to social spaces with tolerance for difference and ambiguity. These are the cracks in the social system where new styles of dressing and living become possible. In Deleuzian terms these are spaces where deterritorialization occurs. I am not using queer as a synonym for LGBT. Queer space is not physical, it is a field of possibility in a social space. I organize queer space by wearing my outfits and by being out and open about my gender explorations. Queer space recedes and becomes less possible when I hide my difference when I try to “pass” as either gender. In conclusion, queer space is essential for me as a gender explorer. It is not a simple physical space. We bring out queerness

Sexual minorities, often called LGBTQ or just ‘gays’, of Korea have been ignored. The hatred towards LGBTQ people was so much for them that they couldn’t stand like heterosexual people and couldn't come out of the closet. Although there is no reason that LGBTQ people must come out to their families and friends, coming out is thought to be a custom to most people. However, as this article points out, LGBTQ members of Korea and people who are not sure about their sexualities tend to stay away from the issue.

The first cartoons remain as fond memories in the hearts of children- now adults- and have lingered on their minds for decades. Now, in the modern era, children are similarly entranced by the animated stories and characters they see on various types of screens. Studies have shown that the average child spends nearly 35 hours a week watching TV, which is a 12 percent increase of hours spent watching over nine years (Rothman, “FYI, Parents: Your Kids Watch...”). Yet a crucial aspect of children’s television has also changed along with its viewers since its creation, and that is the inclusion of minorities in its stories. It started with the incorporation of African-Americans in children’s media (not to say that this was entirely wholesome in its beginnings, as many of the first cartoons involving anyone of a darker skin tone typically depicted them as stereotypically as possible). Since then, many other marginalised groups have had their debut in media meant for toddler to teen audiences. Now, a new period of representation is at hand. For the first time, queer audiences are able to see themselves in popular media, being presented, for once, as people rather than

Hine argues that many cannot affiliate with a subculture without inheriting the classifications that are a part of the subculture (Hine 277). Ritch Savin-Williams complicates Hine’s argument, because he argues that many teenagers shun the labels of gay and lesbian (Savin-Williams 16-17). Many young adults and teenagers shun the labels and with it the connotations of being a part of a subculture. They do this to protect their individuality receiving prejudice because they accept to wear a label. In the image, the two women that we assume are members of the LGBT movement because they are married, do not explicitly say that they are. Their messages reflect the love they have for each other and the love that many same-sex couples have as well. However, the image does present labels of the binary position of the argument of same-sex marriage, as there is a man holding a sign claiming a mom and dad are key to a proper family. Owen is making the claim just as Savin-Williams and Hine made, that minority subcultures avoid labels but are still in support of equality as they hope to protect their individuality. There is a correlation between how Owen portrays his claim of unity and love between LGBT supporters, and Savin-Willaims and Hine’s view of youth identity. The picture is

An impressive controversial issue that we all seem to face is on the topic of homosexuality, whether it is acceptable that the same sex attraction is okay or a violation of what is considered normal in society because what is considered normal is the attraction of ones opposite sex. Now, because being homosexual in not accepted by all, this category of people have been and still are suffering from prejudice as well as discrimination. Homosexuals often organized organizations in hope that one day they would be able to eliminate the social and legal discrimination that was set on them. In the past year “Gay men and lesbians became entangled within a growing postwar anti-communist hysteria when

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.

Irma its good to see not only I saw the connection on the “gender studies and Queer theory”. These critics point out the clothing, body language and the looks of the actors more than anything. They dont focus on the story plot the history moreso mock they story itself. In Norton Literature it specify how at t”imes critics establish the stature of a work by a gay or lesbian writter..”(Norton2349) They may not mind the sex preferance, but one can definately say they dont respect it. In my opinion although it was some what funny, it was not well critisized not r

In the two minutes long title sequence of the series several shots indicate that the show will also have queer characters in it. The most prominent shots are of the rainbow flag which was created by Gilbert Baker to be shown at the 1978 San Francisco Pride and represents different aspects of the LGBT+ community leading to a direct association of the community and the rainbow flag.

An achievement of television in the new millennium is an inclusion of gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters who play central roles on popular series. In 2000, Queer as Folk premiered, chronicling the lives of a group of gay men and women, which presented their day-to-day existence as distinctly homosexual to the audience. The characters were rarely represented in a way that did not call attention to their sexual orientation or struggles that they faced as sexual minorities, such as parental rejection and tragic encounters with the AIDS epidemic. Four years later, The L Word (2004) presented audiences with a uniquely female grounded show, focusing on the lives of a group of L.A. lesbians, bisexuals, and trans-identified individuals. While this

In 1978, an artist named Gilbert Baker created a flag to serve as a symbol of unity to the community of San Francisco, California.  Baker designed an eight-stripped, eight-colored flag; an early, “demo” version of what we know as the Pride flag.  Each of the eight colors on the flag had its own symbolism: hot pink represents sexuality, red symbolizes life, orange embodies healing, yellow expresses the sun, green exemplifies nature, blue symbolizes art, indigo mirrors harmony, and violet illustrates spirit.  Later, two of the stripes – indigo and hot pink – were eliminated from the initial design due to a lack of commercially available pink fabric and the idea that the colors should be spread evenly (three colors on each side) in the parade commemorating San Francisco’s first openly-gay supervisor’s death. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, etc. (LGBTQ+) community had adopted the flag as a symbol that they can connect and identify with.