Gender Stereotypes In Popular Media

The LGBT movement has made significant strides in gaining representation in popular media over the past thirty years. Still, there is a serious lack of LGBT characters in television, movies, and other fiction-based media. The focus of this paper will be on representative divides within the community itself. Though there has been better inclusion of non-straight characters in popular media in recent years, it is a fact that we continue to see a disproportionate number of (white) male characters in major or recurring roles. Bisexual women and lesbians are often erased or underrepresented, and the roles they are given seem to be at a much greater risk of being sexualized. In this paper I will explore these themes as they occur and have occurred historically in American film, television, and the music industry. The first homosexual kiss aired on American network television was on the show L.A. Law, in 1991 (infoplease; Timeline: Gays in Pop Culture). Though the kiss was between two women, it was not the step forward for lesbians it might have been. This kiss was just the first cultural example of what “Vulture’s Secret History of Television” refers to as the “lesbian-kiss episode”. In this trope, a …show more content…
The issue is rooted in deeper societal norms of discrimination against women and LGBT people in general. One important thing that we as viewers can do is bring attention to the flaws in representation of LGBT women. As in real life, a good question to ask of lesbian/bisexual characters or figures in the media is “Would we be okay with this if they were a man?”. If media oversexualized or over-stereotyped gay men the way they do gay women, people would notice immediately, and likely be uncomfortable. As we have seen, with this issue there has to be a balance between having enough representation and making sure that representation is progressive and