Homosexuality and the Media

Political Media:

In recent years, the debate over homosexuality/ gay rights went from being a dismissed, umentioned subject to becoming one of the most prominent and determining topics in American elections. The media played a large role in the debate over this topic, contributing to the perception that homosexuality was an important moral and ethical issue. However, instead of depicting the events that effected the people in the gay community, the media largely dehumanized the subject; seperating the label from the actual people. It encouraged voters to divide over what should be done about this "issue" as opposed to promoting peaceful integration between the parties, voters, and the LGBT community. In short, the media brought the topic of gay rights to the forefront of american politics, but at the same time manipulated the news to exaggerate the various stands on the issue. Thus intensifying the events in order to keep the consumers engaged in the media's product.

Entertainment

Homosexuality seems to have become a popular trend in movies, television, and with celebrities. However, the popluar media, instead of using this form of media to normalize the gay lifestyle, homosexuality is often stereotyped and mocked, or portrayed as being mischievous and perverse, often accentuating the physicality of a gay relationship.




Often times, gay male characters are more generalized and stereotyped, often seen as flamboyent, gaudy, and obsessed with fasion while female characters are often "bisexual", and either used as purely sexual or occasionally as a sincere plot twist. the entertainment industry is deifinitely more understanding about female homosexuality than male. however, for both genders, mainstream television and film are becoming more and more positive about the portrayal of gays and lesbians. shows like Will and Grace and Grey's Anatomy are depicting a more real version of homosexuality, gay celebrities like Ellen Degeneres are creating a new, family approved image for the community, and homosexuality is even being presented in certain ads, such as this one for Levi jeans:



I predict that appealing to the gay community in mainstream advertisments will soon become a poplular investment from certain industries like fashion, travel, and food (all of which are popular in the gay community). We are starting to see LGBT direced television channels such as LOGO, and many websites/blogs devoted to appealing to and enriching the lives of gays and lesbians. a popular site being afterellen.com

Thusly, even if there are some kinks currently in the portrayal of the gay community, the broader coverage coverage of their issues and support from certain entertainment mediums are making the topic easily accessible to the american people, and helping the masses to understand the homosexual lifestyle and accept the members of the gay community as equals.

Chicks and the Media

There was a point in history, you know, the 70's, when chicks had bra bonfires and resisted proper hygene in order to fight for their right to be sexual! I believe when ads first began appearing with sexualized women, some of these sexual feminists (womyn?) were pleased that they finally were recognized as sexual creature, not a sexual object.
however, they soon learned it was quite the opposite. Yes, these ads flaunted women's sexuality, but far from the empowering images these womyn expected. Instead, most ads are designed to portray females as nothing more than sexually charged bodies, or in some cases, body parts (i.e : ass and boobs) whose only thoughts were to seduce men, and keep their men happy by having a perfect figure, face, hair, etc. Often ads contain clips of women, instead of speaking, using only their body to attract a sexual partner. This leads to many, many problems for women, who are forced to believe that they are only useful as a sex toy for men, as opposed to an intellectual, individual being.
more girls suffer from serious eating disorders, that 1 out of 7 are predicted to die from, than ever before. plastic surgery rates have soared as women attempt to achieve the flawless, airbrushed faces seen on magazine covers. Every other advertisement on T.V is for some weight loss miracle band or diet pills, which women are slowly becoming addicted to. and, if that wasn't enough, studies found that weight loss ads in magazines are most likely to be found next to columns on satisfying a man. therefore, subliminally teaching these poor teenage girls that their existance is not just to please a man, but that in order to please a man, you must acquire a ridiculously unnatainable body shape. it's no wonder that once girls hit puberty, their self worth levels plumett while guys remain static.


Increasingly in music nowadays, the lyrics pertain to no more than getting laid and it's not uncommon to find lymmerics that completely dehumanize women, and insist that they are nothing but a prize for the most G rapper. And, far too often, you can find chicks are all over this music, memorizing the words, singing along, and going to the concerts to obsess over the thrice shot, coke snorting, sex fiend who serenades them with lyrics that reiterate how worthless they are.

not that female music artists are much better. like the ads on T.V. and in the magazines, they take a submissive, yet seductive stance within their music, which is often about needing a man. however, there are a few acts that model female empowerment, such as Lady GaGa and her darker, artistic, and perhaps insane approach to pop music. still overtly sexual, but more empwering and unpredictable. in fact, her hit Poker Face, is actually about her fantasizing about being with a women every time she was in bed with her boyfriend. I feel as if those 1970's bra burning womyn would find her act to their liking.

Media: Feasting Off of Our Supersized Sexual Appetite

The past 50 years have been ordained with numerous social triumphs: equal rights, civil rights, women's rights, suffrage, peace, and counterculture. Art and science, Andy Warhol, and a man on the moon! The list goes on. In short, this has been one of the most rapidly evolving half-centuries in the history of our nation. A social period flaunted by our government, and one that parents brag to their children about, coated with a completely different perspective. And those children spend hours thumb tacking various idols of these times to their dorm room wall, feeling all the more superior to their classmates within their enlightened living quarters.

They sure were some hoppin' decades. however, one particular strand of this social revolution is rarely discussed by the government. Parents, too, tend to shy away from this topic when captivating their kiddies with stories from their nostalgic library. A subtle, yet augmenting reverberation from the media, reflecting the cries of a previously suppressed youth and accelerating those impassioned acclamations of a new, dependent generation. Sex.

The ongoing sexual revolution may have had a jumpstart in the 60's and 70's, but the abuse of this sexual liberation in the media greatly precipitated throughout the latter 80's, 90's. Now, in the 21st century, the media's (ads, corporations, big business) garish exploitation of it's own imposed addiction upon our youth has become the cause of many complications with teenagers and young adults. Girls and women being portrayed as sex items, superficial dependency, teenage pregnancies, depression and drug abuse all stem from the root that is our hyper-sexualized culture; suffocating us with our own hot, naked bodies.