Media & ArtsAnyone else bothered by gay stereotypes in media not going away, and in some times being heightened?

submitted by lovelyspearmintLesbeing a lesbian from self.LGBDropTheT

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[–]lovelyspearmintLesbeing a lesbian[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

On the other hand, how do you write interesting straight people without drawing attention to their sexuality? With them, you don't have to. It's assumed they're straight and therefore you can expand other parts of their character without ever having to touch on the fact that they're straight. But then if it turns out they're not straight, it's often treated as a twist and their character immediately becomes defined by being gay.

It's a Catch-22. You can make the character interesting without mentioning that they're gay, but then it's assumed they're straight. If you reveal that they're gay, then the character becomes gay and anything interesting about them is immediately attributed to them being gay as opposed to them being a complex character, which they would be considered to be if they were straight.

[–]JulienMayfair 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Fair points. I recall the gay couple on the TV show Northern Exposure, back in the 1990s, and the salient thing about them was now average they were and the fact that they shared so many interests with Maurice, the town's resident conservative crank. They did run an upscale B&B, so I guess there is some stereotyping there, but it was obvious that the writers were trying to play against previous stereotypes.