Page 167 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

1 | Gay, Lesb an, B sexual, Transgendered, and Queer Representat ons on TV

TiVos to catch Queer as Folk, The L Word, and the launch of MTV Networks’
Logo, a new cable channel targeting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered
viewers.
Media representations of sexuality have changed dramatically over the past
half-century due to two related changes in North American values—first,
our growing acceptance of the idea that sex for pleasure (rather than sex for
procreation) is a good, healthy activity; and second, our growing acceptance
of varied sexual identities and (to a lesser extent) same-sex sexual activities.
Obviously, different types of media have different leeway in how they might
represent sexual issues. The focus here is on U.S. network television due to its
centrality to our entertainment landscape (99 percent of U.S. households have
at least one TV set), and the interest is focused on TV representations of sexual
minorities—that is, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, transsexual, intersexual,
and transgendered persons and relationships.

rEPrEsEnTing variED sExuaL iDEnTiTiEs on Tv

Perhaps not surprisingly, the U.S. television industry has a long history of
ignoring, stereotyping, and marginalizing varied sexual identities and story-
lines (see Gross 2001). For example, gay and lesbian issues or characters
were almost invisible on television in the 1950s and early 1960s, as networks
assumed that the viewing audience was composed wholly of married, monog-
amous heterosexuals and their children. As the gay rights movement rose to
national prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, prime-time portrayals
of homosexuality increased, though scriptwriters quickly settled on two safe
ways to tell gay-themed stories: the coming-out script and the “queer monster”
script (Capsuto 2000). While the 1970s ushered in prime-time shows about
gay characters, they were typically played by straight actors and marketed to a
straight audience, a trend that continues today. In the 1980s, TV depictions of
varied sexualities declined dramatically due to the conservatism of the Reagan
presidency and growing concerns about HIV/AIDS (and its association with
gay male sexuality).
The 1990s told a different story. Increased media activism, the growing
number of cable channels (which placed new economic demands on the net-
works and led to more expansive programming), rising stigma attached to
antigay prejudice, and growing recognition of a gay consumer market all
contributed to a sharp rise in the number of GLBTQ characters and/or nar-
ratives. Indeed, a study by the Parents Television Council published in 2003
found that references to homosexuality grew more rapidly between 1989 and
1999 (a 265-fold increase) than references to any other sexually oriented topic
on television, including masturbation, oral sex, and “kinky” sex (LeVay and
Valente 2006). Approximately 50 network series had lesbian, gay, or bisexual
recurring characters in the 1990s, more than twice the total of all previous
decades (Capsuto 2000). Network prime time introduced the first lesbian
lead actress/character in 1997 (Ellen Degeneres/Morgan on ABC’s Ellen) and
the first network gay male lead character in 1998 (Eric McCormack on NBC’s
Will & Grace).