To what extent do stereotypes of gay men as "sissies" and lesbians as "butch" still influence representations of homosexuality?

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To what extent do stereotypes of gay men as “sissies” and lesbians as “butch” still influence representations of homosexuality?

In this essay I plan to discuss the stereotypes of homosexuality in times of when it was deemed unacceptable and now in the 21st century when it is main stream. I shall be looking at a wide variety of both films and television programs from the United States and the United Kingdom; titles include Brokeback Mountain – film, Transamerica – film, Shameless – television, Will & Grace – television and many more.

Throughout the history of film, gay men were portrayed as sissies while lesbian women were portrayed as butch. If it were not for these portrayals we would not know if someone was gay and as there is of course no physical markings for them to stand out and people would not know if they were gay or straight. Using this, an American television company created a reality show called Playing it Straight. A woman dates X number of men and has to eliminate one a week to find her true love, but then whilst doing that also has to figure out who is gay and who is not. If at the end she picks a gay guy then he will walk away with the money. The show sounds easy to do but when watching it, which is far from the truth as they all act what mainstream calls “normal”.

Homosexuality was condemned until it became legalised, even then people still condemned it. Films had characters with sissy or butch traits but still not declared as homosexual. But in 1973 American television produced its first homosexual character in a tv movie “That Certain Summer” where a gay man tells his son that he is gay. Other American television companies were then due to more programs with the theme of homosexuality but then were cancelled as the nations mood rose to the Moral Majority who were against with the amount of sex and violence shown on television.. It was only in the late 1980’s where lesbian characters started to be shown on television on shows such as The Golden Girls, Moonlighting and LA Law. Although they were shown they people say that they were negative portrayals and just stereotypes and only put it on the shows to make them look contemporary.

However in the past decade it has become mainstream and highly popular, although some may beg to differ that it is only there for comical value with shows such as Will & Grace. Two gay men, and 2 straight women are the main characters, one of the men is sissy whilst the other is more masculine but with sissy traits. The comical value is mainly about gay jokes and situations said by both sexualities in the show and with constant references between the two men as their “bitches” and saying comments such as “kiss it, kiss it, spank it”

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An English television program “Queer as Folk” again follows the “sissy” and “butch” stereotypes. The men in the show are sissy and camp whilst the women are butch and masculine. It is aimed at homosexual audiences with problems that homosexuals would face daily unlike Will & Grace that use just the gay factor as a joke.

The queer theory, although not a theory, builds on some on some ideas developed by Foucault. It says that nothing within your identity and that the identity is things that one has previously expressed or things that has been said about you. ...

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