Reflection Memo
1. What was your process for writing this essay? How did you come to your ideas? How did
you draft and revise this essay?
My process for writing this essay was creating a basic outline to organize my thoughts and ideas
then finding sources and copying and pasting quotes to support these ideas. I would paste the
quotes to the corresponding idea. I came up with my ideas because I’m a homosexual and this
topic is very relevant to my life. I drafted and revised this essay with help of peer editing with
my friends and with the VCU librarian assistance.
2. What is the biggest strength and the biggest weakness in this essay? What are you most
and least proud of?
My biggest strength would be my motivation and determination to complete the essay. I am not a
strong writer and my ideas are hard to organize so that would probably be my biggest weakness.
Also, I was sickly during the writing process so that made me fatigued and less focused, which
increased my irritability. I am not proud that I let my condition affect my work. I am extremely
proud that I completed this essay because I am retaking this class for the third time and in my
previous courses I have never completed the UNIT 3 essay.
3. If you had more time to revise, what would you do? How would you change your essay?
If I had more time I would elaborate more on my claims and spend more time researching. This
in turn could create more depth in my argument.
Joshua Kim
UNIV 112
Professor Coats
4/30/2015
Media and its Impact in Homosexuals
According to Dictionary.com, “[media is] the means of communication, as radio and
television, newspapers, and/ magazines, that reach or influence people widely” (“media”). The
means to access a broad audience and instill ideas and shape how individuals perceive
themselves and others is powerful, because of this, any individuals or institutions that use media
to spread their ideas have an ethical responsibility to ensure the ideas being broadcasted are not
detrimental. In the case of homosexuals, media has a vital role in determining how the public
views the homosexual community, and how homosexuals view themselves and each other.
In the past, media was one sided with limited accessibility for homosexuals to narrate
their own community. This was prominent during the 80’s when the majority popular opinion on
homosexuals were negative and media propagated biased images about gay men. According to a
news article in the 80’s, homosexuals were depicted as hyper sexual deviant beings, with one
statement claiming that an average AIDS infected homosexual would have intercourse with
1,100 partners. (Jean L. Marx 618) These false, dramatized statements contributed to fear,
ignorance, and stigmatization against and within the gay community. In effect, gay men were
seen as harbinger of AIDS. In today’s media, due to progression in civil rights and technological
advancements such as social media (i.e. Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook), homosexuals now
benefit in some ways from the media. They are more accepted and have means to utilize the
media to narrate, express, and communicate within the community. Queer student, Emily Rogers
of New York University presented in TEDx that, “Internet community is a radically different
means for an entire generation of queer people to understand their identities. While self-making
via the Internet allows for unprecedented access to "queer social spaces" (virtual or not), it can
tend to reinforce certain, hegemonic notions of sexuality (and of "how to be correctly gay"),
(Rogers, YouTube). Although the media has made many advancements in media/homosexual
relations, there are many issues that remain present.
The homosexual community is marginalized, so it is more susceptible to mainstream
media because mainstream media is a platform used to reflect society. In the work, Gendered
Relationships on Television: Portrayals of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Couples, Rhonda Gibson
and James D. Ivory explains that, “According to Gross (1991), marginalized groups are
underrepresented or‘ ‘symbolically annihilated’’ from the rest of society, and ‘‘the mass media
provide the chief common ground among the different groups that make up a heterogeneous
national and international community,’’ (qtd. in Ivory and Gibson). Based on this, the media is
not always successful in portraying society accurately especially marginalized groups because
media caters to the privileged majority.
A study done by researchers at San Diego University determined that, “by 2015,
Americans are expected to consume media for more than 1.7 trillion hours, or an average 15.5
hours per person per day, again not counting workplace time” (San Diego University). Within
those 15 hours of media, Americans will be fed stereotypical depictions of gay men through
television. In Ivory and Gibsons’ work they discussed the stereotypical depictions of
homosexuality in television:
Throughout history, television either has ignored homosexuality or has portrayed
it in a highly stereotypical manner (Capsuto, 2000; Gross, 2001; Harrington,
2003; Tropiano, 2002). Furthermore, most programs featuring homosexual
characters have taken a heterosexual viewpoint, as ‘'they were shows about gay
people but clearly for straight audiences’’ (Capsuto,2000, p. 70). Television
critics and many academics agree that gay men and lesbians, as well as gay and
lesbian couples, are shown as gendered. Gay men are portrayed either as
masculine and athletic, or as ‘‘queens’’ and ‘‘fairies’’ (Tropiano, 2002, p. 149)
yearning to be women (p. 242). Gay men are also seen as being ‘‘naturally’’ adept
at stereotypically gay jobs such as hairdresser, waiter, or interior designer (p.
244). Lesbians are portrayed as either butch (dressing like a man) or femme (a
traditional feminine appearance; Capsuto, 2000, p. 110). Television also depicts
straight characters being viewed as gay if they stray too far from stereotypical
gender roles (gender roles) (Tropiano, 2002, p. 157), (175)
The consequences of stereotypical portrayals on mainstream television is that the general public
assumes that these depictions are based on reality. These assumptions damage the integrity of a
vastly diverse community. By marginalizing the community it impacts the public’s ability to
view them (gays) as equals resulting in a “them versus us” mentality. The public centers its
political opinion on gay issues off of the media’s portrayals; this hinders the progression of gay
rights.
Mainstream media does not exclusively affect the mainstream societies view on gay
issues, it also trickles into the gay community. In mainstream media, gay men are often portrayed
as feminine, due to this, gay men over compensate by fulfilling a masculine role and shunning
feminine displaying gay males. Through “straight-masculine” acting, they attempt to diverge
themselves from the stereotypes to fit in with the heteronormative society. Gender norms are
pervasive in our culture, therefore those who exhibit nonstandard gender expressions are seen
and treated as outcasts. Furthermore our society is male dominated and masculine traits are
viewed as preferable, so males that express feminine traits are looked down upon twice as much.
In Chong Suk Han’s Geisha of a Different Kind: Gay Asian Men and the Gendering of Sexual
Identity he notes his experience with internalized homophobia, “this arena of gay life, men are to
be men. “If I wanted to fuck a girl, I would find one,” a young gay man told me regarding his
desire for a “real” man,” (Han 2). Internalized homophobia is a term used to describe the action
of accepting and endorsing homophobia by lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Because of
mainstream media, gay men actively seek out men who behave masculine which gives masculine
gay men privilege over men who do not display masculinity.
Ivory and Gibson articulate, “Gender role formation posit that individuals learn genderappropriate behaviors through imitating same-sex models, encountered both through direct
experience, but also through mediated observation, such as in the television viewing experience,”
(Ivory and Gibson 8). This affects homosexual relationships by enforcing a polarized
femme/butch dynamic which reflects the male/female dynamic seen in heterosexual
relationships. Based on that everyone exposed to mainstream media make the assumption that
gender roles exists in all homosexual couples when that is not necessarily accurate. “Stereotypes
tend to depict same-sex couples as having both a masculine and feminine partner who performs
traditional gender roles. But, in reality, this is not often the case, as links between sexual
orientation and masculinity and femininity are extremely variable…power imbalances are also
seen in homosexual intimate relationships, though less than in heterosexual relationships, with
partners in same-sex relationships placing more emphasis on the value of equality,” (Ivory and
Gibson 17). The mainstream media’s display of heterosexual couple dynamics (penetrator is
dominant, receiver is submissive) transferring to homosexual couples is exaggerated.
The media fails to accurately exhibit the racial diversity found in the homosexual
community, it leaves many individuals underrepresented. In the work, Documenting Portrayals
of Race/Ethnicity on Primetime Television over a 20-Year Span and Their Association with
National-Level Racial/Ethnic Attitudes, Tukachinsky finds “viewing the limited and often
stereotypical characterizations of race and ethnicity offered in the media influences the attitudes,
beliefs, and behaviors of audience members,” (Tukachinsky 18). In both mainstream and LGBT
media, homosexual people of color are both underrepresented and stereotypically represented.
Han describes that, “When portrayed at all, they [Asian homosexuals] are often presented in the
feminized “other” to a masculinized white male. For example, a recent ad by Service members
Legal Defense Network (SLDN), as a part of their “Let Them Serve” ad campaign which
appeared in The Advocate, Genre, and other numerous gay and lesbian publications around the
country, shows a gay Asian male attempting to provide comfort to what is implied to be his
white male lover,” (Han 12). This is an example that gay people of color are rarely represented
but when they are represented they usually are depicted with racial stereotypes i.e. ‘submissive
gay Asian male’ or ‘hypersexualized homosexual black male’. Gay media is not exempt from the
racial hierarchal society it also shares similarities to mainstream media where ‘whiteness’ is the
norm and is desirable. This damages the self-esteem of gay people of color and leaves them
feeling further discriminated by society.
Some people who believe that media does not affect society may argue that media isn’t
responsible in shaping views about homosexuals. However Tukanchinsky brings up the point:
Although experiments can reveal the psychological mechanisms underlying media
effects, because they often use small, unrepresentative samples it is impossible to
infer the actual magnitude of media effects in the general population.
Furthermore, experiments typically employ a limited number of stimuli carefully
selected to manipulate particular theoretically meaningful variables, rather than a
broad, representative sample of media messages. Thus, despite the wealth of
research in the realm of media effects on racial/ethnic attitudes, relatively little is
known about how societal-level attitudes evolve and interact with overall media
representations over time. (18)
This reinforces that media impacts society, but there is not enough research to determine the
magnitude in which these effects take place. In the future when more research is conducted, we
may have a better understanding of the extent of media and its role in society. In Jeffrey Rosen’s
article, The Web Means the End of Forgetting, he argues that because of the internet, information
is permanent and more accessible, what this means for media is that broadcasted ideas are
amplified and more likely to permeate society (par. 7).
Media is effective in expressing ideas to the masses. Media shapes how the public views
homosexuals, as well as, how the homosexual community views each other; it contributes to the
marginalization of homosexual men or can be utilized within the community for empowerment,
but often the former is more common than the latter. While media is progressing to a more
inclusive phase, underrepresentation is still frequents towards subgroups within the gay
community like gender deviant males and gay people of color. Ethically, all humans should be
treated fairly regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender or any forces that are out of their
control and this goal is difficult to achieve without nondiscriminatory media portrayal.
Work Cited
Tukachinsky, Riva, Dana Mastro, and Moran Yarchi. "Documenting Portrayals Of
Race/Ethnicity On Primetime Television Over A 20-Year Span And Their Association
With National-Level Racial/Ethnic Attitudes." Journal Of Social Issues 71.1 (2015): 1738. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 April. 2015.
Marx, Jean L. “New Disease Baffles Medical Community.” Science 217. 4560 (1982): 618-621.
Web. 30 April. 2015.
Zverina, Jan. “U.S. Media Consumption to Rise to 15.5 Hours a Day – Per Peron – by 2015” UC
San Diego 06 Nov. 2013. Web. 30 April. 2015.
Holz Ivory, Adrienne, Rhonda Gibson, and James D. Ivory. "Gendered Relationships On
Television: Portrayals Of Same-Sex And Heterosexual Couples." Mass Communication
& Society 12.2 (2009): 170-192. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 April. 2015.
Chong-suk, Han. "Geisha Of A Different Kind: Gay Asian Men And The Gendering Of Sexual
Identity." Sexuality & Culture 10.3 (2006): 3-28. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30
April 2015.
Rosen, Jeffrey. “The Web Means the End of Forgetting.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times,
21 Jul. 2010. Web. 30 April 2015.
Rogers, Emily. “Self-Made This Way?: Emily Lim Rogers at TEDxSLC” YouTube. TEDx, 10,
Jul. 2013. Web. 30 April 2015.
“Media.” Dictionary.Com Web. 30 April 2015.