Representations of Sexuality

Sexuality

• A person's sexual orientation or preference

Heterosexual Male Stereotypes:

• Tough
• Protector
• Leader
• High status
• Dominant
• High paying jobs

Heterosexual Female Stereotypes:

• Weak
• Girly
• Feminine
• Damsel-like
• Emotional
• Subordinate

Stereotypes

• Depend on shared cultural knowledge
• A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Homosexual Male Stereotypes

• Camp
• Girly
• Promiscuous
• Feminine
• Desire to be women
• Characters are condemned to a life alone without children
• Mothers regret being so close to their mothers which is what "made them gay"
• "Just a phase"
• Sexual
• Only concerned with sex
• Flamboyant
• Feared, pitied or being true subject of laughter
• Involved in the fashion, material design or hair styling
• Suffering with family rejection
• Lisp
• Not sporty
• Over emotional
• Have all female friends

Homosexual Female Stereotypes

• Butch
• Feminist
• Short hair
• Hate men
• Masculine
• Aggressive or mouthy
• Sexual
• Sport or military orientated jobs
• Pursuing heterosexual women

General Homosexual Stereotypes

• Despite changes in legislation, TV has remained conservative to avoid offending viewers
• Homosexuals are represented as different, strange, separate from society
• Characters that are gay only "happen to be gay"
• Sexuality plays a key role in the story line and don't have problems outside of sexuality
• Those who are homosexual or other are not religious
• All have some form of STI
• Don't want to be in a long-term relationship
• Constantly preach about their cause "unnecessarily"
• Usually white
• Always a masculine and a feminine partner
• Suffering rejection

Examples of Gay Characters in the Media:

Teen Wolf

Danny & Ethan - Gay

Mason & Corey - Gay

How To Get Away With Murder

Connor & Oliver - Gay

The Shannara Chronicals

Eretria - Bisexual

Will and Grace

Will & Vince - Gay

Jack - Gay

Scandal

Cyrus - Gay

Empire

Jamal - Gay

Mimi - Lesbian

Camilla - Bisexual

Textual analysis of Clip:

Editing

• Shot duration being very quick and only focusing on the crotch area, kissing and torsos conform to the promiscuous stereotypes
• Jump cut to talking in the car talking about being soft - stereotype
• Eye line match - I'll have a lager - counter stereotype
• Cut aways to crotch shot - sexual
• Cut away and eyeliner match to drag queen - conforms to stereotype of wanting to be a woman

Camera

• Downward tilt to show full body of dancer with oiled body, conforms to promiscuous stereotype
• High angle camera shots depict dancers in high power being in their element and natural state

Mise en scene

• All topless men on podium and many men kissing and dancing flirtatiously, conforms to promiscuity stereotype
• People dressing like women, conform to wanting to be woman stereotype
• Very low lighting - reflects the confusion of the main character being in a place that he is unfamiliar with

Sound

• Non-diegetic music of the club that is introduced at the conversation in the work place then sound brigand to the club makes the music a symbol of promiscuity