Gays on the telly...


Hey Gays and gals,

I’m a media student at college and have recently started collecting research and am gathering opinions on how sexuality is represented in media dramas - finding if audiences think that homosexual behaviour and relationships are represented differently than heterosexual ones. I need your judgement on whether key themes such a drug use, STDs and age of consent along with other live gay issues are represented truthfully by television dramas like Sugar Rush, Queer As Folk [both UK and US] and Six Feet Under.

I need to find out if the shows play on stereotypes or whether they break away from them; are the characters masculine or feminine and do they support a dominant ideology of what is seen as ‘gay’ in the world today.

As well as this I’d love to know if you think a large age gap between two partners more acceptable in a homosexual relationship than a heterosexual one and why? Do drugs and clubbing go hand in hand? And is this more so on the gay scene?

Needing help on this one and would greatly appreciate any responses, but doubt I’ll get any.

Tom.

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First, Tom, I'd recommend you do some research into the differences between the gay male culture and lesbian culture. I think you'll find some large differences and that most of the key themes you mentioned in your post are really only relevant in gay male culture.

Being specific on Sugar Rush. I'd say they did pretty well in covering a series of topics, the main one in the first series being to look at how hard it is coming to terms with your sexuality, especially at a young age. The second series focussed more on being in a relationship. The relationship between Kim and Saint, I thought, was very well done. It showed that the supposedly traditional butch & femme isn't a proportional representation of modern lesbian relationships. There was also an age difference represented in the relationship, Saint's age was never explicitly discussed but as a University graduate she would have been over 21 whilst Kim was still 17.

Hope that's of some help to you.

Dear Buddha, please send me a pony and a plastic rocket.

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I've just done that assignment at college too ha.

Btec?

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Try asking around on The L Word board, they're usually quite responsive.

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