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Gabriel Roman

Jennifer Rodrick

QS 115

October 17, 2017

Society Has Conformed the Queer Identity

When it comes to the acceptance of the LGBTQI community, I will be the first to argue

that our progressive society has accepted the LGBTQI community. Although the acceptance and

treatment for the LGBTQI community has increased, it is clear that this community does not

have freedom when it comes to the way they act. The problem of acceptance has slowly been

overcome, but a new issue has presented itself. Expectations have been given to members of the

LGBTQI community in the sense that they are expected to act a certain way if they are in fact

queer. Now members of the queer community have to conform to the hegemonic expectations set

by society. These hegemonic expectations have resulted in the queer community being portrayed

in specific ways by pop culture. These expectations revolve around the actions and mannerisms

society expects members of the queer community to have and follow. I will dive into and explore

how society expects diverse members of the queer community to be through the common

misrepresentation of the queer community in pop culture. The two greatest examples of

expectations given to the queer community by society are the flamboyancy and feminizing gay

men and expecting lesbian women to either be butch (really masculine) or really feminine.

Flamboyancy is one of the biggest and most common stereotypes given to gay men. In

fact, flamboyancy amongst gay men is amongst the most used characteristics used in films when

portraying a gay man. Andrew McMillan of The Guardian depicts the damage that the over

flamboyancy and portrayal of gay men in the television show Will and Grace has had on both
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society and the expectations for behavior amongst the queer community. McMillan writes

Before social media or dating apps and without an educational policy that could inform and

educate students responsibly I did rely on episodes of Will and Grace for my initiation into the

gay world (McMillan). McMillan giving personal insight on his experience with an early 2000s

television show being his introduction to the gay community goes to show how impactful pop

culture can be. McMillan argues that his introduction to the gay community was through this

television show which aired before social media was the cultural phenomenon it is today, yet the

same portrayal of gay characters exists today.

To better prove that the misrepresentation of gay men continues to be as outrageous as it

was various years ago we can simply take a television show that has been around since the late

eighties and is still relevant today, The Simpsons. In the following clip, we see the various

changes in animation depicting a change of time, yet the message and portrayal of the gay

character continues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7jOzQC3XOw. In the linked YouTube

video we see the sexuality of Waylon Smithers being questioned. At no point in the video does

Waylon Smithers openly say that he is in fact gay, but we the viewers make an assumption on his

sexuality based on his actions and on what he says. By assuming that Waylon Smithers is gay

without him openly admitting or denying the fact that he is gay goes to show that we have

subconsciously accepted societies views on the queer community. In a sense we are part of the

reason as to why the queer community has the expectations that they have. Waylon Smithers is

gay, but before The Simpsons even officially revealed the news to the public the assumption was

already out. By assuming the gender identity of Smithers we have proved that society has twisted

the perception of the queer community by making us label someone as gay based on the actions
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and mannerisms of that person. We no longer wait for confirmation that someone is gay, we use

societies expectations and assume that someone is gay.

To be butch is to have characteristics that are typically masculine. To be feminine is to

have characteristics that are extremely dainty and fragile. The common stereotype for lesbian

couples is that a couple must have both a butch lesbian and a feminine lesbian in order to satisfy

societies expectation for a lesbian couple. Society wants lesbian couples to have both a male

and a female in the relationship. In a collaborative article between CNN and The Frisky, author

Nikki Dowling speaks on the common expectation for lesbian couples to have both a male and a

female member. Dowling writes There is always a "man" and a "woman" in lesbian

relationships. Nope. My girlfriend and I both happen to be pretty feminine. I have seen lesbian

couples where both women are on the masculine side, too (Dowling). Dowling is writing on

common stereotypes for lesbian couples, and she directly targets society expecting for there to be

a masculine counterpart to a female in a lesbian relationship. Another example that proves that

society has given lesbians the option of either being masculine or feminine is explained in a

Huffingtonpost article by Helene Tragos Stelian. Stelian is writing about the struggles of coming

out as a lesbian in her later years and explains the difficulty she finds. When it comes to social

norms for lesbians Stelian writes The women I interviewed have encountered many labels and

stereotypes, and reject them vehemently. As Andrea says, I think its odd when people assume

one of us is the man in the relationship; neither of us is the man! (Stelian). In this excerpt of

the article Stelian is writing about the troubles she has had as an elder lesbian, she calls for

society to quit putting labels on her and she goes on to explain that one of the biggest labels is

the masculine or feminine options given to lesbians.

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Although pop culture may not dive into lesbian couples, the portrayal of lesbians is still

in correlation to the masculine or feminine option given to lesbians by society. Pop culture

continuously makes lesbian women appear extremely masculine or they pin them to be

extremely feminine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBM_R-2kCvg . This first link is a

scene from the television show The OC, in this episode characters Alex and Marissa discuss their

secret relationship before breaking out into a clich kiss after the rain. This is an example of

society giving lesbians the option to be femme lesbians, because theyre portrayed to be delicate

and extremely romantic with the clothes they are wearing and in the manners that they carry

themselves. On the contrary, the butch relationship and butch lesbian is the most popular lesbian

that pop culture continuously promotes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn1n0tB0PrE. In

this link, we see the infamous stereotypical comedic show Family Guy introduce Meg as a

lesbian character. Meg has had a complete makeover sporting a cut-off flannel shirt and a mullet

type haircut. She is more aggressive in her tone and looks more masculine overall. There were

countless examples of femme and butch stereotypes, but they all have the same meaning. Society

has a blueprint when it comes to lesbian, they want them to be in one of two categories. They can

either choose to be like Alex and Marissa in The OC and act very femme, or they can be like

Meg from Family Guy and be butch manly characters.

In conclusion,
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Works Cited

Dando. The Best Smithers is Gay Moments. YouTube, uploaded by FourFingerDiscount, 1

May 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7jOzQC3XOw. Accessed October 17,

2017.

20th Century Fox. The OC Alex and Marissa Ep 2x4. YouTube, uploaded by Valetide83, 8

June 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBM_R-2kCvg. Accessed October 17,

2017.

20th Century Fox. Family Guy Megs A Lesbian. YouTube, uploaded by Piping Irish, 9

January 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn1n0tB0PrE. Accessed October 17,

2017.

McMillan, Andrew. Gay Men Deserve Three-Dimensional Role Models, not TV's

Stereotype. The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 10 Feb. 2016,

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/10/gay-men-tv-stereotypes-looking-

sexuality. Accessed October 17, 2017.

Dowling, Nikki. 9 Misconceptions About Lesbians. CNN, Cable News Network, 2 Mar. 2010,

www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/personal/03/02/tf.misconceptions.about.lesbians/index.html

. Accessed October 17, 2017.

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Stelian, Hlne Tragos. 8 Things Later-In-Life Lesbians Want You To Know. The Huffington

Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Nov. 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/helene-tragos-

stelian/things-lesbians-want-you-to-know_b_8577926.html. Accessed October 17, 2017.