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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.

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

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
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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. In the YouTube video The Best Smithers is Gay Moments 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 (The Best Smithers is Gay Moments). 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 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.
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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 the

HuffingtonPost article 8 Things Later in Life Lesbians Want you to Know 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.

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
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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 (The OC Alex and Marissa

EP 2x4). 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. In the YouTube video Family Guy Megs a Lesbian, 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 (Family Guy Megs a Lesbian).

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.

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. Living in a society where pop culture is a modern phenomenon

and technology is one of our daily tools. With technology and pop culture being available to

everyone, the stereotypes and expectations society gives the LGBTQI community are more

widespread than ever. I believe that satire holds some truth to it, even if its in small quantities
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that is the case in the satirical comedy cartoons Family Guy and The Simpsons, both of these

shows show us an extreme version of what society expects the queer community to be. We are in

a society where coming out is easy, but once people come out theyre supposed to be societies

version of gay. We must continue to battle homophobia and allow members of the queer

community to come out and be able to be the people that they want to be, the next battle is

overcoming hegemonic expectations.

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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.

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.