In his research article, Becoming the Homovoyeur: Consuming Homosexual Represent ation in Queer as Folk, Manuel Sheri advances

an argument that consuming queer ex hibitions in the program Queer as Folk converts the innocent straight viewers in to homovoyeurs. Although the queer programs in television opens up the symbolic space allowing cross sexual consumption of these materials, it still fails to ov ercome the barrier sensible dialogue and interactions across the heterosexual or homosexual identity boundaries. The article begins by the review of the literature of sexuality. It acknowledges that overtime homosexuality has been seen to pose a threat to the traditional m orality in sexual behavior - heterosexuality. Earlier, the showcasing of homosex ual ideas in the media was not considered a problem in the media provided it nev er contradicted the heteronormative ideologies. Moreover, the queer were not giv en leading roles in the plays presented in the media until programs like this co me into the system. The portrayal of the Queer individuals as main characters repeatedly brings the knowledge that builds social misrepresentation and mistaken quality that convert s the straight heterosexuals into homovoyeurs. To determine the effect of television programs, the QAF (Queer as Folk), was cho sen and a detailed discourse analysis done. This exposed both the latent and the manifest meanings attached to the words, symbols and actions in the program bas ed on the psychological perspective of the North American audience. QAF was chos en because of its representative nature across the region of concern and the wid e audience population it enjoys. It proposed both the inferential and the semiotic means of reading and decoding of the meanings attached to the imagery and other contents of the programs. Disc ourse, in this case, is very important because it determines the rating of the p rogram as effective. It seeks to note the issues surrounding the sexualization o f homosexuality that has for a long time been termed asexual. A discursive approach of reading the unique television codes was adopted. The ap proach drew from the sub cultural traditions to craft an inferential appraisal o f queer culture representation of the program. The discursive analysis was aimed at explaining the programs symbols as well as the lifestyle or subculture that t he program portrayed relating it to its origin based on queer theory. The data c ollected was done by a five year observation of the 83, 48 minutes episodes watc hed in DVD format. This was in the consideration of the fact that the producers knew well that the satisfaction and enjoyment of the audience was key to their s uccess. Since the researcher was alone in the making of observations, he sought to infer potential interpretation of the programs based on the literature availa ble from sociology and queer studies. Homovoyeurism Television and the othe types of media are refered to as culturally commodities with the ability to carrt both the culturally appreciated and the culturally den ied messages. When the audience watch the life of a person the television, they use what is seen as a basis to making similar decisions in life. The observer r emains very secretive while the actor becomes very public resulting into an inte rpretation of a voyeur. The media has changed a great del in its presentation of the queer population. I n the 1970s, the representations portrayed the queer minority as gender-confused lot for men were portrayed as sissy while women masculine. This was discouragin g to those who would want any association with this population. Today, the repre sentations give power to the to the queer folk as they are they get presented as equals or high than the heterosexual majority. The paper also states that the gays and lesbian graphics impart the culture into the straight viewers until it becomes normal part of their lifestyle. This way , the queer sex is empowered to a point where making it public becomes normal. I t is this way that a majority viewers gain access to the illicit materials zealo usly and become indispensible homvoyeurs. QAF presents the homosexuals bodies as very erotic, something that was never that way in times past. It is these that e ntice the straight audience to an irresistible urge of viewing. What makes the QAF more influential to the straight viewer is the plot of the pr

ogram. It begins with a a verbal description of the sensuality therein followed by a visual depiction of dancing masculine men with bare and sexy bodies. This is a sensual introduction. The homovoyeur is nailed to watching by the characters w ho enjoy the change in gender duties and who seem to be highly enjoying the orde al through the sensual portrayals the advance. The homovoyeur is also presented, with a conducive environment of creating his a ttitudes and discourse on the issues of masculinity, gender preference and sexua l orientation. Moreover, to conceive homovoyeurism, the program offers the view er with an opportunity to either assume the roles of the characters or connect t o characters without an interpersonal dialogue. The messages delivered also have a very influential effect on the viewer. Because of the sexiness of the charact ers, the viewers engage with them in private within their dwellings and thus hom oveyeurism. The paper presents a symbolic space in the QAF representation. The political ins inuation of formalization and normalization of queer behaviors is at the centre stage of this argument. The repeated representation shows a symbolic acceptance of the gays in the society. The diction of words used to refer to the homosexua ls is also symbolically meant to send a message of confidence and satisfaction i n that part of the world. This is based on the fact that television is a social space where each group is allowed to support their view points directly or indir ectly. The queer folks choose the indirect means. The author also puts it clearly that the main aim of the QAF is to make homosexu ality a normal phenomenon in a world that has always been against it. After five years of airing this programs is seen to have change the sexual paradigm. Thoug h it has not completely achieved normalization, QAF has opened television for si milar programs such as The L Word which would continue advocating for the same. The author concludes by noting that although therein a notion that the represent ation of the queer folk has always been consistent, there is need to consider pu blic interest in any media representation. The programs such as the QAF and othe r queer programs have to be greatly scrutinized in order to establish their soci al goal and objectives to the viewers and the social movement of North America. Otherwise this representation may be highly detrimental to morality and ethical living of the people of North America because a great population would be turned into homovoyeurs. Commentary on the Summary In this summary, I have succinctly presented the main points and themes in Manue ls article; becoming the homovoyeur I began from pointing out the thesis statement that summarized all the arguments that followed in this article. This I did in a precise and expressive way so that my reader would have no problem understandin g the whole idea. My diction was clear and aimed at connecting the theme that I then summarized as discussed within the text to the arguments that followed. The [purpose for this summary was to summarize this text in a way that anyone would grasp the total content of the article even without having the article at hand. I have been very specific to the articles expression of media especially televisi on that forms the centre stage of Manuels article. I have chosen to summarize Man uels view point in a sing phrase in the summary, social space. This diction was ch osen to give television its broad scope, i.e. being a [platform where individual s and organizations with opposing views find time to express and defend their vi ew points in an audio-visual way. As Gillian puts it, the incorporation of soun d to any kind of moving picture changes its meaning and imparts a meaning that i s different and distinct from that which would have only been expressed by movin g picture (Gillian 51). Moreover, she argues with David Harvey that this social space is responsible for the turning of the world into a postmodern era; One of the most eloquent exponents of this argument is David Harvey. He argues t hat these visual representations exemplify post modernity. Like many other comme ntators, Harvey defines post modernity in part through the importance of visual images to postmodern culture, commenting on `the mobilization of fashion, pop ar t, television and other forms of media image, and the variety of urban life styl es that have become part and parcel of daily life under capitalism (Gillian 20). Here Gillian shows that the effects of television and audio-visual materials are

very influential and may result into a new world era. That it is why in the sum mary I have noted manuels expression of media representation of queer practices as normalizing the activity. I have also included the topic of subjectivity. Manuel has excelled in expressin g the way that QAF and other queer programs have resulted in change of subjectiv ity in the viewer of these programs. This is what has resulted in the increased number of homovoyeurs in North America that has over a long period of time remai ned predominantly heterosexual. The discourse analysis of these programs clearly shows this and I have tried to express it in a clear but precise way within the summary. The ability of these programs to build a perpetual thought of homovoye urism in the view is also based on repetitiveness. The repetitive nature of the queer views has an effect of normalization of the viewed to the audience. Gillia n puts it clearer when she states that repetitive watching of a moving picture w ith similar symbolic gesticulations imparts the characteristics deep in the mind of the viewer that it may graduate to a habit (Gillian 25).