Homosexuals In American Media Analysis

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June 26, 2015 was a historical day that changed the lives of many people in the United States. On this day the Supreme Court ruled that all fifty states must allow marriage licenses to be issued to people of the same sex. This ruling was one of the most important milestones of America’s LGBT rights movement and is a direct cause of the famous Obergeffel v. Hodges case (Obergeffel v. Hodges, 2015). While this law changed some of the legal troubles that countless homosexuals face, it does not affect the discrimination and prejudice they are exposed too. Some experts speculate that this can partially be attributed to the prevalence of stereotypes throughout popular mainstream media in America. Television shows are known for portraying homosexual …show more content…
Homosexual men are categorically characterized as being over exaggerated divas who are fixated on their appearance and have a strong fascination for material objects while females are often pictured as trying to act tough and often are much dirtier and less pampered then heterosexual women.. No one is off limits when it comes to being stereotyped in American media but homosexuals are unreasonably defined by their sexuality as opposed to heterosexuals who face a broad range of stereotypes (O’connor, 2015). A popular example of the flamboyant homosexual male stereotype in today’s media is Kurt Hummel from the popular television series “Glee”. In the show he is portrayed as being the cliché homosexual male stereotype being a boy crazy, drama loving diva who can’t pass up a glamorous makeover whenever the opportunity presents itself. While this stereotype does exists in the LGBT community, it in no way is a true representation of the majority of homosexual men. Perhaps the most dangerous facet of the stereotype that Kurt Hummel embodies is presented in a storyline where Hummel pursues his heterosexual classmate Finn. Hummel is relentless in his pursuit of Finn even though he is openly heterosexual. Hummel even goes as far as setting up his single father with Finn’s widowed mother in order to get closer to Finn. This precarious …show more content…
While these stereotypes may be perceived as being harmful, they aren’t meant to be negative in their nature. Stereotypes serve to simplify the world around us in order to better understand complicated aspects of society, and bring relevant distinction between the people who inhabit said society (Blashill and Powlishta, 2009). Stereotypes are a natural byproduct of people who are trying to better understand the world around them. This byproduct however often comes with negative societal side-effects. Stereotypes allow for people to paint diverse groups of people with a broad brush and inhibit a more nuanced understanding of the world around us. This type of thinking enables society to focus on relevant distinctions when learning a new category while ignoring irrelevant ones. For example someone who learns that dogs have sharp teeth will approach any dog with caution despite its hair color. But this also leads people to unrealistically exaggerate the differences between groups and the similarities within. Most people think since homosexual men have the same sexual attractions as heterosexual women that they must be similar in other ways as well (Blashill and Powlishta,
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