KIPLING TARSIO and RILEY STRAW
Special to The Leader and Copy Editor
The American media is a powerful presence in our everyday lives. Within the field of communication, media is the term used to refer to the particular medium that deliver a message to a large, anonymous and diverse audience. Most people immediately think of television when they hear the word media; however, media is comprised of a few different types of industries: printed media, recordings, radio, movies and television. With all these mediums for companies and corporations to utilize, it’s no wonder that we are constantly sent subtle messages through advertisements.
Our perceptions of the ones around us and ourselves are indirectly put into our brain due to the constant stereotypes that the media uses to generalize groups of people. This concept can be seen when talking about gay men.
Gay men have always had negative portrayals in all aspects of media, but more recently we have seen a shift to more positive messages. However, we still have a long way to go.
Gay men are often associated with a lisp and/or a feminine speaking tone. Fashion, effeminacy and homosexuality have long been associated with gay men. Designers, including Dolce & Gabbana, have made use of homoerotic imagery in their advertising. Some commentators argue this encourages the stereotype that most gay men enjoy shopping.
When looking at advertisements specifically geared toward gay men, there are always very attractive men to entice the viewers into thinking “this is what a gay man is supposed to look like.” Gays are not shown in peculiar settings, wearing flamboyant clothes or talking in a certain theatrical manner; gayness is a treated like a norm in these ad stories. Yet these ads also have been criticized for their blandness and lack of gay sensitivity.
The queer-oriented television company, LogoTV, has been seen using the stereotypical “hot guy” to bring awareness to important causes such as HIV/AIDS or even for things as trivial as airfare and hotels. The men in these commercials are also white and upper middle-class.. Seeing these images can really deter a gay man into believing that the only way he can be gay is if he is, in fact, white, upper middle-class and has the perfect body. The stereotype of the ideal gay consumer as “white and middle-class” may hinder numerous gay people of color from affirming their gay identities since they cannot identify with the gay image promoted in advertising.
But how exactly do these images created affect the everyday gay man? A study made by a professor from Boise State University, as well as one from Buena Vista University, provided gay men with images of gay-oriented media, then asked them to say how they felt on a 10-point scale. The results of the study show that gay men are at an increased risk of acquiring symptoms of eating disorders. such as Bulimia or Anorexia. Considering that gay men are thought to represent about 10 percent of the male population, it’s alarming that they represent up to 42 percent of the male eating-disordered population, according to research conducted by Dr. William Howard at the John Hopkins University School.
These are all reasons why The Leader’s “Queer Issue on Queer Issues” is so relevant to our daily society. The way we perceive queer issues, and more specifically, gay male issues, based on what we see in the media affects our physical and mental healths. Without the proper discourse and representation in the news or on television, these issues will continue to go unnoticed by the larger majority of the country; it’s time to balance the stereotypes with positive images, to encourage body positivity within our movement, and to strive to be more accepting of people of all genders and sexualities.
The media is always trying to come up with new images to use that will affect us all in some kind of psychological way. It’s up to us to see these images and to remember that, as humans, we are imperfect. It’s completely okay to not look like the guy in the magazines and just love your body and yourself. Remember the wise words of Rupaul: “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?”