Media and sexual orientation

Key questions and controversies regarding the relationship between mass media and sexual orientation include whether portrayals of homosexuality and bisexuality in the media:

* Promote social progress by encouraging understanding of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals; promoting cultural tolerance toward them; and encouraging support for LGBT civil rights.
* Undermine the moral fabric of society, for the same reasons.
* Cause more people to identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, or cause more people to engage in those behaviors.
* Promote or undermine stereotypes.
* Are simply a reflection of existing social attitudes.

Public opinion trends

Research (mainly conducted in the United States) show that people with more permissive attitudes on sexual orientation issues tend to be younger, well-educated, and politically liberal. Tolerant attitudes toward homosexuality and bisexuality have been increasing with time.

A study done in Sweden in the 1990s found that most Swedish college students did not consider homosexual couples (as well as cohabitating couples and divorced partners) to be a family. Though the majority still side with that view, a similar study done a decade later show that the percentage of students who share that opinion has dwindled considerably.

Push or pull?

Some studies have shown that people shown a movie about a distinguished gay politician were surveyed before and after the video and their views about gay people were more positive after the video. However, when they were shown anti-gay videos their views of gays were worse after they viewed it. These findings combine to reveal that the media does in fact have influence, however subtle, on people's ideas of moral right and wrong. The research concluded that repeated exposure to nontraditional families including gays and lesbians can cause people to be more accepting of them in everyday life.Fact|date=February 2007

However, portrayals of homosexuality and bisexuality in mainstream mass media (such as entertainment news broadcasts) generally fall within the tolerances of the larger society at the time.

A 1983 research study of 1,968 Asian and European students found that most found most European respondents think that their cultural values were negatively influenced by media content produced in the United States. Europeans also thought that US media influenced other cultures less than their own. The already-liberal media in countries like France, Spain, and the United Kingdom probably leaves them feeling less affected by American portrayals of homosexuality than other countries.Fact|date=February 2007 (The research did not attempt to find direct evidence of influence, relying only on the indirect evidence of popular perception.)

American media

Television

Gay and lesbian characters and people began to achieve regular sympathetic portrayal in mainstream television in the 1990s.

In 1993, the Reality TV series "" dramatically featured Pedro Zamora, a gay man living with AIDS, who died shortly after the series aired. Other gay reality TV appearances would later include Dan in the next season "()", and Richard Hatch on Survivor in 2000.

Nationwide attention was focused in 1997 on the TV sitcom "Ellen" when comedian and popular celebrity Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian.

Starting in 1998, the NBC series "Will & Grace", featuring two gay men (the main drama surrounding the platonic relationship of a gay man with his female friend, and with a supporting more stereotypical gay friend who engages in promiscuous but largely off-screen homosexual behavior) became quite popular, and finished its eighth and final season in 2006.

Rosie O'Donnell, dubbed by some critics as the "Queen of Nice", hosted the daytime talk show, "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" from 1996 to 2002, leaving to return to standup comedy. Shortly before her departure, she confirmed to her largely suburban, female audience that she was a lesbian. Part of her stated purpose was to humanize homosexuality to the country, and as an adoptive parents, to push for equal legal treatment for LGBT parents. She continued her visibility with a personally revealing autobiography, and a 2004 marriage in San Francisco (later voided by a state court) to her partner, Kelli Carpenter.

In 2003, the Reality TV show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which capitalizes on a popular gay stereotype also became popular in the United States.

Music

In the music industry, one of the most prominent figures in the 1990s was Melissa Etheridge, who came out at the inauguration of President of the United States Bill Clinton. Her next two albums, having some songs with lesbian love themes, went multi-platinum in the United States.

Movies

Many have been produced, mostly in the later decades of the 20st Century, but few have attracted mainstream attention and sympathy. A key theme in making themes relating to sexual orientation "visible" to the general public is the presence of well-known actors and actresses. According to the documentary "The Celluloid Closet", most published films up until the 1970s portrayed gays, lesbians, and bisexual in a deviant, evil, or tragic way.

The 1993 Academy Award-winning film "Philadelphia" featured prominent actors such as Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and Antonio Banderas. Despite its tragic portrayal, it was hailed as a major achievement in raising awareness of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, when the disease was affecting a significant population of gay men, and addressing the issue of homophobia.

Mainstream actors Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck had a same-sex kiss in the comedy 1997 "In & Out".

In 2005, "Brokeback Mountain", with popular lead actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal brought a detailed, intimate, and emotional look at a homosexual relationship to mainstream cinema. The movie was highly anticipated among LGBT activists for the amount of exposure it would generate. It won 3 Oscars at the 2006 Academy Awards (for "Best Achievement in Directing", "Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures - Original Score" and "Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay") and was nominated for Best Picture.

Italian media

The "gay explosion" in Italy took place after conservative politician Rocco Buttiglione denounced homosexuality as a sin (though possibly by coincidence).

Programs with gay leads exploded on state and private networks. The Italian version of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" aired shortly thereafter, and the number of gay commentators on talk shows increased. Many gay rights groups supported this increased exposure, but there was also substantial backlash on the grounds that gays were now being treated like "jesters" and simply amusements for the straight public. It is believed that gay presence on television has jumped because media executives have found that gays "pull in an audience." Others think that it is a bow to complaints from the "politically correct".

ee also

* Media portrayal of homosexuality
* Media portrayal of bisexuality

References

*cite journal|title=The Effect of Movie Portrayals on Audience Attitudes About Nontraditional Families and Sexual Orientation|author=Michelle A. Mazur, Tara M. Emmers-Sommer, University of Oklahoma|journal=Journal of Homosexuality
*cite news|title=Gays seen through narrow lens on TV|author=James Davis|publisher=The Daily Cougar
*cite journal|author=Emmers-Sommer, Tara & Mazur, Michelle|year=2002|title=The Effect of Movie Portrayals on Audience Attitudes About Nontraditional Families and Sexual Orientation|volume=44|issue=1|pages=157–179