While stereotypes can sometimes be hilarious in-jokes to people within the community, they cease to be funny and veer into the territory of being severely damaging when it reinforces negative biases.
Other bizarre stereotypes exist too, such as the “ murderous bisexual”, the “ who's the man in the relationship”, and countless dangerous and untrue ones about trans people. Kudos to Mediacorp for encouraging hostility towards LGBTQ+ folks since the 90s. This archaic and untrue stereotype (that gay men are paedophiles with STDs) caused a massive uproar among Singaporeans, and ultimately led the studio to issue an apology for their discriminatory (mis)representation.
TYPES OF GAY MEN LGBT TV
Creators of the primetime TV show decided to write a gay character as a paedophile who spreads STDs to teenage boys.
Negative representation happens when queer characters are based on negative stereotypes, or consistently portrayed as bad or evil people.Ĭonsider Singapore’s local Chinese drama, My Guardian Angels (单翼天使). Different types of queer representation in media Negative representation For instance, does it only highlight well-built, cisgender gay white men, or does it include people of different races, sexualities, gender identities, and sizes? As we devour our favourite shows and books, we should always ask ourselves what experiences are being normalised - and what are being ignored. Let’s also not forget that queer identities have always existed - including them in works of fiction arguably makes for more realistic and compelling stories too.Įven when there’s representation, we still have to take into account diversity and intersectionality. On the flip side, the lack of representation often encourages hostile environments that are very distressing for queer folks. Seeing proper representation validates their experiences and affirms their existence, because it lets them know that they are not alone in their struggles. It’s also important for queer people to see themselves represented. While this certainly isn’t a cure-all for all sexuality and gender-based intolerance, it’s a great start - especially for the older generation.
And when these characters have compelling inner lives and relatable struggles, queer existence is destigmatised. The reason this works is simple: seeing queer characters on screen normalises the existence of queerness. On top of that, a 2020 survey by GLAAD and P&G found that queer representation increased queer acceptance by up to 45%. A 2015 study found that, when straight people are more exposed to gay characters on TV, they become more accepting of gay equality. Proper representation helps combat stereotypes and ignorance. Let’s explore the complex path of queer representation together. Representation is a nuanced topic, not just because diversity is difficult to depict, but also because different forms of representation can achieve very different outcomes. On top of that, even accurate and compelling forms of queer representation can sometimes be very upsetting to queer folks. Queer representation now comes in many forms, and it isn’t always positive. While representation in entertainment media is slowly improving, progress is sluggish - and sometimes misguided. It’s part of the reason why fanfiction has been thriving since the 2000s - audiences craved queer characters so strongly that they began to create their own alternative universes and headcanons (ideas held by fans that are not explicitly supported by the content itself). It’s no secret that mainstream media struggles with queer representation.