Harmful LGBT+ Representation in the Media

              LGBT+ representation in the media, specifically on your TV screens and in your local movie theaters has always been skim. Usually if there is a gay character they are seen as the "funny sidekick" or the "sad and repressed outcast". If there is a gay relationship it is over-sexualized and fetishized, such as in "Queer as Folk", "The L Word", and "Blue is the Warmest Color".

 

       For me, I see this representation as extremely harmful. It hurts to see that that is how the media sees your community, that all we are to movie producers is a diversity card, or something they can use to sell more tickets or get higher ratings.

       The worst part about queer movies is how we are sexualized on TV. Often times when they do this they aren't just sexualizing adults, they are sexualizing teens. This happens in more than one  queer TV show or movie out there too, just a few that I can name are "Closet Monster" and "Below Her Mouth".

       Not only are LGBT+ characters over-sexualized and fetishized, they are commonly portrayed in a depressing light, and most storylines including gay characters make them see like they can never be happy with their sexuality and that they will never accept themselves for who they are.

       This representation is harmful to the queer kids that are out there watching it. It can give them the idea that all they can be in life is unhappy, or that they have to fill some trope to be validated by their peers and society.

       The people that support these shows and companies that produce them often try to justify this characterization by saying that "all representation is good representation". All I have to say to that is that no, not all representation is good representation. Especially since the representation that these companies are putting out is harmful and plays into stereotypes that have had extremely negative impacts on kids.

      

         Not only are these companies creating negative stereotypes, they are using the lack of representation in the LGBT+ community to market them. Our community has such a small amount of media representation that we are grasping at straws for anything we can relate to or even sympathize with. Movie producers know about this, so they throw in one queer character as an afterthought, then give them almost no screen time and/or character development.

       

        If these producers want to portray queer characters the right way, they should look to the shows and movies that have done it right as examples. A few of the shows that portray LGBT+ characters the way they should be portrayed are; "The Way He Looks", "Love, Simon", "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", and "Everything Sucks!".

 

       These movies are great because they don't sexualize the queer people who are in them, they portray them as real people that are going through something and they make it seem normal, and not like they are someone to feel sorry for. They also portray them as just regular adults going through life like they are anybody else. Not to mention that they all have happy endings and are really well written and heartwarming.

There will always be good and bad queer movies, but I'm hoping with the new strides that we are making in society that there will be more movies that stray away from stereotyping and sexualizing their LGBT+ characters.