Lesbians in TV: Gender Expression
With the rise of gay rights and
same-sex marriages headlining newspapers and websites, we see a trend in
popularizing LGBT characters within film and television that were, for the most
part nonexistent, however, patriarchal norms and gender expression still
dictate how lesbians should be depicted in both society and the media.
Megan Evans’ article, “Femme
Invisibility” briefly discusses how an increase in “femme” lesbians is a stray
from the “stereotypical image of a butch lesbian”, but representation of lesbians
within popular culture continues to be controlled by male-perspective and the
idea that lesbians can only be butch (Evans).
In our society, there are many
unspoken rules and strict guidelines of how we should express our gender, which
is usually assumed contingent with our anatomy. Therefore, by having
discordance with gender and sexuality, you have discordance within society. As
a femme lesbian herself, Evans comments on fictional femmes’ struggle with
femme invisibility, with other lesbians telling them they “don’t belong” and
heterosexual males saying, “But you’re too pretty to be gay.” But what does
that even mean?
Because a
woman who desires women that essentially dresses and acts typically feminine,
her gender expression somehow makes her less gay? By not choosing to defy
gender norms socially constructed by our patriarchal society, her feelings
toward other lesbians are doubted?
Evans’ examples of upcoming femme
lesbian television characters include Santana (Glee), Emily (Pretty Little Liars), Callie and Arizona (Grey's
Anatomy), three of which, interestingly, are queer women of color. Of
these women’s series, we see the ways in which men respond negatively to their
“chosen” sexuality which counters their gender expression of femininity, often
claiming that these women are rebelling against the heteronormative societal constraints
because they hate men. This leads into what Adrienne Rich calls “male power”
and the misconception that “women turn to women out of hatred for men,” (Rich).
Lesbians seek both emotional and sexual relationships with women because they
desire women, not because they dislike men, or have had negative previous
encounters with men, and they ways in which women choose to express themselves,
(feminine, masculine, androgynous, etc.,) have no direct connection to their
sexual preferences.
Evans’s other concern is the “great
lack of lesbian role models” within the screen media history (Rich). In
television series, we have the cast of The L Word, of which served as the main
source for lesbian programming during the mid-2000’s. More recently, we have appointed
Ellen Degeneres as our widely worshipped and best known lesbian icon, but one
woman does not represent the extremely diverse group of lesbians, not only in
gender, but in race, class, ethnicity, and experience. Even more disheartening,
much of television programs available to lesbians were made by and for
heterosexuals, cementing unrealistic and stereotypical ideas into society’s understanding
of lesbians. Even the historical context of the word lesbian has medical undertones, which circles back to the old view
of homosexuality as a “mental health problem requiring psychiatric treatment,” (D’Emilio). It appears that
much of the limited lesbian history has been removed or omitted by
society's editors and conservatives, many, no doubt, are enforcers of
male power.
Too many of people have fought to
erase these misconceptions of lesbians, there needs to be more focus on the
ways in which we live and love as people, how we defy gender and societal
constraints. Appropriately representing lesbian characters within television
and film continues to be a frustrating and slowly-progressive process that is hindered
by stereotypical and patriarchal views on women’s sexuality and gender
expression combined with the lack of positive historical context.
Bibliography
D’Emilio, John. "Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview" from Sexual Politics, Sexual, Communities in the United States 1940- 1970. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Rich, Adrienne. "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" from Professions of Desire: Lesbian and Gay Studies in Literature. ed. George Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmermann. New York: Modern Language Association, 1995.
Evans, Megan. “Femme Invisibility” The Huffington Post. Web 28 Jan 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-evans/femme-lesbians_b_1237648.html
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