Aren’t gays offended that they are always portrayed as oversensitive, posing girls?

Question

In movies from the 1980s gays were portrayed as tough guys with leather clothes and moustaches, and now they are niminy-piminiy drama queens. Isn’t that offending for them? Why can’t we see on TV more often ‘normal’ gays?

Answer 1

Yes, that bothers me but I cannot help but laugh when I see them portrayed this way in movies. I suppose I am use to all the gay humor and offensive portrayals that I , am gay male, laugh at these insane perceptions.

But, unfortunately in the TV world a gay drama queen wearing fuzzy pink daises and a tied up shirt is more "dramatic" and appealing to the audience versus a "normal" acting gay guy. It's just the sad truth.

It's up to people to separate fact from fiction...and I think most people will base their perception on experiences they have on their own with gay people.

Answer 2

Your question seems to suggest that there is something wrong with women, let alone that gay men are not "always" portrayed as one thing or another, except gay.

They are also two different media. Certainly there have been more portrayals of gay characters in movies, or characters taken to be gay, than thee have been on television, so they will have shown more different "types." Television is also more subject to the pressure of special interest groups boycotting advertisers -- although the situation has improved from the days when episodes with gay issues were not repeated, or only had commercials which promoted a network's own programming.

Before the liberation movement began, the main media images of homosexual men were as queens or effeminate sissies -- it was the easiest shortcut symbol to use. But from the 1970s into the 80s, there was a movement in the gay community to create a sort of hyper-masculine appearance based on stereotypes and uniforms. Think of the costumes of the Village People: uniforms that convey ideas of strength and/or power. The presence of mustaches became so prevalent that there was the joke that so many gay men had mustaches "to hide the stretch marks."

"Clones," as the muscled, Marlboro men types were called, lived "life in the fast lane," dressed in leather and/or denim, and devoted themselves to disco, drugs, and sex. That's where that image of 1980s gays comes from. It's also the lifestyle most associated with the early cases of AIDS.

Not all gay characters were so desperate to appear "masculine," though. The stereotypes of sensitive or preening characters persisted in movies such as Mannequin, Fame, and Torch Song Trilogy.

In my experience, TV shows a variety of gay character types. As gays have become more visible, there has been a little more balance although there has beena backlash as well. There are drama queens, but while everything used to be Just Jack, now there is also Will (well, not any more, but... who knows what will come next?). There is Carson Kressley, who presents an exaggerated version of himself, but there is also Kyan Douglas.

So, some may be offended, but I don't take offense so much. I just accept that there are growing pains.

Answer 3

We don't see "normal" guys more often because that's not the sterotype for gay men. I mean every group of people has a sterotype about them commonly portrayed in the media, not just gay guys. Since everyone has some type of sterotype and I don't consider myself "niminy-pininiy" it doesn't offend me at all. It just means someone else out there is ignorant enough to buy into it.

Answer 4

personally i'm not offended by it, cuz i realize that its just the media furthermore emphazising stereotypes, like how movies would buff up the stereotypes of black people during the Jim Crowe period, it will eventually blow over and it wont be appealing anymore. but as a gay guy i think its funny when i see a fru fru gay guy walking down the street swingin his hips and with the limp wrist in the air with the cigarette ever so lazily resting between the middle and index fingers...

Answer 5

I don't get offended. I mean, there are gay guys like that and plenty of them. However, I am surprised when people are surprised that I don't act like that. I think it's silly for people to think all gay guys are like that.

I don't really know what a "normal" gay is.

Answer 6

Hear hear. I wish that there was some accurate representation of bisexuals (not all of us are skinny girls gone wild sluts), gay men (most gay men do not actually look visably gay - very few gay men wear leather or are effeminate), lesbians (not all butches or lipstick lesbians), and transpeople (not ugly or crazy).

Answer 7

For the same reason other groups and cultures are stereotyped in the media....ignorance! I am a Lesbian, but I don't dress like a boy. That's for my girlfriend=)

Answer 8

Well lesbians are almost always sterotyped as toolbelt wearing, truck driving butchs.

Answer 9

hmm, if it did bother me, that would make me oversensitive, wouldn't it? so, by not caring, I defy the stereotype. If I let it bother me, then I'd have no right to get angry, since I'd be just like that.

Answer 10

cmon dude get with it ne guy that take dick up his butt and likes it is going to be sissyfied. so quit your limp wristed crying and move on homo