Gay People Sex And The Media

Here is a provocative book that examines precisely how and why mass communication has an impact upon the sexual realities of our lives. Written in response to a demand for information that cuts across many of the boundaries found in more traditional books on sexuality and mass communication, Gay People, Sex, and the Media covers a broad range of sexual identity, socialization, and mass communication issues and represents a variety of theoretical and methodological orientations. Although the chapters are diverse, they all focus on how the mass media--television, radio, films, newspapers, magazines, and recorded music--contribute significantly to the very definitions we form of ourselves and of each other. In part, this informative volume discusses and analyzes several concerns regarding minority perspectives in the context of the the study of mass media content and effects; analyzes mediated information about AIDS and highlights the responsibility of the mass media to disseminate more accurate information; addresses the relationships between mass media content (primarily television) and sexual socialization; explores issues confronted by individuals whose sexual orientations are generally perceived as falling out of the mainstream; and provides a selective bibliography of print, aural, and visual resources on gay men, lesbians, and the mass media. Unique in contrast to other books of research on human sexuality and mass communication, Gay People, Sex, and the Media gives more than a passing reference to issues concerning sexual identity and gay and lesbian concerns. Scholars and students of human sexuality, especially those who wish to explore their field from a communications perspective, will find this to be a valuable book. It is also useful to communications researchers and teachers, particularly those studying mediated communications in society, media ethics, and sex and the media. Finally, for professionals involved in creating or monitoring media content or forging public policy and community action programs in response to these issues, this volume serves as an essential sourcebook.

Here is a provocative book that examines precisely how and why mass communication has an impact upon the sexual realities of our lives. Written in response to a demand for information that cuts across many of the boundaries found in more traditional books on sexuality and mass communication, Gay People, Sex, and the Media covers a broad range of sexual identity, socialization, and mass communication issues and represents a variety of theoretical and methodological orientations. Although the chapters are diverse, they all focus on how the mass media--television, radio, films, newspapers, magazines, and recorded music--contribute significantly to the very definitions we form of ourselves and of each other. In part, this informative volume discusses and analyzes several concerns regarding minority perspectives in the context of the the study of mass media content and effects; analyzes mediated information about AIDS and highlights the responsibility of the mass media to disseminate more accurate information; addresses the relationships between mass media content (primarily television) and sexual socialization; explores issues confronted by individuals whose sexual orientations are generally perceived as falling out of the mainstream; and provides a selective bibliography of print, aural, and visual resources on gay men, lesbians, and the mass media. Unique in contrast to other books of research on human sexuality and mass communication, Gay People, Sex, and the Media gives more than a passing reference to issues concerning sexual identity and gay and lesbian concerns. Scholars and students of human sexuality, especially those who wish to explore their field from a communications perspective, will find this to be a valuable book. It is also useful to communications researchers and teachers, particularly those studying mediated communications in society, media ethics, and sex and the media. Finally, for professionals involved in creating or monitoring media content or forging public policy and community action programs in response to these issues, this volume serves as an essential sourcebook.

Sexual Identities and the Media encourages students to examine media as a site of negotiation for how people make sense of their own and others’ sexual identities. Taking a critical/cultural approach, Wendy Hilton-Morrow and Kathleen Battles weave together theory, synthesis of existing research, and original analysis of contemporary media examples in order to explore key areas of debate, including: an historical context for contemporary GLBTQ representations; the advantages and limitations of media visibility, including a discussion of the strengths and limitations of stereotype research and the quest for "positive" representations; the role of consumer culture in constructing GLBTQ identities; strategies of mainstream media resistance by GLBTQ community members, including oppositional/queer reading strategies and the production of media products by and for the GLBTQ community; the complexities of comedy as a popular narrative device in GLBTQ portrayals; the closet as a structuring metaphor in both GLBTQ identities and engagement with media; media representations of GLBTQ bodies as sites of non-normative desires and gender identities. Featuring an enormous range of discussion questions and case studies—from celebrity coming-out narratives, transgender models, and slash fiction writers to Glee and Modern Family—this textbook offers a timely, informative, and demystifying introduction to this vital intersection in contemporary culture.

This analysis of the ways in which sexual diversity is portrayed in the media is a practical teaching tool helping teachers and lecturers address this complex issue, providing additional resources, discussion questions, suggested assignments and a glossary of terms.

Textbook

From "Perverts" to "Fab Five" tracks the dramatic change in how the American media has depicted gay people. The media, Streitmatter argues, has not merely reflected the American public's shift to a more enlightened view of gay people, but they have been instrumental in propelling that change.

Controversial journalist and activist Michelangelo Signorile assess that if is the hidden identities--the "closeted" lives--of homosexuals that prevent their acceptance in American society. In "A Queer Manifesto," he issues a call-to-arms that refuses to let the closet, and the suffering it causes, endure.