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Jake Turpin
Ms. Glidden
ENG 104
April 13, 2015
Wake Up, You Gays: A Look Into the Negative Impacts of
Gay Stereotypes in Pop Culture
Much like watching an embarrassing video of yourself, the feeling in your stomach is not
just for personal humiliation. Watching many of the popular features on television today, the gay
men that we see are often flamboyant, bitchy, and fierce, and to see this singular form of
representation simply for laughs can induce the same symptoms. On one side of the street, a
group of construction workers take a break and joke around. On the other side of the street, a
group of men with frosted tips and a designer sweater walk into a local Starbucks. If given the
decision, the latt drinkers would be the gay ones. We are wired to think this way because of
what we are programmed with by mass medias flow of information. HBO tells us that a gay man
is the womans pet, wearing bright shirts and tiny pocket squares. Showtime tells us that gay men
are sexually deviant, shameless and proud of their sexual escapades. For many years, gay men
have slowly been integrated into mainstream media, but through the filters of what sells, a
single personality is often characterized, and is often the brunt of the joke.
As a child in the early 2000s, I remember hearing bits and pieces of shows such as Queer
as Folk and Will & Grace. Although at the time I had no idea what being gay was, after
growing a little, I was glad to be informed of a little representation of who I was. The mass
audience of such programs reached millions, and these viewers may not receive the message of
these shows quite like I did. Much of the time, representation of gay men in media is inaccurate.

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Hasty generalizations and stereotypes are made everyday based on what we view in the media
and popular culture, and we are well aware of this scenario in terms of representation of other
culture groups in the world.
This project began as a curiosity of mine to find out exactly how detrimental bad
representation can be on a community of people. Because popular culture influences everyone
and everything around us, a discussion on this matter is necessary to provide a defense against its
sometimes-negative effects. The LGBT community has fought for representation, and now that
we live in an age where this is possible, it has proved to be less than beneficial in various
aspects. Multiple sources were gathered to support my thesis not just about gay representation,
but further information that would help decode and simplify most of the research I had
conducted. Alongside this, I conducted an interview with a PhD student from Purdue University
to gain some outside insight into the matter. With this research previously conducted on the same
topic, I was able to create a concise and complete report based on my overall findings, which
could enlighten readers and give them a look behind the scenes, so to speak.
I pondered the fact that perhaps this topic might be the fittest choice due to the easy
identification, given their effeminate voices and eccentric clothing. As we know, generalizing a
subset of people is disastrous for our society. Yes, we have seen tremendous increase of gay men
in contemporary media, and it is clear that stereotypes negatively affect societys view of gay
men. This is based on the current standing of gay representation in television and film, currently
how society views gay men based on this representation, and the effects of stereotype-defiant
media on the public.

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Field Research
To align my thoughts with another gay man as well as to better understand the negative
impact of stereotypical representation of gay men in popular culture, I interviewed a gay man
named Wendell Walters. Mr. Walters is a PhD student studying Atmospheric Chemistry at Purdue
University. As an educated man, his opinions on the subject matter are crucial to my research. I
chose to obtain this interview to serve as a key piece of information and stay true to the meaning
behind my project.
Mr. Walters expertise lies in other areas other than the status of the gay community, but
his distant personal involvement in the matter provides insight into how an average gay man
would view how they are depicted in societys eye. Although he is not an expert, his information
is still credible and served great purpose to my thesis. What I discovered was that the educated
gay man finds flamboyant gay men mildly distasteful. Effeminate gay men are viewed negatively
even by fellow community members. Because this stereotype is the most prevalent of them, other
gay men subconsciously view it as negative. To call Mr. Walters straight acting or masculine
is controversial in terms of misogyny, but in the gay community, he is a straight acting gay
male, which is a desired feature among other gay men.
Mr. Walters discussed the theory of gay face with me, which is characterized by having
feminine features in the face. According to him, it is sometimes easy to identify who might be
gay or not by looking at how they hold their lips, the shape of the eyebrows, and an assortment
of other clues. Popular culture has not only given society a specific idea of what a gay man acts
and sounds, but we are now able to identify who is gay by a face.
Aside from the specifics, Mr. Walters seemed to celebrate the overall representation of
gay men in many of the shows he watched. From Game of Thrones to The New Normal, the

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entire world is given a look at a new kind of character; however, he did mention that it was the
gay he wanted to see on television, confirming Raley and Lucas argument that the LGBT
community is out of the non-representation phase, but not quite to the respect phase of Clark
and Berrys four stages of representation (34). Many of these characters are disposable and are
sometimes even there just for a quick laugh. He was glad that society was even remotely
accepting some form of gay representation.
Because my argument details how gay men are viewed poorly in society, this comment
made me think critically about my argument. During my interview, I had determined that gay
men view the negative stereotype as distasteful, but perhaps the general, heterosexual population
views them as acceptable. I concluded this based on the reactions of Mr. Walters himself.

Literature Review
To start, its important for to come to understand just how gay men are presented to the
masses via television and films. According to Dustin Goltz, gay representation in popular culture
today is nothing short of bad taste. Goltz details that the majority of popular films and television
shows feed into stereotypes that are less than healthy for the culture (Queer Temporalities). Not
only do these programs follow a general pattern of funny, gay boys that get into silly
shenanigans, but they also manage to showcase gay as nothing more than AIDS-ridden, sexual
deviants getting Starbucks with their girlfriends.
The Hollywood film industry is a multi-billion dollar creative outlet, and many movies
are made every year that society feeds upon. When looking into gay representation, The
Guardian reported that GLADD, a gay rights organization, criticized the industry for its cheap
jokes and poor depth in gay characters (Beaumont-Thomas). All the same, television shows also

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heavily depend upon two-dimensional gays for a laugh. Sex and the City, perhaps HBOs most
famous series, showed gay men only when a laugh was necessary, mainly delivered by the bitchy
Willie Garson, Carries gay bestie. HBO tried a different approach to dealing with gay men with
their recent series, Looking, which dealt with average gay men in San Francisco. Intentions were
good, but even the title showcases a gay stereotype, as they are often looking for a hookup.
Taking fashion and catty attitudes out of the equation, the show mainly relied on gay sex and
AIDS related themes.
Glee, another more available television show to the general public, took a shot at the gay
life, and what did we see? We witnessed a bitchy little boy sporting Alexander McQueen
sweaters alongside his bowtie-wearing boo. Darren Criss, a heterosexual actor, spoke differently
on the show when playing his gay character on the show. Valentina Cartei details this practice in
her article featured in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, that male actors alter their voices to a
slightly higher pitch when playing homosexual characters to portray this idea of being gay
(84). Feminine voices are the major identifier in gay men, which is seen as distasteful even by
members of their own community. In his film Do I Sound Gay?, David Thorpe explores the
phenomenon of gay voice to find out where it originates from and why it occurs (Sundance).
Thorpe goes through internal struggles due to the hatred of his voice, and it is discovered that
majority of gay men despise their gay voice, and find it distasteful in other gay men.
As mentioned before, gay men have received considerable airtime over the course of the
past several years. Classified by Jennifer Lucas and Amber Raley as out of the nonrepresentation phase of Clark and Berrys theory of the four stages of representation, but not
quite to the respect phase of the model (34). As we can tell, just because we see a gay guy on
television does not necessarily suggest that he is a respected character. In fact, a study conducted

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in China revealed that those who were exposed to frequent media usage demonstrated a larger
amount of negative stereotypes referring to gay men than those who were not exposed to media
as much (Tu, Lee 991).
Films that represent gay men in a tasteful fashion are small in number, but they are in
existence. Mostly independent films, they portray gay men as fully three-dimensional characters
facing issues that are not common in many more popular themes. Because they are not popular
themes, or interesting to many people outside of the gay community, they are not popular movies
to the majority of society (Bond). Perhaps this is because society feeds off of humiliation as a
form of entertainment; to see a gay man suffer from AIDS is more interesting than a gay man
battling with his sexuality.
When gay men in movies or television are depicted as sexually mischievous, it is normal
and seen as nothing more than a day in the life of a gay guy. When gay men talk about waking up
in a frat house wearing nothing but a baseball cap, we laugh and think Oh gee. When clips of
an actual sex scene occur, it becomes necessary for most to cover their eyes and think Oh god.
A study conducted by Frank Golom and Jonathan Mohr explored this topic, and their findings
were published in the Journal of Sex and Research. Their findings concluded that heterosexual
men and women with low sexual anxiety reacted negatively when shown erotic images of both
gay men and gay women (586). Sexual anxiety is defined much how it sounds, as a condition
where worrying about performance inhibits ones ability to do just that. To simplify,
heterosexuals who are confident in their sexuality thought poorly of gay men upon viewing
erotic images of them. Many conclusions can be based off of these findings, but most
importantly, it can be determined that gay men are acceptable as long as they have no real depth,
and that gay sex is okay to be imagined through monologue, but distasteful to be seen.

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This representation is not only resulting in lack of respect towards the gay population, but
it also results in problems much more serious. Every year, a headline appears telling the same,
sad story about a teen who chose death over bullying due to their sexuality. The nature in which
homosexuality is displayed negatively impacts students lives when it comes to bullying
(Stonewall). A common theme in gay pop culture is the ridicule one faces being what they are.
This phenomenon that pulls in major ratings is also a normalizing factor toward bullying among
youth (Stonewall).

Conclusion
Based on the current standing of gay representation in television and film, currently how
society views gay men based on this representation, and the effects of stereotype-defiant media
on the public, it is clear that gay men are negatively affected by poor representation in mass
media. Popular culture is greater than what is seen on TV, and has a major impact on how we
interact in a society. What can be seen as good can also be seen as bad, and although it is good to
be a gay on TV, it is bad to be a gay in reality. We see pieces of work that seem like a beacon of
hope for the gay community, such as the movie Dallas Buyers Club starring Matthew
Mcconaughey, but turn out to be nothing more than a straight mans leadership toward a gay
victory. Screenwriter Abdi Nazemian criticizes the movie industry for passing off straight
advocacy for gay rights as a form of gay representation (Brekke).
All of this information comes together to paint a vivid picture, providing a wide spectrum
of color that is the foundation of gay representation in popular culture. We have seen this
movement before, with both women in media and major minorities in media. We are constantly
surrounded by stereotypes and bad publicity for these groups of people, and it is completely

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normal to be blind to that truth. These facts influence our daily lives, and until we even begin to
ask society to respect a community we belong to, we must first begin to respect ourselves as
individuals and wake up.

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Works Cited
1. "Andrew Rannells, 'Girls' Actor, Talks About Being A 'Purebred' Gay." Huffington Post 12 Jan.
2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
2. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben. "Hollywood Criticized for Negative Portrayal of LGBT
Characters." The Guardian, 23 July 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
An article published by The Guardian, this piece takes a big look at the Hollywood film industry
and how its creations negatively represent a group of people. GLADD, a gay rights organization,
criticizes the industry for its cheap jokes and prejudice against the LGBT community. The main
focuses are on non-narrative characters whom deliver no significant point to the story, but deliver
humor by means of their sexuality.
3. Bond, Bradley. "Portrayals of Sex and Sexuality in Gay- and Lesbian-Oriented Media:
A Quantitative Content Analysis." Sexuality & Culture 19.1 (2015): 37-56. Web.
13 Mar. 2015.
This article discusses the discourse in mainstream media in terms of representation of LGB
characters or people. Information is also given about a small fragment of independent films that
accurately portray a gay lifestyle in a more normal sense than mainstream media tends to
provide. Exposure to these gay-oriented pieces could shine light on different aspects of gay life
to society, but these films are geared toward mainly LGB individuals and not the heterosexual
norm.
4. Brekke, Kira. "Screenwriter Abdi Nazemian Says Hollywood Films Are A 'Very Sad
Depiction Of Gay Culture'" Huffington Post 31 May 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2015
This newspaper article is the perfect piece to sum up my paper. Screenwriter Abdi Nazemian
declares that although gay representation has increased over the past several years, the message
has not been all too good. This statement is coming from a highly credible and experienced
source, and it will greatly benefit my paper as I either wrap up or begin. He goes one to be
quoted saying that many screenwriters think it necessary to have homophobic characters to
introduce the gay message, such as in Dallas Buyers Club, but Nazemian argues that this is not
the case anymore, and that the gay community is able to be represented in a light that does not
include an outside "straight" influence or introduction.
5. Cartei, Valentina. Acting Gay: Male Actors Shift the Frequency Components of They Voices
Towards Female Values When Playing Homosexual Characters. Journal of Nonverbal
Behavior 36.1 (2012): 79-93. Print.
This particular article explores the world of the film industry to investigate what we already sort
of knew in the back of our minds. When playing homosexual characters, male actors alter their
voices to feminine frequencies to play the part. These findings can further my support that

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mainstream media projects an idea of being gay to the public, and instills not necessarily
negative stereotypes, but a sometimes harmful generalization nonetheless.
6. Do I Sound Gay? [Motion picture]. (2014). United States: Sundance Selects.
This documentary began as a kickstarter project and was then picked up by Sundance Selects for
it's unique concept. David Thorpe, the director and also subject of the film, explores the "gay
voice" that we all know and hear everywhere. The film looks into key aspects of the
phenomenon, and it looks into various causes and theories of its originality. Throughout the film,
gay men with the feminine quality of voice speak poorly of their voice, wishing they sounded
more "masculine" and "less gay." Because they talk this way, they fear the harrassment and
judgment from other people, even other gay men. My thesis explores how the portrayal of gay
men in pop culture negatviely affects actual gay men in the real world, and this film somewhat
goes to justify just that, how an entire society looks down on just a tone of voice that is
associated with being gay.
7. Golom, Frank D. & Mohr, Jonathan J. Turn It Off! The Effects of Exposure to Male- Male
Erotic Imagery on Heterosexuals Attitudes Toward Gay Men.
Journal of Sex and Research 48.6 (2011): 580-589. Print.
This article details a study conducted on heterosexual men and women to determine their
attitudes toward gay men. As a jumping off point for future research, the results of the study
concluded that after being shown erotic images of both male-male and male-female encounters,
feelings toward gay men varied, depending on the level of sexual anxiety in the subject. Lower
sexually anxious people reacted negatively while those with greater sexual anxiety reacted more
positively. This source may be helpful determining how homoerotic scenes in media may affect
the attitudes toward LGB members of society.
8. Goltz, Dustin B. Queer Temporalities in Gay Male Representation: Tragedy,
Normativity, and Futurity. N.p.: Routledge, 2009. Print.
This short book summarizes in-depth analysis of several films and television shows containing
gay male characters. These analyses find that queer representation in media is grounded based
upon the general stereotypes that the community faces. While my previous research dealt
primarily with superficial classifications, this publication takes a deeper look into stereotypes
based on health, aging, and other core issues that gay men are subjected to.

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9. Raley, Amber B. & Lucas, Jennifer L. Stereotype or Success? Prime-Time Televisions
Portrayal of Gay Male, Lesbian, and Bisexual Characters. Journal of Homosexuality 51.2
(2006): 19-38. Print.
This study reflects on the theories of Clark and Berry regarding the four stages of media
representation and where the gay community stands in terms of representation in mainstream
media. Conclusions of the findings determine that representation of LGB characters has not
moved from ridicule or stereotypes in media today. They are believed to be out of the nonrepresentation phase, but not quite close to the respect stage. This source is incredibly helpful,
for it sets the scene for a broader look at the representation of LGB members of society. Further
research can be branched off of this broad interpretation, making it a great jumping off point.
10. Stonewall. "Unseen on Screen." Unseen on Screen. Stonewall, n.d. Web. 13 Mar.
2015.
This study conducted by Stonewall gathers information based on television representation of gay
people. The study concludes that gay people are essentially invisible to the public, meaning
they do not stand out from their ordinary stereotype. Interviews with many British citizens, many
report that the nature in which homosexuality is displayed and the derogatory fashion they are
portrayed affects the way normal gay youth are treated in schools and society. Abuse based on
sexuality is normalized by such representation in the media.
11. Tu, Jia-Wei & Lee, Tien-Tsung. The Effects of Media Usage and Interpersonal
Contacts on the Stereotyping of Lesbians and Gay Men in China. Journal of
Homosexuality 61.7 (2014): 980-1002. Print.
This study takes an interesting look at a culture other than America and their views on
homosexuality. Since China is up to speed with the modern world, it is safe to assume that the
information derived is not affected by extreme customs or differences in culture. The findings of
this study presented the fact that the majority of those who were exposed to frequent media usage
had a higher level of negative stereotypes associated with gay men and women. Those with less
exposure to media usage did not present as many negative stereotypes. This information goes
forth to back up my thesis that media creates a negative view of gay men.