Tag: gay men

gavillain:

AHEM.

Gay male characters who are effeminate and/or have their gayness as a major component of their characterization/storylines are NOT automatically stereotypical or bad representation.

Like I mostly see this sentiment come from straight people but I see it from others in the LGBT+ community too (including other gay men), and I just think it’s such a wrongheaded way of thinking. Like gay characters where their sexuality is “no big deal” or who behave very “normal” or “mundane” certainly have their place. But I think lauding “NBD representation” as the gold standard is problematic because oftentimes these gay characters are written where their sexuality is kind of incidental, and that’s not something that’s done usually in the interest of quality representation as much as it is making gay people more palatable for straight consumption.

Because, the truth is, there are gay people of all varieties. Flamboyant flashy gay men, mundane gay men, gay men where their sexuality is super central to them, and gay men who do kind of put their sexuality on the back burner. And all of that is valid. But the fact that our media tends to promote certain types as being “stereotypical” or “bad representation” and others as preferable, when the one portrayed as preferable is the one that is most comfortable for straight people? That’s… kind of insidious in a way.

In media, stereotypes are about being essentialist and often times to sort of mock marginalized people and make them the butt of a joke. If a show/movie/comic/whatever has an effeminate gay man who is respected by the narrative and is a fleshed out character, then they’re not stereotypical. Gay men are ALLOWED to be flamboyant or effeminate. If a piece of media spends a lot of time focusing on a character’s sexuality as their primary plot, as long as they have other interests and other traits, that’s not a bad direction, and I’d personally GREATLY appreciate more stories that deal with actual issues that are unique to gay men.

Trying to box gay men in media into this one specific type of representation is just another type of closet, imo. Let gay men be gay men in the media we consume. And I’m also really fucking sick of people who aren’t gay men telling gay men how they should write gay men, especially straight men, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic.