Queer People as the Other Gender

From http://www.tvfanatic.com/2009/09/kurt-hummel-out-of-the-closet-on-the-football-team/

Another common portrayal of queer people is that they are actually the other gender, in as much as the fact that they act so much like the other gender that they are considered to be “honorary members” of the other gender that causes their capital to be restricted to situations where they show behaviour that befits that gender. A contemporary example of this sort of portrayal is that of Kurt Hummel from the popular Fox show, Glee.

“The bottom line, to paraphrase Sue Sylvester, the resident Queen of Mean on Glee, is that Americans want their gays so flaming you can see them from space. Americans prefer gay men to be more ‘feminine’ than ‘masculine’ (to use these heavily loaded terms) so that we can continue to be able to identify who is gay and who isn’t and to continue to construct homosexuality as non-threatening to ‘mainstream Americans’” (Martin Like a Lady para. 9).

Now, Kurt isn’t necessarily a bad character, just as Mr. Slave has positive moments, but it cannot be said that they are the best portrayals that can be made. In one of the first episode, Kurt emerges from his car wearing a sweater so long that it actually looks like a mini-dress and is, of course, obsessed with makeovers and fashion.

It must be stated that the show is on the Fox Network and that that does have an effect on the show itself and how characters are portrayed, however Kurt represents a type of stereotype that can be summed up as the “homosexual performance” which can be seen as the demand that all queer characters must immediately show the world that they are queer and must continue to keep this performance up so that everyone who lays eyes on them may know who and what they are and how best to avoid them.

“The stereotype he embodies does of course exist. But what about the majority of gay men who aren’t represented on TV? Gay teenagers must gulp with fear when they see Kurt, as he confuses the closet-door with a piano lid and makes being gay look like a full-time job…And Kurt seems to embody the ethos that gay kids must prove themselves by excelling at something as if to justify the tragedy of their sexuality” (Cullen The gay one para. 6, 8).

There are people in this world who are the “classical” stereotype of the effeminate gay man or the masculine lesbian, but the problem arises because this is often all that people see of the queer community and this thus creates a mistaken belief among the public and further maintains the stereotype.

As Victor Evans states in his article, Curved TV: The Impact of Televisual Images on Gay Youth:

“Even Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy exaggerates stereotypical gay sensibilities, much to the show’s success. The portrayals noted above are by no means entirely inaccurate. There are real people in gay and lesbian communities whose apparent characteristics suggest the stereotypes, but one cannot forget that stereotypes by definition can never fully capture the complexity of these real individuals. The dilemma arises because usually these shorthand caricatures are the only characters seen on television, representing the community as a whole, so members of the viewing public who have yet to have any meaningful connections with gays and lesbians (including gay and lesbian adolescents) receive a dangerously incomplete view of gay and lesbian communities” (Evans Curved TV 3-4).

It is through these portrayals that the capital of the queer community is restricted to only those who confront to these stereotypes and those who are able to gain capital must constantly keep up the “homosexual performance” in order for their capital to be maintained, thus trapping them in a chronic loop where they can only wind up failing.

The queer community is just as diverse as the heterosexual community, if not even more, but the danger of this stereotype especially is that it is so prevalent and so enduring and, while there are actual people who are like this and there is nothing wrong with them, it is when this becomes the only image that many in cultural marketplace see when it becomes a problem. This stereotype portrays that queer people must constantly maintain a show to the heteronormative world that shows that they are who they say they are and those who do not, those who are merely part of the diversity of the community, find themselves without capital because they do not conform to what others believe they should act like.

A perfect, recent example of the treatment of queer individuals is that of the 2012 VH1 Divas. The commercials all show the numerous great female performers like Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson and Jordan Sparks and who is the one they get to host the event, Adam Lambert, the gay guy in the music industry. And, yes, other males did perform during the event, but they were never even mentioned in the promotion of the event. An event which celebrates women in the music industry coming together for a good cause is MC’ed by a “woman”, as well, that “woman” being Adam Lambert.

Works Cited:
-Cullen, Jack. The gay one from Glee – positive role model or dangerous cliche? The Guardian. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 21 Nov. 2012. Online. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/mar/15/kurt-hummel-glee-gay
-Evans, Victor D. Curved TV: The Impact of Televisual Images on Gay Youth. American Communication Journal. 2007. Retrieved 22 Nov. 2012. Online. http://ac-journal.org/journal/2007/Fall/5CurvedTV.pdf
-Martin, Alfred L. Jr. Dude Looks Like a Lady: Examining Kurt Hummel’s Gender Construction on ‘Glee’. Popmatters.com. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 19 Nov. 2012. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/127289-dude-looks-like-a-lady/