Challenging Heterosexism From the Other Point of View: Representations of Homosexuality in Queer As Folk and The L Word

347 Pages·2012·1.09 MB·English

by  Dana Frei

A
s opposed to many of their more reserved predecessors, modern television serials such D Dana Frei
a
as Queer as Folk and The L Word, which concentrate predominantly on queer characters,
n
dare to include numerous highly controversial story lines, feature explicit sex scenes a

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and refl ect upon previously tabooed aspects in their depiction of homosexuality.
r
e
Challenging Heterosexism from the Other Point of View discusses how these specifi cally queer
i
shows fulfi ll a function of challenging institutionalized attitudes of society, such as dichotomous
notions of gender, heterosexism or homophobia. Moreover, the question is raised whether they
also serve to do the opposite unintentionally, by reinforcing stereotypes and potentially creating
a rather rigid image of the concept of homosexual identity. The complexity of the cultural impact
suggested by these series defi nes the focal point of the qualitative content analysis of these
inno vative media products.
Challenging Heterosexism
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l from the
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Dana Frei i Other Point of View
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currently lectures on Popular Literature and Media Studies at the University of
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Zurich. She has earned her doctoral degree with her work on queer television series and has
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since changed her focus to the study of graphic novels. Apart from research, she also teaches
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English to adolescents and functions as co-editor of the online journal of youth media t
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ISBN 978-3-0343-1107-6 t
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www.peterlang.com
A
s opposed to many of their more reserved predecessors, modern television serials such D Dana Frei
a
as Queer as Folk and The L Word, which concentrate predominantly on queer characters,
n
dare to include numerous highly controversial story lines, feature explicit sex scenes a

F
and refl ect upon previously tabooed aspects in their depiction of homosexuality.
r
e
Challenging Heterosexism from the Other Point of View discusses how these specifi cally queer
i
shows fulfi ll a function of challenging institutionalized attitudes of society, such as dichotomous
notions of gender, heterosexism or homophobia. Moreover, the question is raised whether they
also serve to do the opposite unintentionally, by reinforcing stereotypes and potentially creating
a rather rigid image of the concept of homosexual identity. The complexity of the cultural impact
suggested by these series defi nes the focal point of the qualitative content analysis of these
inno vative media products.
Challenging Heterosexism
C
h
a
l from the
l
e
n
g
Dana Frei i Other Point of View
n
currently lectures on Popular Literature and Media Studies at the University of
g
Zurich. She has earned her doctoral degree with her work on queer television series and has
H
since changed her focus to the study of graphic novels. Apart from research, she also teaches
e
English to adolescents and functions as co-editor of the online journal of youth media t
e
research kids+media. r
o Representations of Homosexuality
s
e
x in Queer as Folk and The L Word
i
s
m
g
n
a
L

r
e
t
e
P
Challenging Heterosexism

Dana Frei
Challenging Heterosexism
from the Other Point of View
Representations of Homosexuality
in Queer as Folk and The L Word
PETER LANG
Bern · Berlin · Bruxelles · Frankfurt am Main · New York · Oxford · Wien
Bibliographic information published by die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie ; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet
at ‹ http://dnb.d-nb.de ›.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data : A catalogue record for this book
is available from The British Library, Great Britain
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frei, Dana
Challenging heterosexism from the other point of view: representations
of homosexuality in Queer as folk and The L word / Dana Frei.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-3-0343-1107-6
1. Homosexuality on television. 2. Stereotypes (Social psychology) on television.
I. Queer as folk (Television program: Great Britain) II. Queer as folk (Television
program: United States) III. The L word (Television program) IV. Title.
PN1992.8.H64F74 2012
791.45'653–dc23
2011052995
Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde von der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität
Zürich im Frühjahrssemester 2010 auf Antrag von Prof. Dr. Ingrid Tomkowiak und
Prof. Dr. Martin Heusser als Dissertation angenommen.
Die dahinter stehende Forschungsarbeit wurde während zweier Jahre vom Forschungs-
kredit der Universität Zürich finanziell unterstützt. Sie wird zudem publiziert mit
Unterstützung des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen
Forschung. Den beiden Institutionen sei für die freundliche Unterstützung
dieses Projekts herzlich gedankt.
Cover design : Thomas Grütter, Peter Lang AG
ISBN hb. 978­3­0343­1107­6 ISBN eBook 978­3­0351­0366­3
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2012
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[email protected], www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
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Printed in Hungary
Acknowledgment
First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor Prof.
Dr. Ingrid Tomkowiak for supporting me in my project and for
being there for me at all times with advice and encouragement.
My supervisor not only always found time for me in her busy
schedule; she also knew what to say to guide me in the right direc-
tion in all situations. I could not have wished for a more bene-
volent and reliable supervisor in this endeavour and I am eternally
grateful to you for sharing with me your experience as well as
your extraordinary passion.
I am also very grateful to my second supervisor Prof. Dr. Mar-
tin Heusser who got me interested in research in the first place and
encouraged me to pursue my interests. Your enthusiasm is a con-
stant inspiration to your students, as it was to me.
Moreover, I would like to thank my family: my parents for
raising me in an open-minded and tolerant environment in which
homophobia or any kind of hatred had no place; my father for
allowing me to profit from his experience in the academic world
and for providing me with tips and support (financially, intellectu-
ally as well as emotionally); and my sisters for being my beloved
best friends and enduring me when my nerves were on edge.
My gratitude further belongs to my dear friends (from in- and
outside of the institute), who are my second family and who have
given me support in any way needed: be it in the form of a pep talk
when I felt insecure, practical help when things got too much,
giving structure to my thoughts when they seemed to get chaotic,
or even providing me with a place to retreat and concentrate when
I needed to focus on my writing. You went through my work with
me when I got stuck, were there to exchange ideas, encouraged me
and believed in me, and you distracted me in the right moments.
I am so lucky to have such wonderful people around me and
I could not have done it without you.
6 Acknowledgment
Finally, I thank the two institutions Forschungskredit der Uni-
versität Zürich and Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung
wissenschaftlicher Forschung for finding my research worthy of
funding and rendering this project and the present publication
possible in the first place, as well as my publisher who could not
have done a better job making me feel well attended to at all times.
7
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 1
Queer Representation and Popular Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Television Series and Homosexuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 2
Theoretical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Queer Studies: Current State of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Developing Theses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Deconstructing Heteronormativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Challenging Institutionalized Attitudes
and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Reinforcing Stereotypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 3
Subjects of Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Queer as Folk and The L Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Queer as Folk (QAF-UK) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Queer as Folk (QAF-US) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
The L Word (TLW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Format Conventions and Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Chapter 4
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Preparing Audiovisual Material for Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 93
Cultural Negotiations and Television Serials . . . . . . . . . . 96
8 Table of Contents
Analysing Content in Products of Popular Media . . . . . 102
Qualitative Content Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Methodological Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Chapter 5
Categories and Coding Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Points of Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 6
Creating a Homonormative World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter 7
Representation of the Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Social and Legal Injustice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Family: Questioning Genetic Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Bigotry, Homophobia and Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Hypocrisy and Failing Morals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Heterophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Chapter 8
New Order and Value System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Pride, Self-Acceptance and Linguistic Resignification . . . 208
New Forms of Partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Families of Choice: Loyalty and Friendship . . . . . . . . . . 234
Assimilation versus Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Chapter 9
Questioning Gender and Sexual Dichotomies . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Unmasking the Performativity of Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Limits of Sexual Fluidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260