Cultural Snapshot: Gay men in media

I decided to look into the 'single story' of gay men in the media. I found quite a few clips of tv shows and movies with gay characters in them.  Most of them portray more than one stereotype in a single clip.  The main things the media portrays are:

• Gay men are feminine 
• Gay men aren't burly
• Gay men only have female friends (or gay friends)
• Gay men care about fashion
• Gay men are dramatic
• Gay men love singing/performing

These clips portray the stereotypes listed above:

 

 

Students, especially during middle school and high school, are still trying to figure out who they are.  For a student who is gay the single story the media portrays might affect the way they act, impeding them from being who they are or pursuing what they want to do.  It may also push them to do things they aren't comfortable with doing (ie. performing, fashion, etc).  As teachers its important for us to create safe classrooms so our students can feel comfortable in their own skin, and not feel like they have to pretend to be something they're not.  These shows showed differing levels of acceptance (widely accepted in Will and Grace to very shunned in Mean Girls), and our students will likely face differing levels of acceptance as well. 

It's also crucial for us as teachers to have an open mind when it comes to these stereotypes and how accurate they are.  Understanding that people don't fit nicely into the boxes we try to put them in helps us avoid the boxes altogether. We need to love all our students, and do our best to help them in their quest for self discovery.