After reading the 'Information-Seeking
Practices during the Sexual Development of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual
Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming Out in a Mediated Environment' article and our class discussion on the visibility of LGBTQ individuals in the media, it seemed pretty clear that we could all at least come up with one or two shows that featured a gay or lesbian character, and had at least heard of one that had a bisexual character. While we touched on the topic of transgender existence in the media, it was difficult to come up with shows that included such a character let alone had them as their main feature. After giving it a little bit more thought however, the show Ru Paul's Drag Race came to mind. Soon following, I saw an article online reminded me of the purpose the show serves that goes beyond discovering "America's Next Drag Superstar!".
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| Tyra Sanchez:Season 2 Winner of RuPaul's Drag Race |
The article I read was about Ru Paul's Drag Race season 2 winner, James
William Ross IV, otherwise known by drag stage name Tyra Sanchez, in a new documentary about his dedication to fatherhood as a drag queen. While a contestant on Drag Race, James/Trya often spoke about the fact that his main motivation in the competition was to win it in order to better be able to provide for his now seven-year-old son, Jeremiah. Contestants alike on the show, most notably during workroom and backstage footage, often shared very frank stories about their personal life struggles, their coming-out stories, breaking into the drag scene, and how their drag lifestyles effected relationships with their family and friends. While individual stories ranged widely in diversity, the common themes consisted of establishing acceptance within their communities and/or forging new "drag families" and finding a place in the gay community. This called to mind how the Brown, Hefner, and Drogos article mentioned that, “After
LGB individuals are able to express their sexual identities to themselves, the
next developmental task to tackle is coming out to others. If individuals can
integrate their sexual identities into their lives successfully, they will
experience a level of acceptance.” (Brown et al. 2008).
Media exposure such as television shows, documentaries, films, and internet sites/blogs help promote establishing normalization
of transgender lifestyle in society through portraying examples of community acceptance regarding non-mainstream issues (such as being a drag queen). By coming out publicly as a drag queen, Tyra/James is promoting public education and awareness raising through TV exposure helps establish a more accepting community not only for himself and his son, but for the broader LGBTQ community in general. Through exposure via multiple media outlets, information about LGBTQ lifestyles and communities becomes more available to those who may otherwise be unexposed to these things (such as LGB adolescents/teens). The research article points out that “The
stories communicated through computer-mediated means could serve as information
sources for the LGB adolescent browser, in essence, constructing a virtual
community that gives these adolescents a sense they are not alone.” (Brown et al.). While in general television portrayals tend to adhere to stereotypes and can thus promote inaccurate images of transgender individuals, it is still important for LGBTQ individuals to continue to pursue their increase in media exposure. Through multimedia exposure (such as internet blogs and documentaries) there can be a better effort towards challenging stereotypes and increasing awareness by providing more avenues to do so.
Brown et al. reaffirms the importance of attention to multimedia exposure by explaining that, “Media, particularly the Internet, may now be serving as the primary information source for LGB adolescents. Ryan and Futterman (1998) argued the Internet plays an important role in early adolescents’ declaration of sexuality because it provides information that allows teens to label feelings and figure out who they are.” These ideas can be echoed by Ru Paul's famous words at the end of every Drag Race episode, "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an Amen?!"
Emily, I am so thrilled you posted about Drag Race in your post and discussed how Brown et. al. (2008) discusses the importance of exposure of different sexualities in media. I've actually taken a course specifically about LGBT media, and what we often discussed is that the "T" in "LGBT" usually seems to either be left out, or lumped in with gay, lesbian and bisexual identities. In fact, many people have an honest misunderstanding of what it means to identify as "transgender." Although I know Drag Race is not about transgender people, I think that it does serve a purpose of bringing a broad spectrum of sexual identities into the mainstream in a way that is relateable to a large range of viewers. In the show, issues of sexuality, transgenderism, and equality are often raised, and I think it does help to make sexuality visible as well as helps others who wouldn't know otherwise how to define terms like "drag queen" and "transgender" and why these terms are different and what they actually mean. If not that, it at least opens up a platform in the mainstream in which to introduce these topics.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to correct a typo in my original blog post. The article authors to which I was referring should have been cited as (Bond (not Brown!), Hefner & Drogos, 2008). Now that that’s cleared up I just wanted to add a little more information to the blog as well. In the end of lecture today, America’s Next Top Model’s first transgender model, Isis King, was mentioned briefly. I would like to provide a link to an interview she had on Tyra (Tyra Banks’ talk show) that has the same kind of feel as the Chaz Bono interview on Letterman about being a transgender individual.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WkDHy2d65o&feature=related
In this interview Isis talks candidly about her personal struggles (e.g. homelessness, and obstacles with being accepted as an authentic model among her naturally female competitors on ANTM) and passion to persevere. While not an adolescent, her struggles in dealing with being ostracized as an outsider by some of her model peers reflects what Bond et al. was saying about how “…LGB adolescents’ awareness of social norms vilifying their attraction to same-sex individuals may lead many to suppress their sexual identity from their established peer networks for fear of being ostracized (Pilkington and D’Augelli 1995).” Further into her interview on Tyra, Isis breaks down when revealing her emotional struggles with her transition and finding acceptance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqhgkEEpEQs&feature=relmfu
I thought these links to Isis’ interview were two valuable additions to my original blog because they allow more social exposure via the media and similarly to Chaz Bono’s interview, her frank discussion is done in a very personal, calm, informative way. Unlike Chaz Bono, Isis is also obviously a male transitioning to a female, and she also intends to pursue full sexual reassignment surgery. Isis’s story is truly inspiring, and this model/ designer/ motivational speaker/ actress surely has even more great accomplishments ahead of her.