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Sexuality & Culture (2014) 18:279290
DOI 10.1007/s12119-013-9197-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Jay Poole
Published online: 4 July 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Ways of being that transcend what has been dened or expected have been called queer and, in the past 10 years, media has offered some representations of queer gay males and masculinity. For males struggling with identity and for professionals who work with them, careful consideration of queerness may be important in opening more accepting spaces. Here, various recent media representations of gay males are examined in an effort to provoke readers to reect on their own positions about queer sexual and gender identities and possibilities for more uid constructions of identities.
Keywords Gender studies Sexuality studies Media Queer studies
Masculinity studies
No one in the world would believe youre straight. Youre as gay as a clutchpurse on Tony night. You fell outta the gay tree, hitting every gay branch on the way down. And ya landed on a gay guy. AND ya did em. No, no, honey, your gayness can be seen from space.
Karenfrom Will and Grace (2008)
Wanted: No fats, no fems, bodybuilder type into muscle worship and man/man sex. Mestr8 acting, 511, 190, into wrestling and contact sports. Anonymousposted on Gay.com
Media is a central location for not only reecting social and cultural phenomena but also for dening who and how we can be. Media representations of identities are dominantly constructed through a heteronormative lens, with traditional gender roles dening how one can or should be masculine or feminine. Indeed, media has
J. Poole (&)
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Queer Representations of Gay Males and Masculinities in the Media
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also dened sexual identities, with heteronormative identities dominating the media landscape. If you are struggling with identifying as other than straight, television and other media sources offer a smorgasbord of so-called alternate lifestyle identities where one can absorb behaviors, values, and attitudes that should be associated with particular identities. Often, such alternative identities are fraught with their own rules and boundaries and, for those whose lives dont conform to such constraints, anxiety and depression often manifest, often creating signicant clinical concerns. As identities...