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sue79
Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 2
Location: Seoul, Korea
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 Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:15 pm Post subject: What do you think about gay-themed shows? |
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Hello, I'm Sue from South Korea.
An year ago, I wrote an essay on gay-themed shows at my research writing class.
The title of that essay was "Gay-themed Shows:Made in a Straight World."
As the title implies, I wanted to stress how the gay-themed shows are conveying false and negative images of gays. That is, media tends to portray gay people as effeminate, weak, and fragile.
Moreover, they are displaying stereotypical gay careers leaving a negative impression of gay people. Gay people are sometimes presented as shallow persons living in a different world apart from the reality.
Thus people can be misguided with those false images.Therefore, i believe the gay-themed TV shows should not portray gay people based on the negative stereotypical way.
I'll give you an example. Stanford from Sex and the City. In the show, Standford is the stereotypical gay character displayed in many shows. He's the gay who enjoys the girl talk, loves fashion, and only has female friends. I'm sure that there are a lot of gay people who have masculine jobs, holding successful careers just as other people do.
What do you think? |
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asterix
Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654
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| Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:35 am Post subject: |
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| I think gay themed shows are intended to lessen prejudice against homosexuals and convince the rest of society that they are harmless, amusing and likable. |
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RedRose
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
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| Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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Most of the Gay-themed shows convey the stereotypical and wrong images of gay people as sissy, nancy, transvestism, she-men,etc. I think that's because many show-makers still discriminatie against gay people, they are homophobic, more or less. However, not all Gay-themed shows have the same idea, Brokeback Mountain, for example, describes a relatively real gay world.
Another movie called LanYu from China, directed by a HongKang gay director named GuanJinPeng, is an excellent gay-themed movie. In the two movies, gay people don't look like weirdoes. Instead, they have the same emotion as straight people, the only difference is: their sexual emotion is for the same sex of people, not for the opposite sex.
That's exactly how the gay world works.
I used to live with a gay, who didn't look like any sissy freak, Nobody believed he was gay, except me, and of course, his boyfriend. Because he had no sissy characteristics as those gay shows implied.
Frankly, I know I am not supposed to discriminate against homosexual, however, I just can't help...my homophobia just comes out from the bottom of my heart. |
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Lorikeet
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 1877
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:41 am Post subject: |
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| How can you be homophobic if you lived with a gay guy? Didn't you see that he was the same as the rest of us? |
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RedRose
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
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| Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Lorikeet wrote: |
| How can you be homophobic if you lived with a gay guy? Didn't you see that he was the same as the rest of us? |
That's why I divorced him.
There is a major difference if he is your husband. |
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Lorikeet
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 1877
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| RedRose wrote: |
| Lorikeet wrote: |
| How can you be homophobic if you lived with a gay guy? Didn't you see that he was the same as the rest of us? |
That's why I divorced him.
There is a major difference if he is your husband. |
Ahah! That makes some sense. |
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RedRose
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
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| Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| Lorikeet wrote: |
| RedRose wrote: |
| Lorikeet wrote: |
| How can you be homophobic if you lived with a gay guy? Didn't you see that he was the same as the rest of us? |
That's why I divorced him.
There is a major difference if he is your husband. |
Ahah! That makes some sense. |
Of course it does.
One hand, gay people act like straight people in general, they hang out with friends, they love their family, some of them are even successful at their careers, and of course, some of them are oddballs like straight oddballs...if you are their ordinary friend, you won't feel any different when hanging out with them. On the other hand, if a gay guy is your husband, you guys live under the same roof, and you truly know both of you are sexually attracted to male, trust me, that will certainly cause homophobia inside you, day by day, little by little, you will become more and more homophobic, No matter how normal they apparently look. It doesn't work on your homophobia. |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: |
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| RedRose wrote: |
| ...if a gay guy is your husband, you guys live under the same roof, and you truly know both of you are sexually attracted to male, trust me, that will certainly cause homophobia inside you,... |
 Oh. So your ex was using you to hide his true self in the illusion of marriage. Yeah, there's a big scandal here about that kind of situation now.
___________________________
As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
-Godwin's Law
Case's Corollary: If the subject is Heinlein or homosexuality, the probability of a Hitler/Nazi comparison being made becomes equal to one. |
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RedRose
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
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| Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:30 am Post subject: |
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Poor Larry, the Scandal might ruin his political life.
US has never gotten a gay president, right? if someday a gay guy or lesbian wins the write house, gay world will be prosperous. |
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hoshi
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 564
Location: At the best place of your dreams :D Loveland
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| Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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I have some gay friends and I don't see any difference. I love to go out with them.
_________________
God gave us two ears to hear, two eyes to see and two hands to hold. But why did God gave us only one heart? Because He wants us to find the other one! |
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CP
Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 2875
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Red Rose--If ever someone should not have a gay husband, it is you.
I'm so sorry you picked a guy that likes guys. What a disaster! When did you find out?
I know I'm being too nosy, but I'm so surprised at your revelation, I can't help myself. Do you mind telling?
Curiosity killed the cat.
(But satisfaction brought him back.)
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb |
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CP
Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 2875
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Sue:
I wonder how many of the writers of the TV shows are straight! It's an open secret that show biz has more than its share of gay people, and that means writers and actors and makeup artists and the lot.
I'm pretty sure the gay presence in Hollywood is sufficient to keep most shows from going too anti-gay. When you see the prancing, flaming gay characters in a show like "Will and Grace"--hilariously funny to gays and straights alike--I'm pretty sure the scripts and the performances receive the Gay Seal of Approval.
The guy who played Will is straight, but the guy who played the gay-gay-gay Jack is gay-gay-gay himself.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb |
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RedRose
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| CP wrote: |
Dear Red Rose--If ever someone should not have a gay husband, it is you.
I'm so sorry you picked a guy that likes guys. What a disaster! When did you find out?
I know I'm being too nosy, but I'm so surprised at your revelation, I can't help myself. Do you mind telling?
Curiosity killed the cat.
(But satisfaction brought him back.) |
When I worked in a hospital, my parents urged me to get married, they worried that I might die alone someday because of my strong personality, but I chose to participate in an entrance exam by which I got to attend a University for a master degree of medicine. After I graduated, I was 26 years already, my parents urged me even more. even when I was in the bathroom, my mom stayed outside of the bathroom to ask me to get married. Back then there were several guys who were interested in me, I remember. But I still couldn't forget my professor who had instructed me during my master-degree studying, unfortunately, he was married, unavailable. I had no chance to marry him. although I missed him all the time after graduating.
At that time, I lived under a great deal of pressure, from my parents, the co-workers, the society...People all thought I had some problem because I was still single at 26. As you know, Chinese people don't have that much freedom. I have to pick someone to get married with. so I picked the good-looking one(also the wrong one).
After we got married, I found he became very estranged. His best friend came to our house almost everyday. and they always had a great time, talking, joking, watching football TV...I asked him why he spent more time with that guy than me, he said that's how men conmmunicated.
One time I went to ChengDu City for work, and I finished all work earlier than expected. so I flew home earlier. God, I eventually got the most amazing shock in my entire life as I entered my house: my husband and his best friend were sleeping together in my bed.
I heard myself asking:"how did you guys do it?? which one in which one?? that would be hard."
I filed for divorce that afternoon, the judge told me that it would take a long time to get divorced. Finally, my parents got the news(I wonder who told them), they threatened me that if I insisted on the idea of divorce, they would kill themselves. they didn't buy that their son-in-law was gay, because they never saw a gay guy, and they thought homos only existed in movies.
I told my best friend:"if I have to live with a gay guy under the same roof, I would rather kill myself. my parents won't let me get away with the divorce thing, it's a matter of face."
"then you should run away instead of die. I saw a want AD in the newspapar, you can take a job interview in province GuangDong, if you are lucky, you don't have to die."
The next day I bought a plane ticket to GuangDong, after 2-day stay in GuangDong, I took the interview. As my friend said, I didn't have to die. I got this job.
That's the gay-related story of mine, I hope it didn't bore you. |
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ClarissaMach
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 644
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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| Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:21 am Post subject: |
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Gosh! I'm astonished! RedRose, how could one ever imagine you had gone through such a painful crisis?
At high schooll I met one of my best friends ever. His name is Felipe and since that time he knew he was gay and felt sure about what he wanted for his life.
Despite being gay, he was very attractive: nothing in the way he behaved would reveal his sexual orientation, so that a lot of girls fell in love with him. But he always made it clear that he was not interested in none of them.
I guess this is one of the reasons we must fight for freedom to everyone: repression only brings pain to all of us in one way or another. We're not completely free from the consequences of our own prejudices. Had your ex-husband had the chance of assuming his homossexuality a long time ago, you would not have suffered that much.
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Stormy Weather. |
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Anuradha Chepur
Joined: 20 May 2006
Posts: 933
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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| O hi Clarissa, long time! |
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