Thursday, July 22, 2010

Are Gay and Lesbian Characters Underrepresented on British TV?


I'm a little shocked about this info.

According to this research from UK based gay advocacy group, Stonewall, gay and lesbian characters are underrepresented in British TV:
A survey for the gay equality charity monitored more than 120 hours of programmes watched by the young.

It said gay people were mainly portrayed as promiscuous, predatory, or figures of fun.

Stonewall said homophobic bullying in schools was unsurprising when gay people were so often depicted on TV in a derogatory or demeaning way.

The report, called Unseen on Screen, says ordinary gay people are almost invisible on the 20 programmes most watched by the young.

It says just 46 minutes out of 126 hours' output showed gay people positively and realistically.

I always thought they had a wide range of LGBT characters in everything. Think of the all gay movies that came from the UK. And hell, Queer As Folk (the better one) start there.

I'm really surprised to hear this.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

They're not saying gays aren't represented, they're saying they're not POSITIVELY represented in shows children watch.

Even a show like Beautiful People could be viewed as not portraying gays in a positive light.

Stan said...

I'm surprised too. I don't think there's anything as homophobic as American network TV IMHO.

Unknown said...

Well, there is some interesting wording on this release. Are they talking about 'the 20 programmes most watched by the young?' If we are talking the moral equivalent of Hannah Montana and such, I am not surprised.

Mind Of Mine said...

That argument is so one sided - show me a TV couple, Gay or Straight that is portrayed in a light which could be deemed as positive.

Its just another excuse for people to put the space between Gay and Straight even bigger.

A Gay man who likes to party is deemed irresponsible, a woman who does the same is enlighted (Samantha from Sex and The City anyone?)

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.