2. SEXUAL IDENTITY IN TV DRAMA
Can you tell
theirs?

3. HOW COULD SEXUAL IDENTITY BE
REPRESENTED?
HOW CAN YOU POSITION THEM AGAINST EACH
OTHER?
What do they look like?
Wear?
Sound like?
Do for a living?
How do they behave?
Sexual Identity
1. Homosexual man Vs Heterosexual man
3. Homosexual woman Vs Hetrosexual woman
Consider linking the micro elements – how would you represent this identity?

4. HOMOSEXUAL REPRESENTATION STEREOTYPES
Homosexual Males:
Gay men are portrayed as overly effeminate
There can be the belief that all gay men desire to be women or are feminine
Gay characters are condemned to a life alone without children
Mothers regret being too close to their sons, thinking that is what "made" them
gay
The idea is that its just a phase.
Drifting from one sexual liaison to another, they end up old and alone; Gay men
are only concerned with sex
Gay men are flamboyant , feminine characters, have camp mannerisms
Represented as often feared, pitied or being the subject of laughter
Gay men do professions like fashions, material design and hair styling
Gay men are often depicted as suffering family rejection
Speak with a lisp

5. Homosexual Females:
Gay women are portrayed as overly masculine
Often represented to be aggressive and mouthy
There is always the ‘masculine’ and the ‘feminine’ partner in any gay female
relationship
Drifting from one sexual liaison to another, they end up old and alone
Gay women do jobs such as sports/P.E. teachers and military and are butch
Lesbians commonly represented as pursuing heterosexual women.
Gay women are often depicted as suffering family rejection

6. IN THE 50’S...
People saw homosexuality as if it were a disease. They had television adverts warning
young boys to beware of homosexuals; in the advert a gay man is in a car and makes
a young man get in. There is a voiceover of people saying that you should beware of
homosexual men as they are predators and groom young boys.

8. Stereotypical?

11. SOPHIE AND SIAN –
Homosexuality on TV
CORONATION STREET

12. STEREOTYPES ABOUT BISEXUALS
People deny that bisexuality is real
They are confused, undecided, dabblers, insecure, experimenting or
“just going through a phase”.
People are either „gay, straight or lying‟
They are promiscuous
They are greedy

13. STEREOTYPES ABOUT HETEROSEXUALS
They are always monogamous
It is the ‘norm’
‘There is nothing at all wrong with heterosexuality’
Male partners are the abusers
Straight couples always have children

14. VIEWING OF PAST EXAM EXTRACT
Be prepared to feedback your observations on the
representation of sexuality

15. LAURA MULVEY’S MALE GAZE (1975)
What is the Gaze?
The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people
presented.
It can be thought of in 3 ways:
1. How men look at women,
2. How women look at themselves,
3. How women look at other women.

16. LAURA MULVEY’S MALE GAZE (1975)
She believes that in film audiences have to ‘view’ characters from
the perspective of a heterosexual male.
Features of the Male Gaze
The camera lingers on the curves of the female body
Events which occur to women are presented largely in the
context of a man's reaction to these events.
Relegates women to the status of objects.