Mar 27 2009
LGBT Portrayals in Soap Operas
A week or so back I was contacted by a young lady who is doing some research into the representation of lesbian gay and bisexual people in soap operas for her Media Studies A-level.
Soap Operas are some of the most viewed programs on TV, therefore even if you are not a soap fan, the way characters are portrayed, informs millions of people’s perspective and opinion. This makes it an important topic for discussion and I think its worth trying to help Bonnie out with her research.
A short questionnaire follows. If you could please either post responses in the comment or email them directly to: bonniebella@hotmail.co.uk
- Do you think the portrayal of homosexuals and bisexuals in soap operas has changed over time and how?
- Do you think homosexual and bisexual individuals have a negative or positive portrayal in soap operas?
- What stereotype (if any) do you think these individuals are given?
I’ll add a fourth question of my own:
- Do you think there are enough LGBT people represented in soap operas? And do they accurately represent real LGBT people’s lives and issues?
We look forward to your responses.
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9 Responses to “LGBT Portrayals in Soap Operas”
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I’ll answer this just generally rather than 1 question after another and people can take from it what they like:
Whilst in the 80s and early 90s homosexuals were generally treated as social misfits and figures of fun, now there are numerous gay characters in soaps who are much loved members of the community and who are completely tolerated even by the most macho of men. Christian in Eastenders and Paul in Emmerdale being obvious examples of very popular gay men who are never lambasted for their sexuality.
However, the portrayal of the bisexual has never changed and is still as frustrating as ever. In short, bisexuals are basically treated as sexual predators or people who have no idea who they are. Numerous characters go from being 100% straight to 100% gay at the drop of a hat without bisexuality even being mentioned as an option (Todd in Coronation Street, Craig in Hollyoaks) whereas those who openly identify as ‘bi’ like Tony Hills in Eastenders in the mid-90s and Ivan the binman and Gavin the fiance of Bernice in Emmerdale are portrayed as dislikeable characters who will happily cheat on their partner just to get their ‘fix’ of the other gender
It seems like Sarah from Hollyoaks is set to become the latest character to go from 100% straight to 100% gay. This is incredibly frustrating and does not reflect real life whatsoever
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Hey there, you don’t have a lot of responses, so I thought I’d chip in.
1. Do you think the portrayal of homosexuals and bisexuals in soap operas has changed over time and how?
Yes, though differently. We wouldn’t have the L-world and Queer as Folk without a general change. That said, the whole drama in Australia recently about two women kissing on Home and Away was lame and sad, and evident that although the portrayal may have changed (ie they’re not perverted sinners), community attitudes in some sectors of society hasn’t.
I still think there is a tendancy for bisexuals to come across as heart breakers though. Playing both sides, sitting on the fence, all the usual crap that gets flung at bisexuals.
2. Do you think homosexual and bisexual individuals have a negative or positive portrayal in soap operas?
Depends on the story… these days I think its a lot more positive than it used to be. In some soapies its just a natural thing, in others you can still have the evil bisexual or homosexual person tempting others into doing something they wouldn’t (or would) normally do.
Some soapies are more responsible than others I guess.
3. What stereotype (if any) do you think these individuals are given?
Bisexuals – evil fence sitters who break hearts
Homosexuals – these days it tends toward normality… just any regular joe or jane.
4. Do you think there are enough LGBT people represented in soap operas? And do they accurately represent real LGBT people’s lives and issues?
No, and certainly not. When was the last time there was a serious consideration of transgender issues on a soap? How about the neverending (currently) conflict between the homosexual and bisexual communities? How about someone who thinks that they are bi or gay and discovers that they are gay or bi and how that impacts on their self identity and community?
ALl this said, I don’t watch soaps unless their set deep in space… and in the future, apparently sexuality isn’t really an issue.
Did anyone see Hollyoaks yesterday? Ravi came out as bisexual and his family basically just ridiculed him, calling him indecisive, sex obsessed, and all the usual shit
Made my blood boil and it’s only a TV show
Do you think the portrayal of homosexuals and bisexuals in soap operas has changed over time and how?
Well, I’m still young and hardly saw soap operas in the 90s, but I’ve definitely seen an increase in the amount of gay characters recently.
Do you think homosexual and bisexual individuals have a negative or positive portrayal in soap operas?
Recently, I haven’t seen any blatantly negative portrayals, but a s**tload of ignorant stereotypes and inaccurate portrayals, such as the flamboyant gay stereotypes and others mentioned below.
What stereotype (if any) do you think these individuals are given?
Gay characters are always presented as being more camp and flamboyant than straight characters. Even with John-Paul in Hollyoaks, a character often praised for bucking that particular stereotype, a Billy Elliot poster appeared in his room after he came out, despite the fact that his character has never shown any interest in anything like that.
Bisexuals, on the other hand, are more or less non-existent. Too many characters switch from straight to gay or vice-versa, without even mention of anything in-between. Also, there seems to be much reluctance to say the B word. Characters that are bi always say that they “fall for the person, not the gender” or something similar, which is an accurate description of bisexuality for a lot of people, but you have to wonder why they don’t just say “I’m bi”. Then again, this is true in real life, many people shy away from that word due to its negative connotations.
Anyway, back to soaps, I hate to bring up Holloyoaks again as I hate it, but it does feature a lot of gay/bi characters. It’s the best soap I’ve seen for the inclusion of bi characters, but I don’t feel they are portrayed realistically, and deviate towards stereotypes. For example, a couple of weeks ago, when Ravi was cheating on Nancy with Kris, Kris said that “it’s not really cheating because it doesn’t count with a guy”. That is utter bullshit and no bisexual would ever think that. Also, the only two bi characters in the soap are currently in a polyamorous relationship. Yay, stereotypes. (No offense to those in polyamorous relationships, I have no problem with it, it’s just that I’m fed up with the assumption that it’s what all bisexuals want.)
Do you think there are enough LGBT people represented in soap operas? And do they accurately represent real LGBT people’s lives and issues?
Well, I actually do not want television shows to show LGBT issues. All I ask is for a fair amount of LGBT characters to appear and to be treated exactly the same as heterosexual characters. Unfortunately, the latter does not happen as I explained above.
As for the amount of LGBT characters, you have to break it down. Gay characters are doing OK, there’s at least one in each of the main British soaps and plenty in Hollyoaks, and as far as I know a decent amount in American soaps, so on that front we’re OK.
Bisexual males have it worse, but at least we’re on there somewhere. However, I cannot think of a single bisexual female on any British soap, or to think of it American (is Greys Anatomy a soap?). The only time they ever appear they are sluts/evil. Also, there is a lot of bisexual erasure going on.
Lesbians have it just as bad as bi females. Again, no lesbian characters to be seen. Hollyoaks had the closest thing I can think of – Zoe and Sarah having a drunken one-night stand in a desperate bid for ratings, after which both went straight (pun intended) back to men. I’m not quite sure why soap operas are so much more keen to feature male bi/gay characters to female bi/lesbians, but I do hope they rectify this problem soon.
Transgenders are under-represented, but oddly are more common at the moment than lesbians and bi females, despite the latter group being much larger in real life. In British soaps, we have the cross-dressing Kris, portrayed positively and realistically as far as I’ve seen, and the mtf transsexual in another soap (I’m 99% sure it’s Coronation Street). I don’t watch/see that soap at all, I’ve just heard of the character, so I’m not sure how she is portrayed.
Theory here:
Perhaps there is a reluctance to show bi/lesbian women because a lot of people might think they’re simply trying to draw in more ratings from pervy men. There is something of a stigma to lesbians on TV shows, that they are mostly there to take advantage of the stereotypical male fantasy.
Disclaimer:
I don’t watch soaps at all, and neither do I have any interest in bedding two women. Or two men, or a man and a woman, etc for that matter.
Thank you for all of your responses to my questions, all your opinions are really valid and are helping me with my Alevel research, Thanks again.
1. Do you think the portrayal of homosexuals and bisexuals in soap operas has changed over time and how?
I think so. We are seeing more gay/lesbian characters than ever before and they are more likely to be fit into original roles. By which, I mean the roles they are getting aren’t the stereotypical “I have AIDS cause I lost my virginity to a street thug”, “I’m a slut and sexual deviant”, and “If I could only accept myself” roles of yesteryear. The roles they seem to get are more ingrain with what a “straight” soap couple would get like in the case of Luke and Noah where Luke has to rescue his boyfriend (its a common straight soap theme).
2. Do you think homosexual and bisexual individuals have a negative or positive portrayal in soap operas?
I feel that it is positive. I love the Luke and Noah from ATWT couple. I like how they aren’t all out in their sexuality. I like how they aren’t a walking stereotype. I like how CBS has progressed with that storyline despite the heaps of feedback from “I’ve watched this show for 35 years before the homos got here” retards that demand the story lines to go away.
3. What stereotype (if any) do you think these individuals are given?
Speaking from the Nuke perspective, there was some time there where Noah was trying to “straight” away the gay with his involvement with a chick that is stereotypical. However, its an accepted stereotype because many gay men really do try to get involved with women before they come out. Other than that, I don’t think NUKE really functions that much on stereotypes although they have addressed many aspects of the good and bad side of coming out as they tried to send Luke to “straight” camp.
4. Do you think there are enough LGBT people represented in soap operas? And do they accurately represent real LGBT people’s lives and issues?
No and no. The problem isn’t that there aren’t more than there have ever been. The problem is that soap operas have been so afraid to approach this topic as a double edged sword. While Luke and Noah (ATWT) are probably a success story, the gay character on GH came out and simply disappeared from site without even as much as a send off. They simply stopped writing the character after trying to push an agenda of openness towards gay issues. Also, I kind of feel like ATWT has stayed away from “typical gay issues”, but they have done so as a way to integrate the NUKE couple into other story lines instead of switching to stereotypical story lines of the past.
I’ve found portrayal bisexual characters on TV frankly alarming. I’ve never heard the word bisexual on a TV soap, and although I don’t watch Hollyoaks, I fail to think of a single bisexual character or individual on TV, except for the girl on Eastenders, and Torchwood. The Eastenders portrayal seemed good, although I only had a fleeting interest. Torchwood on the other hand is something else.
Captain Jack is the epitomy of a bad stereotype about bisexuals. For God’s sake, he’ll even shag aliens! Ianto started having a sexual relationship with Captain Jack before a romantic one, and about two episodes after Jack had shot Ianto’s girlfriend. Tosh’s portrayal wasn’t too bad, although frankly having three bisexuals in the same show seems a tad much, and gave Torchwood a bit of a repuation, which sort of cancelled out it’s credibility.