This past week I ran across a powerful Ted
Talk titled “Fifty Shades of Gay”. Though the artist Tillett Wright discusses
the issue regarding the rights of the LGBTQ community, I found several of her
personal statements particularly enlightening.
In her discussion Wright states that we as
humans “…seek out environments that reinforce our personal choices”. Though I
believe that this statement intentionally referrers to physical surroundings I also
consider this proclamation to be related to the internet and mediated
environments. Research indicates that the Internet plays a critical role in the
development of LGB sexual identities by allowing a space for exploration and
acceptance (Bond et al., 2009). These results confirm the notion of selective
exposure. I know that the tendency for individuals to seek information or
social groups that are similar to themselves is not in itself a novel idea. What
I find more interesting than the habit of selective exposure alone is the
argument she makes about the tendency for humans to categorize people. Again,
this is not a nuanced concept, but I find it interesting is that
classifications affect our ability to engage in selective exposure.
According to Bond and his colleagues,
members of the bisexual community feel that they cannot utilize the media as a
socializer because the representations are restricting (Bond et al., 2009). Bisexuals
are keen to the absence of individuals they can identify with in the media because
when bisexuality is represented it is portrayed as either indecisive or
oversexed (Bond et al., 2009). They therefore, turn to alternative outlets,
such as the internet, to find examples or condolence.
These findings reveal the interrelation between
labeling and selective exposure. And as Wright suggests, visibility and familiarity
are the gateways to empathy. If the media were to incorporate a variety of
human representations then not only would those who identify as LGBTQ cease to
exclude television from their media diet, but also members of society who do
not consider themselves as LGBTQ would better understand those that do. This in
turn could lessen selective media exposure for the purpose of acceptance.
It is
time that we stop labeling LGBTQs because currently many feel that they cannot
communicate with those present in their lives about their most important
issues. Many LGBTQs are interacting with the internet in order to receive exemplars
and nonjudgmental communication, but if those representations were in the
mainstream media the population would become more accepting, and LGBTQs could
openly discuss their personal struggles with those closest to them as opposed to
those solely present on the internet.
References
Bond, B. J., Hefner, V., & Drogos, K.
L. (2009). Information-seeking practices during the sexual development of
lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals: The influence and effects of coming out
in a mediated environment. Sexuality & Culture, 13(1), 32-50.
Megan, I thought this was a really great post and a really interesting Ted Talk. I think your post brings up a really interesting idea that television can teach people how to empathize with those who are not like them. I think this ties in nicely with our reading by Jane Brown about the media acting as a super peer for early maturing girls, Sarah's lecture about adolescent parasocial interactions with characters, and ties in nicely with the Media Practice Model that Bond discusses in the essay you talked about above.
ReplyDeleteAs Brown found in her study, the media can act like a peer for girls who are maturing faster than their friends in regard to sexuality and sexual desires. But she also mentions that talking and socializing with your peers/friends is still the number one way girls learn about sexuality and develop their own sense of identity. This concept is very similar to Sarah's concept about the media acting as a super peer in teaching adolescents how to behave in relationships and teaching them what they may want/look for in their partners. Through adolescent parasocial interactions and relationships with media figures, adolescent girls were able to discover their own interests and learn how to behave in future relationships. While this does not directly relate to what you were talking about, it is said that one's ability to empathize with characters increases the intensity of the parasocial interaction. The fact that empathy is often associated with parasocial interaction and it can be a positive outcome of watching television demonstrates that media viewing is a complex, cyclical phenomenon that does act as a super peer in peoples' lives. This is very similar to the Media Practice Model Bond utilized to describe the relationship adolescents have with media, in which adolescents select media and this specific selection of media influences their identity formation, which then affects their future media selections.
Overall, the application of this model to your post illustrates that learning empathy from television can influence a person's ability to empathize with people and characters on television that are not similar to them and this can affect what they choose to watch in their future media diet, which will hopefully include more portrayals of LGBTQ people.
References:
Bond, B. J., Hefner, V., & Drogos, K. L. (2009). Information-seeking practices during the sexual development of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals: The influence and effects of coming out in a mediated environment. Sexuality & Culture: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 13(1), 32-50.
Brown, J. D., Halpern, C. T. & L'Engle, K. L. (2005). Mass media as a sexual super peer for early maturing girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36(5), 420-427.