Conner - Final Project

For my project I wanted to look more closely at societal perceptions of homosexuals and
homosexuals in the media, along with “straight privilege”. I believe that the media and pop
culture shapes the minds of people to think and act a certain way towards homosexuals. The
media creates an overgeneralized and often false stereotypical identity for homosexuals. Also I
believe that with being heterosexual comes privilege and many people are unaware of that
privilege. The media today utilizes Cultural Hegemony to create a popular consensus about how
all “gay” people act. We watch tv shows and movies that all stereotype and overgeneral
homosexuals in the same manner; as flamboyant etc... Consumers of pop culture and media
then see this and create a belief that all homosexuals are this way.“Our thoughts and values are
commonly shaped through media influence, whether good or bad” (Sarper, 2013). In addition
there is a clear heterosexual/homosexual binary that states that you are either one or the other
and if you are homosexual you are viewed in a negative way and stereotyped. “homosexuals
are often men, they are very interested in fashion, dress well, are extravagant, social,
self­absorbed and have high pitched voices” (Sarper, 2013). Heteronormativity is the cause for
the binary. Heteronormativity coincides with heterosexual privilege in the belief that the default
status of any romantic relationship is heterosexual and anything else is considered abnormal. “If
you are straight , you can live without ever having to think twice, face, confront, engage, or cope
with anything listed below. These privileges are granted to you, and many of them are things
you’ve likely taken for granted” (Killerman, 2014). In media and pop culture today there is a
clear heterosexual/homosexual binary and heteronormativity that impacts homosexuals
negatively. For my project I wanted to take a queer theory approach to hopefully disrupt those
socially constructed systems of meaning surrounding human sexuality. I wanted to queer the
media and switch roles with the use of some parodies. For the first part of my project I decided
to create a video about a straight male growing up in a homonormative society where instead of
the homosexuals being outcasted the heterosexuals were. I felt it was necessary to do this
queering of media so that an audience could see how ridiculous it is to outcast someone
because of their sexual orientation. For my Real Housewives parody I reversed the roles and
attempted to queer the media. I chose to make it about two men, who are very flamboyant and
stereotypical homosexuals. Also I wanted them to talk about having a “Straight Best Friend” and
instead of hearing all of the stereotypes in the media about homosexuals and gay best friends, I
wanted them to reverse the roles and talk about their straight best friends while making the
same overgeneralized statements about homosexuals. I really wanted it to be funny and light
hearted so that the audience enjoyed the film, however I hope that the audience realizes how
ridiculous the homosexual/heterosexual binary is, and that heteronormativity control most of
what we think about people and sexual preferences.

Killerman, S. (2014, August 10). 30 Examples of Heterosexual Privilege in the US. Retrieved
October 6, 2015.
Sarper, T. (2013, March 14). Stereotypes of Homosexuality in the Media. Retrieved October 6,
2015