Perspectives of LGBTQ emerging adults on the depiction and impact of LGBTQ media representation

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) young people have been increasingly represented in traditional (offline) media over the past two decades. However, research had not adequately focused on the content of contemporary representations, how such depictions impact LGBTQ young people, or how young people's experiences are affected by the present context characterized by the rapidly increasing prevalence of new (online) media. Utilizing grounded theory with a sample (n = 19) of emerging adults (age 18-22), this study investigates: (1) messages about sexual orientation and/or gender identity LGBTQ emerging adults receive from LGBTQ representations in traditional media; (2) potential differences in the experiences of LGBTQ emerging adults with traditional media compared to new media; and (3) how consumption of these media messages impact LGBTQ emerging adults. Results indicate that while traditional media (particularly television) creates a common dialogue and validates identity, it continues to represent LGBTQ people as one-dimensional and stereotypical, ignores many LGBTQ sub-groups, limits LGBTQ young people's perceptions of their future trajectories, and offers no opportunities for critique. In contrast, emerging new media offers new, important, and valued spaces for discussion and creativity. ARTICLE HISTORY

‘Bizarre Sapphic midlife crisis’: (Re)thinking LGBTQ representation, age and mental health

“…Recently, my mum started watching Holby City with me. This gave me hope that if I came out to her she would react positively.Though younger people most commonly watch mobile and on-demand services outside of family viewing contexts (Nielsen, 2017; Ofcom, 2017), here we see how such contexts might retain their value; as has been found elsewhere, a good reception for LGBTQ characters and storylines helps younger viewers to come out to friends and family (Gomillion and Giuliano, 2011; McInroy and Craig, 2017). When we spoke, Catherine Russell shared her surprise at how many young women had told her about the problems they were facing in being open about their sexuality.…”

“…Existing studies have considered the LGBTQ identity, television and mental health matrix; some of the most recent have looked at the impact of media representation (e.g. McInroy and Craig, 2017), the connections between LGB characters and LGB viewers’ sense of self (Bond and Miller, 2017), the reasons that LGB individuals watch LGB-inclusive television (Winderman and Smith, 2016), the links between queer resilience and media representation (Craig et al., 2015) and the influence of media role models (Gomillion and Giuliano, 2011). This list is not intended to be exhaustive, rather demonstrative, both of the significance of the connections between media representation and LGBTQ lives, and of a tendency to focus academic attention on youth and adolescence: only Gomillion and Guiliano (2011) and Winderman and Smith (2016) focus on broader populations, and almost half of Winderman and Smith’s (2016) participants cite their occupation as ‘student’, from which we might infer a considerable number are aged 18–24.…”

“…In seeming unsure of what to do with characters once they enter a same-sex relationship, Holby is certainly not alone – screen homosexuality has historically been more episodic than serial (McCarthy, 2003). At a fundamental level, viewers enjoy the validation offered by representation (McInroy and Craig, 2017; Scanlon and Lewis, 2016), but are not satisfied simply with that.…”

“…4 The article draws on written survey responses to consider the impact(s) of ‘Berena’, as framed by respondents. It is commonplace to see academic discussions of queer 5 media representation begin with an account of how much better things are, qualitatively and quantitatively, than has previously been the case, yet our investigations of the impact of this new visibility, particularly for LGBTQ viewers, have not kept pace with this proliferation (McInroy and Craig, 2017). Winderman and Smith (2016) call specifically for research into particular portrayals of LGB characters and their impact on LGB viewers, with emphasis on the links between television viewing and mental health.…”

Media Representation of Online Maid Hiring System (SMO): A Critical Discourse Analysis

“…It refers to representing the minorities in roles that protect the status quo which as the military or police. The fourth type is "respect" which refers to the equal display of positive and negative characteristics of social groups (Feezell, 2018;Lumsden, Morgan, 2017;McInroy, Craig, 2017).…”