Media, Culture and Diversity
Summary of the UGent and VUB course of 2021 by lecturer Frederik Dhaenens
Seminar 4: on sexual diversity and popular media
culture
Case: le portrait de la jeune fille en feu – Sciamma
- Story in the 18th century about 2 women
- One has to get married, the other has to paint her
- She writes women into history
o Difficult time for them to get a job
- Sciamma explores the female gaze
o The male gaze = women are to be looked at objects
o The patriarchy is exposed without depicting men
o Erotic pleasure without objectification
Sexuality
Weeks: “sexual behaviour might have similar practices but very different connotations in
different contexts” (In Saudi-Arabia it is illegal to be gay)
Sexual orientation: What you feel attracted to romantically/sexually
Sexual behaviour: practices and acts
Sexual identity: what social construct you identify with
Constructing heterosexuality and homosexuality
- Practices that have been going on for ages (ancient Greece)
- Defined in late 19th century (the act, not the identity)
o Psychopatia Sexualis – Von Krafft-Ebbing ---------------->
o Homosexuality = bad
- In 20th century, first communities for homosexual acts
o Hirschfeld
o Call to decriminalise
- 1950s: changes in academia and society
o Kinsey
1
, Attention for female pleasure
Sexuality is a continuum
Rather gay/straight instead of ‘just gay/straight’
o Homophile movement
Demanding equal rights
Emphasis on ‘phile’ instead of ‘sexual’
Looking for tolerance
- 1960s – 1980s: Gay Liberation Movement
o Take pride in being gay (gay pride origins)
o Emphasise differences
o A lot of backlash (AIDS)
o Critique: ignoring working class, black
people and women
- 1980s – today: Grassroots movement and mainstream movement
o Grassroots movements
Try to challenge societal norms, question them
o Mainstream movement
Try to acquire legal change & focus on civil rights
o New labels & academia
LGBTQ+
Gender studies
Researching mediated sexual diversity (cultivation theory & queer media studies)
Cultivation theory (Gerbner):
- Symbolic annihilation of gay and lesbian identities (Gross) -------->
o The representations always ‘other’ them
- Through survey and content analysis
o Evaluating representations as positive or negative
o The effect on audiences
- Critique:
o Not looking at politics of representation
o Can surveys establish these notions?
o Ignoring audience’s agency
Queer media studies
- Why are sexual hierarchies accepted as normal?
- Questioning heteronormativity
2
Summary of the UGent and VUB course of 2021 by lecturer Frederik Dhaenens
Seminar 4: on sexual diversity and popular media
culture
Case: le portrait de la jeune fille en feu – Sciamma
- Story in the 18th century about 2 women
- One has to get married, the other has to paint her
- She writes women into history
o Difficult time for them to get a job
- Sciamma explores the female gaze
o The male gaze = women are to be looked at objects
o The patriarchy is exposed without depicting men
o Erotic pleasure without objectification
Sexuality
Weeks: “sexual behaviour might have similar practices but very different connotations in
different contexts” (In Saudi-Arabia it is illegal to be gay)
Sexual orientation: What you feel attracted to romantically/sexually
Sexual behaviour: practices and acts
Sexual identity: what social construct you identify with
Constructing heterosexuality and homosexuality
- Practices that have been going on for ages (ancient Greece)
- Defined in late 19th century (the act, not the identity)
o Psychopatia Sexualis – Von Krafft-Ebbing ---------------->
o Homosexuality = bad
- In 20th century, first communities for homosexual acts
o Hirschfeld
o Call to decriminalise
- 1950s: changes in academia and society
o Kinsey
1
, Attention for female pleasure
Sexuality is a continuum
Rather gay/straight instead of ‘just gay/straight’
o Homophile movement
Demanding equal rights
Emphasis on ‘phile’ instead of ‘sexual’
Looking for tolerance
- 1960s – 1980s: Gay Liberation Movement
o Take pride in being gay (gay pride origins)
o Emphasise differences
o A lot of backlash (AIDS)
o Critique: ignoring working class, black
people and women
- 1980s – today: Grassroots movement and mainstream movement
o Grassroots movements
Try to challenge societal norms, question them
o Mainstream movement
Try to acquire legal change & focus on civil rights
o New labels & academia
LGBTQ+
Gender studies
Researching mediated sexual diversity (cultivation theory & queer media studies)
Cultivation theory (Gerbner):
- Symbolic annihilation of gay and lesbian identities (Gross) -------->
o The representations always ‘other’ them
- Through survey and content analysis
o Evaluating representations as positive or negative
o The effect on audiences
- Critique:
o Not looking at politics of representation
o Can surveys establish these notions?
o Ignoring audience’s agency
Queer media studies
- Why are sexual hierarchies accepted as normal?
- Questioning heteronormativity
2
