1. Representations of sexuality
in the media

2. Starter: Sexuality and Moral Panics
• Paedophiles
in 2001, the Daily Mail asked:
"Who can forget the targeting of an innocent children's
doctor in Portsmouth by a populace too ignorant and
enraged to recognise the difference between
paedophile and paediatrician?“
Read the news Article “Whispering Game” from the
BBC 2006 to find the truth.

3. Whispering Game
Which aspects of
this story make it
constitute a moral Explain the
panic confusion
Identify and
compare the
How does this
roles of the
story compare to
various media an urban myth ?
commentators

4. WWLT
• By the end of today’s lesson you will
• Know examples of moral panics to do with
sexuality are created in the media
• Know how homosexuality is distorted often in
the media
• Be able to compare and evaluate your
anecdotal knowledge with sociological
discourse about homosexuality in the media

5. Sexuality: refers to peoples sexual Homosexuality - Illegal
characteristics & their sexual behaviour
until 1967 In Britain
Sexual orientation: refers to the type of
people that individuals are either physically Homosexuals are
or romantically attracted to. subjected to periodic
Heterosexual: involves a sexual orientation moral panics regarding
towards people of the opposite sex their supposedly
Homosexuality: involves a sexual orientation ‘unnatural’ practices
towards people of the same sex
Media Representation of Don’t forget moral
Sexuality panics !
“gay plague”
Representation of homosexuality
Gay men: Gay women:
Things are changing:
effeminate & butch
More gay and lesbian
camp short hair
characters in dramas, films
macho aggressive
& soaps, such as; Brokeback
deviant hairy
Mountain, Holyoaks and Will
flamboyant dungarees
and Grace.
funny

6. 1980’s Moral panic : HIV “Gay Plague”
The media vilified
Rock Hudson changed it
Hollywood charged against it

7. British TV Advert
• With typical reserve the British TV advert
warning us about HIV contained Lilies and a
tombstone!

8. 1990’s moral panic: Promsicuous
teenage girls & benefits
Newspapers pilloried young teenage mums
The Sun got it wrong
And little Britain was there to satirise it all

9. Media Representations of teenage
sexuality
• Assumes:
16 plus sexually active
Contraception female reponsibility
No examples of how to deal with safe sex or STI’s
Still stereotypes of females talking men boasting
Failure to represent sexual diversity
No positive images of gay and lesbian
Extension: read the Batchelor et al paper

10. Homosexuality
• effeminate & camp
• macho
• deviant
• flamboyant
• funny

11. Soap operas – ongoing less
stereotypical
• The BBC has been flooded with 145
complaints after screening a gay kiss on
EastEnders before the 9pm watershed.
• Daily Mail 2008
But still under represneted as characters
Gauntlett

12. Prime time changing :

13. Heterosexual portrayal of Homosexual
• Sanitised
• Not scare away advertisers
• Gay straight romance

14. Queer As Folk
• Russell T Davies
Series, US version
was boycotted by
brands such as
Abercrombie and
Fitch

15. Advertising and gays
• Commercial closet – 1700 ads from 33
countries
• Acceptance
• Pink pound (Ikea first gay advert)
• Women kissing “eroticised”
• Gay men, object of women’s desire

16. Task
• Choose one of the themes from today
• Research in more depth and produce a mind
map which you can share
• Try to reflect commentary

17. Review

18. Put here, one question
which you would like
answering
Put here, 2 new ideas
you would like to know
more about
Put here, three
things you have
learned today