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Women in female drag is the norm in fashion ads, but Calvin Klein's CK One campaign was all about gender-bending and androgyny. Lesbian model Jenny Shimizu appears in several ads, her jeans worn loose and low-slung, her hair short-cropped, always posed so her tattoo of a woman straddling a wrench that says “Strap-on” is visible.

How have we been faring overall? In Blackwood's opinion “there are many more positive ads in 2006 than just five years ago.” Wilke believes that “there has been growth in all types of representation: growth in positive, growth in stereotyped, homophobic approaches, and also in equal representations that are inclusive.” But he adds, “There haven't been many more authentic representations of lesbians. They're still pretty consistently across the board male fantasy representations, even while the volume has increased dramatically.”

Gay men, on the other hand, “are making a little bit more progress than anyone else. There are more representations of them in less stereotyped conditions.”

Of course, the larger a market, the more marketing. According to PR/marketing firm Witeck-Combs Communications, the gay and lesbian consumer market hit $610 billion in 2005. And apparently we demonstrate a high degree of brand loyalty compared to the population at large, as demonstrated, for example, by the recent Ford boycott fiasco and subsequent resurrection of gay support after the company ended its capitulation to an anti-gay organization.

According to the Gay Press Report, gay and lesbian publications had $212 million in ad spending in 2005, and more than half of those ads contained gay-specific content. But there is less marketing directed at lesbians than at gay men, and in both cases the target audience is usually white and middle class.

“Marketing is based on research, which is done by the media and is extremely expensive,” Blackwood says. “The media that can afford the research is mostly consumed by gay white males.” She describes a self-perpetuating cycle: “A lesbian magazine with a readership of 60,000 can't afford syndicated research. When more publications for lesbians and people of color can afford to do the research, we'll see more marketing directed at them.”

But ads shape society as well as reflect it. The Commercial Closet reminds us, “Advertising has the power to change much more than just buying habits—it can also change how we think about each other.”

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