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But
as always, the numbers don't tell the whole story, because
although there are fewer lesbian and
bisexual characters on TV, in other ways gay men clearly get the
short end of the stick compared to lesbian visibility--most notably,
when it comes to public displays of affection on television.
To
put it simply, gay women can kiss on TV, gay men can't.
Oh,
there are the occasional network television shows that have featured
a kiss between two gay men, like the Dawson's Creek series
finale last season and the occasional joke kiss between Will and
Jack. But you can literally count the number of times this has
occurred in the last five years.
Even
on cable TV, it's rare to see two gay men kiss unless you're watching
Queer as Folk or Six Feet Under--despite the
fact that Queer as Folk has been on the air for several
years now and should have made gay male kisses on TV less taboo.
Women,
on the other hand, have much greater latitude
in this area. Last season, we saw lesbian kisses on Buffy,
ER, Friends, Firefly, Fastlane,
The Twilight Zone, Soul Food,
and All My Children, not to mention Queer as Folk
and The Wire; in the first three months of this
season, we've already seen multiple lesbian kisses on Nip/Tuck
as well as on lesbian-themed episodes of Dead Like Me, Boomtown,
and The Handler.
TV
execs still seem to believe lesbian kisses between straight female
characters and/or characters who aren't going to be around for
more than an episode or two is far more palatable to the American
public than kisses between regular characters, so we still have
a ways to go before we're achieved equal treatment.
But
even with these challenges, kisses between women still far outnumber
kisses between men on TV.
There
are also no bisexual men on television, since apparently
male bisexuality is the TV exec's kryptonite. There aren't many
bisexual women on TV, either, but there are at least a few (Maggie
on K Street, Lena on All My Children, Alice
on The L Word).
Despite
these differences, there are a few
common themes in the representation of gay men
and women on TV. The majority of both gay men and gay women on
TV are white and under 40, and conform to conventional standards
of beauty (read: thin and attractive).
In
ensemble series, the storylines of gay characters of any gender
are almost always marginalized compared to the storylines of the
straight characters (ER, NYPD Blue, Two and Half Men, Sex
& The City, etc.), unless the series is on HBO
or Showtime.
And
ultimately, the portrayals of gay men, lesbians, and bisexual
women on TV are all still subject to popular stereotypes
and misconceptions, even if the nature of these stereotypes differ
for each group.
