Author Archives: Tateanne Green

Personal Reflection – Tateanne Green

To start off I want to admit that I was beyond confident, almost to an arrogant degree, that I had a firm grasp of what it means to be a woman. I was certain that I knew everything (well mostly everything) about what being a woman entails. I felt that especially as a Black woman that my experiences with both race and gender were enough to make me knowledgeable about the world and how I and women like me move throughout it. Seeing that Angela Davis was one of the required readings also gave me enough confidence to know that in this class my experience would be considered and intertwined into the makings of the course and that I would feel included in the dialogue. Learning about the different waves of feminism, seemingly clued me into a new unfound world of liberal and progressive female movements that I didn’t even know existed. Thinking back over the course of the semester, what I didn’t realize is that in this class I would learn and discover that as a woman, regardless of how you identify, all of our experiences are unique as well as important. There is no single way to live as a woman nor is it possible to sum the female experience into one monolith dialogue.

First off, I have to admit that I really enjoyed writing my blog post. While writing my post I took a personal risk and stepped out of my comfort zone. Typically, I focus on writing things that I feel like that I can connect to on a personal level, and as someone that is CIS and straight, writing about LGBTQ+ representation in the media wasn’t something that I felt like I could do effectively. However, this changed after watching the YouTube video on trans representation. While watching the video, the issues and topics that they discussed resonated with me in a way that I couldn’t have imagined. Out of all the readings and videos (even from my Idol Angela Davis), I feel like I took the most from that video. Even as someone who isn’t trans, I can understand why trans people would want to see themselves represented in more progressive and healthier ways. As a small yet growing group in our society, trans people are often stigmatized in the same ways of other minority groups. It is easy for people to fear-monger or promote negative assumptions about a group they aren’t familiar with, and this often has detrimental effects on these groups. When thinking about LGBTQ+ representation (specifically trans representation) I am reminded of how important it is to have allies both in and outside of our social groups that can help uplift and promote healthy and productive discourse on new ways to engage with these types of issues. Being able to publish my post to the blog is a way of helping to facilitate this discussion and ensure that more people, regardless of if they’re LGBTQ+ or not, see and hear the issues that impact the community.

In addition to the blog post, I also had a huge takeaway from the group project. When researching and learning about reproductive justice and abortion, I was shocked to learn about some of the lesser-known issues that relate to abortion. When breaking down abortion by race, I was surprised to learn that abortion laws have a greater impact on women of color. Oftentimes, when abortion and abortion laws are mentioned on the news details like this are left out. Something that I found particularly troubling about this is that when people take a pro-life stance, they are severely undereducated about the details and circumstances that surround abortion, and this makes the discourse on abortion seem even more troubling. I’ve come to some personal conclusions on the matter and one of the more grating ones is that abortion is seen more as a political topic than it is a women’s health topic and ultimately this has a negative impact on all women in the present as well as the future. By adding my research to the group project, I supplemented my group’s overall take on the other social issues that impact abortion like racism and the need for abortion to be depicted in more accurate ways in the media. When the true stats behind abortion and restrictive abortion laws are so distressing and impactful, it is important for reproductive justice to be taken seriously and more fairly by the government.

Furthermore, I sincerely enjoyed the readings and other components of the class. Seeing the gender texts that other classmates brought in exposed me to new viewpoints and encouraged me to look up other content that surrounds feminists and gender discussions on the internet. I found myself engaging more with this type of content on the internet and learning from it. One of my favorite things about the class was that it was a safe space for us to share and learn new things from each other in combination with the coursework. Coming to class and being able to hear about how different students interpreted the readings and other media assigned was enlightening and I feel as though I learned valuable information that I will be able to utilize in the present as well as the future. This was my first time learning about trans experiences as well as learning further information about women’s movements and the deep history behind these things that isn’t known to most people. While we did learn a lot in this class over the course of the semester, most of it felt engaging to me on a personal note. Using the class site to submit work and view the work of my peers made me feel like I was a part of a community and not another student on a roster. Rarely can I say that a class invoked this kind of feeling in me and will cherish this learning experience in my future college endeavors.

Reproductive Justice Presentation: Yara Alhusari, Tateanne Green, Aliyah Warr, Sabrina Vahobova, and Lindsay Hernandez

REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE PRESENTATION

LGBTQ+ Representation in the Media

With new advancements in technology, media has become an extremely integral part of today’s society, especially with the younger generations. Due to the prevalence of media and how much it is consumed daily, it has also become more important for representations of differing identities to be a greater part of what we see. It is thus important for everyone to feel represented no matter their race, age, body type, weight, gender, and sexuality. Moreover, because the media is such a big part of our lives, it can often dictate what people deem as normal and accepted. Films and TV shows are one of many ways in which we see people that embodied our traits portrayed.

These forms of visual media essentially tell us what’s normal and what’s not and because of this, everyone wants to feel represented in some way in order to feel like they have a place in our society. Not only does this validate and make one feel fulfilled, but it also aids in educating those who don’t occupy certain spaces. It raises awareness and helps promote the inclusivity of these diverse peoples within our communities, which is why social movements often focus on this topic so adamantly. Seeing yourself or aspects of yourself portrayed is important and this is especially true in the LGBTQ+ community. The impact that positive queer representation has had and will continue to have on society is huge and there needs to be more instances of this in the media to ensure that queer people benefit from their stories and experiences.

The portrayal of queer characters in TV shows and films, for example, has seen a huge influx in recent years and people that consider themselves LGBTQ+ are being represented more now than ever before. The “gay best friend” could be seen as one example of queer individuals being seen as normal in the media, but these types of portrayal are not enough. It is important to note that, the portrayal of queer people in the media hasn’t always been the most progressive and this impacts the ability for queer representation to be seen as normal. In Queer written by Karen Tongson it states that, “At times “queer” has come to mean a particular set of sexual practices, positions, and proclivities. In the past fifteen years or so, scholars have vigorously debated whether or not queer constitutes any form of antinormativity” (2). Queer-identifying people have unique experiences in the world, but these experiences are more than the stereotypes that we may have been exposed to. Stereotypical queer roles should not be used to make queer portrayals in the media seen as normal. Reducing queer people to harmful stereotypes in the media robs them of the opportunity to showcase their experiences and essentially reduces them to one-dimensional characters with little to no depth that does not accurately reflect their lived experiences.

Particularly, trans representation in the media has a long way to go to ensure that trans people are allowed progressive roles in the media. The YouTube video titled, AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure shines an important light on the topic of trans representation in film and TV. In the video, one of the interviewees featured briefly at the start of the video makes an important point about trans depictions in TV and film. She states that, “There is a one-word solution to almost all the problems in trans media, we just need more. In that way, the occasional clumsy representation wouldn’t matter as much because that would be all that there is” (9:19 – 9:27). More trans representation would further promote the idea that queer identities – or more specifically Trans identities – are normative and that would benefit queer people as well as non-queer people that view and engage with media. There needs to be more portrayals of trans people navigating dating, for example. Dating is something that we all do, seeing a trans person do this on TV or film would help promote the more normative portrayals of queer people.

In addition, this increase in overall queer representation will ensure that the more impressionable members of the queer community, possibly young, closeted LGBTQ+ members, see people that they relate to in a positive light. In AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure, one of the panelists Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton points out that LGBTQ+ people, particularly youth, often face issues like homelessness and the lack of true LGBTQ+ representation aids in these issues being overlooked and ignored by Hollywood and the media. She also points out that an increase in this representation could aid in actual LGBTQ+ getting access to resources that can improve their lives (26:00 – 27:30). With more LGBTQ+ films and TV shows being made, that opens up more opportunities for aspiring LGBTQ+ actors and creators to create media that reflect their own experiences. This would also provide economic opportunities for LGBTQ+ people both in and out of the media.

Furthermore, it is important to note that representation needs to be more than just “diversity hires”. Tongson states that, “Aren’t-we-GLAAD approaches to quantifying queer visibility—that is, measuring with exactness how many gay characters, shows, and actors are on TV or in films, and whether or not these portrayals are positive or negative—have created their own set of limitations around our encounters with all forms of media, not just explicitly queer representations with identifiable queer bodies, characters and ‘acts’” (2). I agree with this sentiment. LQBTQ+ representation needs to have some significant backing behind it. It simply isn’t enough to just add an LGBTQ+ character into a movie or TV show. There needs to be more to their stories than harmful stereotypes or biased and unbalanced portrayals. Diversity hires aren’t enough and at times can be disingenuous.

To conclude, LGBTQ+ portrayals and presentations have seen some inspirational and important milestones. There are movies like Moonlight and TV shows like Pose that are having huge cultural impacts on the media we watch. There are still some ways to go, but trans and queer representation will continue to grow and progress thanks to technology and younger generations.

Citations

“AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure” YouTube, uploaded by New York City Anti-Violence Project, 22 Feb. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXWzGcxBW2E

Tongson, Karen. “Queer.” Keywords For Media Studies, 20 Mar. 2017, keywords.nyupress.org/media-studies/essay/queer/

Representation is Important for Us All

One of the clear messages that we’ve seen in today’s society is that representation in the media we consume is extremely important. Personal traits such as race, age, body type, weight, gender, and sexuality matter when it comes to shaping who we are as people. These traits are not exclusive to individuals and the need and desire to have these traits represented in the media has become important in how we see ourselves in society. Demographic changes and social movements are some of the more dynamic reasons behind new influxes of media representation, but these new influxes can be marred with issues. While representation is important, how this representation is executed is even more important. There needs to be an important emphasis on the nature of this representation so that the impact of the representation can have positive impacts on the people and communities being represented.

Take queer representation in the media, for example, as it has seen a huge influx in recent years and people that consider themselves LGBTQ+ are being represented in all forms of media, particularly movies and TV more now than ever before. Despite this, the representation of these groups in the media hasn’t always been the most positive or progressive and this type of representation only serves to further perpetuate negative stereotypes of these communities. The Youtube video titled, AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure shines an important light on the topic of queer representation in media. In the video, one of the interviewees featured in the trailer at the start of the video makes an important point about trans representation in particular. She states in the video that, “There is a one word solution to almost all the problems in Trans media, we just need more. In that way, the occasional clumsy representation wouldn’t matter as much because that would be all that there is” (9:19 – 9:27). This statement in particular addresses the idea that LGBTQ+ representation needs substance in conjunction with numerous instances of exposure. Essentially this means that problematic Trans representation will also be a factor, but more representation overall means representation there will be room for more positive representation as well. There is no doubt that Trans representation has progressed in recent years, but there are questions that arise. Has trans and other forms of LGBTQ+ representation come far enough? Who benefits from this representation?

Representation starts somewhere but it is important that it progresses and adapts as time goes on. This progression will ensure that the more impressionable members of the queer community, possibly young closeted LGBTQ+ members, see people that they relate to in a positive light. In AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure, one of the panelists Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton points out that LGBTQ+ people youth often face issues like homelessness, and that lack of true LGBTQ+ representation in the media aids in these issues being overlooked and ignored by Hollywood and the media. She also points out that an increase in this representation could aid in actual LGBTQ+ individuals getting access to resources that can improve their lives (26:00 – 27:30). In this way, the representation would improve not only the way queer people are viewed and portrayed, but it would provide economic opportunities for LGBTQ+ in the process. Positive representation in the media is important not only to the individuals being represented but also to the people that may not be members of that particular community. Exposure to social groups and communities that we aren’t a part of can alleviate the anxiety and biases that we develop from not venturing outside of our “in groups”. Representation can spark important conversations within our society that benefit us all.

Although representation in itself is important, it is important to note that representation needs to be more than just “diversity hires”. In Queer written by Karen Tongson it states that, “Aren’t-we-GLAAD approaches to quantifying queer visibility—that is, measuring with exactness how many gay characters, shows, and actors are on TV or in films, and whether or not these portrayals are positive or negative—have created their own set of limitations around our encounters with all forms of media, not just explicitly queer representations with identifiable queer bodies, characters and ‘acts’” (2). I agree with this sentiment. LQBTQ+ representation needs to have some significant backing behind it. It simply isn’t enough to just add a LGBTQ+ character into a movie or TV show. There needs to be more to their stories than harmful stereotypes or biased and unbalanced representation. It is clear that LGBTQ+ identified people are a part of our society, but it needs to be clear that these people also have unique experiences that deserve attention as well.