Sex, Stereotypes, TV, Books

Anyone notice how a few years ago television networks decided to jump on the interracial

relationship bandwagon? It became the “in thing” to show that you were “cool” with interracial

couples; thus all the newer shows have at least one interracial couple. It used to always be a

white girl dating a black guy but that has turned around also. More and more on television

shows you see white males dating black females although the reverse is also still popular.

One Tree Hill joined in and took on two birds with one stone by introducing the age inappropriate interracial romance between the young black basketball coach “Skills” and his best friend’s older white mother. This whole scenario type – once absolutely forbidden has become the norm rather than the exception and I’m certain Archie Bunker is rolling over in his archived can. That’s all fine. I don’t personally have a problem with it – date whoever makes you happy; but I do think the networks are overdoing it in that it doesn’t seem quite as prevalent in reality as it does on the tube. Still, if you don’t like it, change the channel.

That aside, the newest cause for television networks to espouse and prove their tolerance

and modernity is the question of gay couples – be they either lesbian or homosexual. It

has become fashionable for the female protagonist (in romantic comedies and sitcoms especially) to have the “gay” best friend – the flamboyant snappy dresser who likes to arrange flowers and dispense advice in a preppy, I’m so happy voice. This trend has spread throughout all areas of television and movies to the point where the gay person – never even hinted at in the past - has become a common character in all kinds of shows from sitcoms to hard drama.

This trend toward openness is somewhat more realistic in that it is also more widespread

outside of television, especially among our younger generation. I have four adult children

ranging from 19 to 32. My 19 year old son is constantly telling me about his gay/bisexual/lesbian acquaintances at school who seem to comprise a much larger percentage of the adolescent population than ever before – especially young women who think being “BI” is cool. Several of the recent girlfriends seem to not understand why their boyfriend would be upset if she flirts with another girl... It’s definitely a thing with today’s teenagers. While some of these self avowed bisexual or gay teens are undoubtedly “for real” I don’t personally

believe that they all are. It seems to me that a fairly large percentage of them just think it’s “COOL” to be seen as such. This is more prevalent with the girls than the boys but maybe that’s because, despite this trend, even today people will either ignore or smile at two women dancing on the floor at the local bar but let two guys get out there and they’re still likely to get assaulted outside by the local intolerant redneck... This just points out the basic double standard that still holds true amongst heterosexual males in general: Straight men love to picture themselves in a “threesome” – but that mental picture always includes themselves with two women. The same guys who don’t see any problem with asking a woman to be

willing to have another female involved in her sex life will puke at the mere suggestion that a straight woman may like the idea of having a threesome with herself and two men. None of the old “good for the goose is good for the gander” in that perspective. What’s the difference at the root of the matter? I can’t quite fathom it – you expect the woman to be all right with introducing lesbian trends but will kill at the very idea of a second male in your own bedroom. DOUBLE STANDARDS

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I was at my local public library yesterday and went into the “Young Adult” section – i.e., the

section where books that are supposed to appeal to teenagers are kept. I was looking at the new books there and picked up one to read the synopsis on the back cover: As far as I could tell the only point of the synopsis was that there was not enough gay and lesbian friendly literature on the shelves so this book had been written to correct that. That’s really about what the plot line said. I have no idea what the story line of the book is supposed to be but I’m certain that if I were gay it would be on my “MUST READ” list. Whatever. My personal opinion, as someone who is straight and happily married but has several friends who tend to lean in other directions shall we say, is that unless you want pornography as opposed to literature why should the sexual proclivities of the characters matter at all? If it’s germane to the plot that’s fine but is it the whole plot? Clive Barker tends to have homosexual protagonists in his books and he’s been on best seller lists for many years. Christopher Rice -

son of Anne - has recently become popular and has several books published and his characters also tend to be homosexual. So what? Their sexual leanings are not the main point of the plot and the stories are good. Overall the same rule applies here as what I said about the television programs – if it bothers you don’t read it.