Photograph by Joshua Roberts from Bloomberg/Getty Images for Time Magazine.
BY: SOPHIE LOVERING, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. This month celebrates all of the progress made toward equality for members of the LGBTQ+ community, but also serves as a reminder of the prejudices that still exist. To honor the month, I created a survey for women within the LGBTQ+ community concerning representation. Two women, both who identify as bisexual, anonymously answered this survey. Woman one is 20 years old and defines her membership within the LGBTQ+ community as “bisexual.” Woman two is 21 years old and has known she is bisexual since sixth grade, but kept it to herself “until the LGBTQ+ community seemed to emerge around [her] toward the end of high school;” all of her romantic relationships have been heterosexual, so she has found it difficult to truly feel like a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
When asked about representation in media, woman one discussed that there has been increasingly more LGBTQ+ representation, especially in television. Two bisexual characters that stood out to her were Petra from Jane the Virgin and Diaz from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She believes that these two shows adequately represent the women and do not tokenize the female characters by “making their sexuality a huge plot point.” Woman one is correct that representation has increased; according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), comedy is no longer the most LGBTQ+ inclusive genre [1]. Woman two discussed the other end of media representation, and wrote that “bisexual women are hyper-sexualised to [an] extent that is not seen with bisexual people of other genders.” Concerning other members of the LGBTQ+ community, woman two believes that media representation is very low, evidenced by the vast majority of commercials and advertisements that feature only straight, cisgender couples. Woman two is correct; according to GLAAD, only 12.8% of films released in 2017 contained LGBTQ+ characters [1]. Of these films, a majority featured only gay men, often excluding women from the narrative [1].
Concerning representation in politics, both women believe that there is much more work to be done. After discussing Kyrsten Sinema, United States Senator from Arizona, as the first openly bisexual Senator and as a role model, woman one argued that, despite marginal improvement, “a handful of elected officials doesn't nearly represent the LGBTQ+ community in actual American society.” She emphasized that, although it is great to see representation increasing, it is also important to see this change reflected in actual policies and legislation. Woman two agrees that representation is dismal: she wrote that female representation in politics is extremely low in comparison to women’s contribution to the general population, and that the representation of LGBTQ+ women in politics is “little to none.” Both women are correct; Power in Place recognizes that, at the current rate of progress, we will not achieve political gender parity for nearly 500 years.
After asking the survey respondents about representation in media and politics, I asked them where they felt the most influential; I was curious to see if younger women within the LGBTQ+ community find that politics is a less welcoming atmosphere than other spheres of life. Woman one had to think about this question for a while. She came to the conclusion that she feels most influential among her peers because they “genuinely and constructively listen to [her] thoughts and [they are] able to engage in productive, intellectual conversations.” She has found that older adults are often overly confident that their views must be correct given their experience or arrogance, or both. Woman two wrote that she feels “the most influential in [her] closest circle of family and friends;” beyond this sphere, she does not feel like she could be very influential at all.
I cannot speak for the survey respondents beyond their own responses, however I think it is critical to remember that what some may consider representation is in reality clouded by its actual impact on individuals. Descriptive representation does not necessarily translate into actual changes, and both the type and amount of representation affects individuals’ perceptions of their impact on their environments.
References
[1] The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. “Overview of Findings.” 2018. https://www.glaad.org/sri/2018/overview.
Sophie Lovering is a rising junior at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and minoring in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies. She is involved in the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal, Penn Special Olympics, Penn's Beyond Arrests: Re-Thinking Systematic Oppression, and Penn Women's Rowing. She is interested in criminal justice reform and social justice advocacy.