CONSERVATISM IN DRAG: SAFE SALEABLE GAY CHARACTERS IN A PROGRESSIVE EMBELLISHMENT by SHANNON SUE RISHKY B.S., Boise State University, 2008 M.S., Boise State University, 2010 A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Sociology 2019 © 2019 SHANNON SUE RISHKY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This thesis for the Master of Arts degree by Shannon Sue Rishky has been approved for the Department of Sociology by Jeffrey Montez de Oca, Chair Heather Albanesi Abby Ferber Date May 8, 2019 ii Rishky, Shannon Sue (M.A., Sociology) Conservatism in Drag: Safe Saleable Gay Characters in a Progressive Embellishment Thesis directed by Associate Professor Jeffrey Montez de Oca ABSTRACT In the twenty-first century, gay men have been portrayed more frequently and positively in the media. However, many scholars assert that traditional hegemonic and heteronormative ideology drives narratives when constructing gay characteristics. This research adds to the ongoing debate over mediated constructions of gay men’s gender performances but also adds age to its intersectional analysis. In this paper, the inconsistencies in gay characters’ gender performances in the programs Shameless, Six Feet Under and Grace and Frankie were studied utilizing a qualitative content and frame analysis and applying a Marxist intersectional approach to identify gender performances at the intersections of race, class, and age. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to acknowledge my thesis committee, Dr. Jeffrey Montez de Oca, Dr. Heather Albanesi, and Dr. Abby Ferber for their commitment to my education, research, and graduate thesis. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 II LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................. 5 Hegemonic Masculinity ................................................................................................................ 6 Intersectional Construction of Gender and Family ...................................................................... 7 Advertising Culture ...................................................................................................................... 9 Reception Studies ...................................................................................................................... 11 Age ............................................................................................................................................. 12 Gender Queer and the TQI+ ...................................................................................................... 14 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 17 III METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 18 Research Design ......................................................................................................................... 18 Sample ....................................................................................................................................... 19 Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 20 Measures.................................................................................................................................... 21 IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................... 24 Shameless .................................................................................................................................. 26 Six Feet Under ............................................................................................................................ 32 Grace and Frankie ...................................................................................................................... 37 V CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 43 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 46 v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION There has been a rise of LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and more) representation in the media during the twenty-first century. Records show that only 50 U.S. television programs between the years 1970 and 1999 had a cast member representative of LGBTQI+, but by 2010, more than 250 different programs were inclusive of LGBTQI+ characters (wikipedia.org). Media content is intended to support consumerism and promote imagery, narratives, and cultural ideas that reinforce social, political, and economic conditions (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000; Gamson et al., 1992; Hart, 2000). The ongoing debates over civil rights for the LGBTQI+ community and the increase in their media presence provides gay culture economic worth. With these broader social and political issues about the values and rights of the LGBTQI+ community there has been a shift in the market conditions. The media aids corporate interests and the interests of their corporate owners through the cultural images they produce (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000; Gamson et al., 1992; Hart, 2000). In so doing, the media has a significant role in the U.S. consumer society because they can design social frames that promote commodification and influence the consumption practices of the viewers’ lifestyle choices. 1 The relevance of gender and sexuality within this shift is because the media is accustomed to writing and producing from a heterosexual/heteronormative perspective, lifestyle and culture. Heteronormativity is the idea that there are two distinct genders based on biological sex, and thus, sexuality, gender identity, and gender roles are assumed to be innate or natural (Avila-Saavedra, 2009). The problem is that while there are now a diverse range of television shows that present themselves as edgy and challenging worldviews on cable and television networks, broader reactionary markets still tend to structure programming content that naturalizes heteronormativity for LGBTQI+ couples by depicting one partner as feminine and the other as masculine (Bartholomaeus & Tarrant, 2015). The heteronormative standpoint is that the biological male is by nature linked to a gender order that is reflective of a heterosexual man in his identity, sexuality, and roles (Avila-Saaved, 2009). Although a naturalized gender order that links ideas about the biological superiority of men to dominance, the writers rely on hegemonic masculinity, that is, an idealized male gender performance, to further establish male dominance between the men of a gay partnership (Connell, 1987; Donaldson, 1993). As a result, the media emphasizes paradoxical realities for gay couples by utilizing gender code- switching in masculinities centered on race, class, or age to articulate traditional heterosexual gender scripts. These scripts are the written form of speech in a screenplay used by the actors to perform their character. Narratives, which are the way that different elements of characters performances are organized to tell a meaningful story. Discourses, which are the spoken communication between characters interactions. And images that strongly reflect the gender order. Unfortunately, hegemonic masculinity is what 2 reinforces structures of oppression, dominance, and once again, a particular gender order (Bartholomaeus & Tarrant, 2015; Connell, 1987; Donaldson, 1993). Theoretical Framing Intersectional evaluation links macro and microstructures of identity performances at the intersections of race, gender, age, and class. This approach has been used for the study of various social positionings and the experiences shaped by common practices and norms (Carbado, Crenshaw, Mays, & Tomlinson, 2013; Cho, Crenshaw, & McCall, 2013). Using this approach to examine media representation of LGBTQI+ helps illustrate how the dimensions of identity performances are constructed in mediated interactions (Carbado et al., 2013; Cho et al., 2013; Collins, 1998). A Marxist intersectionality approach engages the analysis of class through institutional transformations and articulations by situating meaning in lived experiences that traverse numerous racial, ethnic, gendered, aged, sexualized, and geographical identities and create various economic circumstances (Bohrer, 2018; Hudis, 2018; Moran, 2018). Institutional sites express the various levels of structures that are emphasized by the materialistic dialectics of a Marxist theoretical approach to intersectionality (Hudis, 2018; McCoid, 2008). It allows for the analysis of individual oppression linked to larger structural and cultural institutions drawing attention to historical processes of inequality related to larger systems of imperialism, patriarchy, and capitalism (McCoid, 2008). The state, economy and social institutions convey culture because media production and distribution arise in particular economic and political systems (Bohrer, 2018; Durham & Kellner, 2006). Combining Marxist materialism that emphasizes a dialectical approach to 3 political economy with intersectional approaches to identity performances offers a better method to evaluate gendered media representations