For most of my teen and adult life, I have always considered myself as an extremely liberal and open-minded person.
I always stood for LGBTQA rights, never really understood why authorities were so intent on controlling emotions of other people and even in TV shows and all, never really had any issue with a character who was not straight, per say.
However, it is only after getting acquainted with a few shows like Sense8, Yuri on Ice (it is an amazing anime serious, that is just a must watch for everyone), How To Get Away With Murder and getting into the fandoms of a few other shows, have I realized exactly how deep the heteronormativity is around us.
These shows and being in certain fandom’s, allowed me to see that for all my talk of being liberal and accepting, I was still treating them as a rare occurrence and not something that is normal.
Which in turn has made me question the blatant normalization of straight couples that happens on our TV screens and why exactly is the representation of different sexualities, genders and more so very important in our society.
Read More: Imagine A World Where Being “Gay” The Norm & Being “Straight” Would Be The Minority
Why You Pushing Your Gay Thing Everywhere?
You know, this is an actual line, written on various Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr posts that I have read.
People have actually said this to other bloggers, who are just showing their excitement over their favourite characters getting together, or if they want them to get together.
And the alarming thing about this was that these are ordinary people, like you and me, who also seem to come from good and educated backgrounds and yet still have such a narrow-minded thinking.
I do not ever see any gay person or even any individual for that matter, saying to a straight person to not push their straight thing everywhere.
Because they don’t need to.
That straight thing is already there, every single movie, every single TV show, music videos, books, tabloids you name it and the straight thing is there.
Representation Matters So Much Guys
It seems that even if it might be slow, but the West is slowing understanding the importance of representation, and has a number of really amazing shows that are not just fan servicing with the obligatory gay friend, but is actually creating very good and fleshed out characters who also happen to be gay or trans or something out of the societal normal.
I truly wish that Indian TV and films too would suit and start to bring in such characters.
Media, especially film and television can go a long way in normalizing something, and so showing good characters who represent this part of our society that we have been ignoring for so long allows the normal public to realize that there is nothing wrong if one is gay or trans or mentally disabled or any more of those things.
I would like to call out independent Indian films like Dear Dad, that starred Roja star Anand Swamy as a father trying to bring his son to terms with his homosexuality along with Loev and the TV serial Shakti — Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki which features a transgender character in the lead and follows the characters trials and obstacles.
Although the TV show does go into the same melodrama as found on most other serials, but just the fact that it is about a transgender character as a lead it a big leap towards acceptance.
Image Credits: Google Images
Other Recommendations:
http://edtimes.in/2016/10/here-is-why-loev-is-not-your-conventional-gay-romance/
http://edtimes.in/2017/08/10-unusual-types-of-alternative-sexuality-you-should-know-about/
