Crossroads of Culture: The Roots of "Down Low", LGBT-Focused Television  

The theme of this year's American Studies Association's annual conference was "Crossroads of Culture." American studies examines both the national culture of the United States as well as its many subcultures. Scholars from traditional fields such as history, political science, literature, sociology, anthropology, as well as ethnic studies, women and gender studies, and sexuality studies united in November for four days in Atlanta to present research on topics as varied and diverse as American culture itself.

Although few panels were entirely dedicated to sexuality studies, many individual papers focused on sexuality in relation to other subjects. Jeffrey McCune, of Northwestern University's performance studies program, for example, traced the development of an African American "rhetoric of respectability" as a tactic for citizenship, from the Civil Rights movement through the Black Power movement. He discussed how this rhetoric of respectability has been countered by the hip-hop movement as well as by men on the down low (straight-identified men who have sex with other men).

Yvonne Keller, of Miami University in Ohio, analyzed 1950s lesbian pulp novels and the Showtime series The L Word, to illustrate that despite criticism The L Word has received from many lesbian viewers, it does provide avenues to resist dominant representations. Historically, lesbians have been either invisible or hyper-sexualized for heterosexual male consumption.

In her analysis, she found that heterosexual male consumption of lesbian sexuality is disrupted, if not made impossible, by denying the gaze (not showing lesbians having sex); by having a lesbian character undermine the gaze (making the audience watch lesbians having sex through the eyes of another lesbian character); and finally, by complicating the role of masculinity in its characters (for example, Lisa, the lesbian-identified man; Jean, the 'sensitive' guy; and Ivan, the drag king that inspires sexual desire in Kit, a heterosexual woman.)

Shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Queer As Folk, and The L Word are often hailed as a sign of the changing times--since we have gay-themed programs on television, the argument goes, the American public must be becoming more accepting toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals.

But in a critical examination of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Beth Berila of the women's studies program at St. Cloud State University, argued that the show actually re-inscribes heterosexual values and perpetuates gay stereotypes, and through its differing treatment of white and non-white participants, verges on being racist.

Along with McCune, Keller, and Berila, there were plenty of other scholars at the ASA working around issues of sexuality; you just had to look for them. As for entire panels on sexuality, we will have to wait for the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society conference this summer in San Francisco.

* Katrin Greim is a master's degree candidate in the women studies program at San Francisco State University. She is currently conducting research for an ethnographic study of queer femininity in the San Francisco Bay area.