Special communications gay and lesbian

Gender and Nonverbal Behavior pp Cite as. In societies like ours, where heterosexuality is enforced by a plethora of economic and cultural institutions, lesbians and gay men 1 appear to constitute a minority. However, unlike other minorities that have easily identifiable features e. We come in all colors, ages, and sizes, and from all socioeconomic levels; we look like everybody else and we are everywhere. But, like other groups of people with a shared interest or shared oppression, we have developed our own subcultures. The nonverbal cues range from general, more obvious ones such as dress, to specific, more subtle details of interaction such as eye contact and facial expression.

The LGBT community or GLBT community , also referred to as the gay community , is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender , LGBT organizations, and subcultures , united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride , diversity , individuality , and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterbalance to heterosexism , homophobia , biphobia , transphobia , sexualism , and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride is used to express the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation.

How gay men and lesbians are represented in the media has been one of the most prolific areas of research and analysis within gay and lesbian studies as well as queer theory since the s. Although a relatively recent area of scholarship, this work is considered vital for a better understanding of how a modern gay and lesbian identity was shaped, reflected, and at times ignored by mainstream media. For gay men and lesbians who comprise a type of invisible minority group that is rarely born into gay or lesbian families, communities, or support networks, the importance of mainstream media representations is considered paramount.

Critical audience studies is the branch of media research primarily concerned with what people do with the media they consume, rather than on the supposedly negative effects of media on people. Changes in media production and distribution technologies have meant that texts are increasingly consumed in transnational and transplatform ways. These changes have disrupted historical distinctions between producers and audiences. Critical cultural approaches should be considered from a largely qualitative perspective and look at feminist and global reception studies as foundational to the understandings of what audiences might be and how to study them.