Gender Pop Culture Thesis Paper-1
For my first semester in college, I took a course on gender, race, and sexuality in pop culture. This topic is really important to me because lack of representation or poor representation of minority groups can be really harmful. If we don’t see and accept people of color, disabled people, LGBT+ people, etc. living their lives in our tv shows and movie, it becomes that much harder for us to accept that they exist in our real lives too. Similarly, if we only see stereotypical/negative versions of these groups of people, then we might form opinions and biases about these people that aren’t true. Alternatively, if you are a member of one of these groups of people, and you only see negative portrayals of yourself in the media, or no portrayals at all, it can create a belief that you’re alone, or even that you have something to be ashamed of.
For our final in the class, we were told to pick a topic that intrigued us from the course, and write a paper on it. I chose to write about the topic of the transgender experience, and how talk show hosts tend to sensationalize and objectify trans individuals based on their transgender identity, asking invasive questions rather than asking questions about their accomplishments or careers. So for my artifact, I chose this essay. I was really proud of my work in it, and I also felt like I learned a lot in the process. The topic meant a lot to me personally, considering that I also identify as a member of the LGBT+ community, and I’ve been trying to learn more about the different struggles that people within it face.