Windows and Mirrors: Why Positive Representation of Disabled and LGBTQ+ People I
Windows and Mirrors: Why Positive Representation of Disabled and LGBTQ+ People In Media Matters
Casey Allyn
Personal Statement
Last year, I did a final project on the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. I strayed a bit from the assignment, though, and ended up focusing on the history of LGBTQ+ issues in visual media. The history I learned fascinated me, and I found myself wanting to dig deeper. So this paper was an opportunity for me to learn more about the progress we’ve made in representing marginalized and stigmatized populations, and how far we still need to go.
Abstract
This paper explores the impact that positive media representation has on the self-esteem and public image of people belonging to the Disabled and LGBTQ+ communities. Research was gathered from various behavioral studies, news articles, trend reports, and firsthand accounts of the issues discussed. The gathered sources provide relevant information about the effects of young people seeing characters in TV and movies that reflect their traits. They also provide statistical data regarding various topics such as diversity of gender identities, sexualities, and disability statuses in various areas of media production. From the information gathered, the conclusion was made that diversity in media is very important for the self-esteem of young people, as well as presenting a more accurate and less biased view of the world. In other words, it is important for people to see both characters similar to themselves and characters very different than themselves.
Keywords: diversity in media, disability in media, media representation, LGBT in media, why representation matters 3
Why Positive Representation of Disabled and LGBTQ+ People In Media Matters
For centuries, people who are different have been excluded. People who don’t look like most everyone else, or don’t believe the same things, or who go beyond social norms to pursue happiness. These people have often been outcasts, devalued and attacked by the local government, and have had to form strong internal connections in order to survive. But even then, their well-being was often dictated by the whims of those in power. People who ostracized them, who – in truth – probably didn’t know very much about them at all. Think of how European colonization forced arbitrary, harmful borders on African nations that had millennia of history. Overall, people are hurt by ignorance. The public having an inaccurate or incomplete knowledge of a population, organization, or culture causes harm to the members of that population, organization, or culture. This has been the case for millennia.
In more recent years, the advancement of technology has allowed knowledge to spread faster and farther than ever before. But though means of spreading information have improved, the people providing the information have changed very little. In visual media such as cartoons, TV series, and movies, minorities are often represented negatively or inaccurately, leading t