Youth Cultures and Moral Panics: An Essay on LGBT Community and Their Representation

This essay focuses on the LBGT community within Australia, their culture and societal representation. It discusses the statistics, acceptance, culture, positive legislative developments, criticism, and media coverage of the LGBT community.

Running head: YOUTH CULTURES AND MORAL PANICS
Essay on youth cultures and their representation
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YOUTH CULTURES AND MORAL PANICS
Introduction
It is a common perception that Australian youth dishonour the integrity of the society.
This is because they are illiterate, lack proper dressing sense and are always busy surfing
their phones. According to the politicians, Australian youths, “apparently threaten the fabric
of the society”. Typical evidence of this lies in the masterpieces, The Narcissistic Epidemic
and The Dumbest Generation. Modern terminologies characterize Australian youths as
apathetic and disinterested towards politics (Lewis et al., 2017). Media has appropriately
captured the youth culture. One of the most striking facts is the indulgence towards violence.
This essay focuses on the LBGT community within Australia, their culture and societal
representation.
Discussion
LGBT Community
LGBT Community involves lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Pride, diversity,
individuality and sexuality are the attributes, which defines their culture. The social activists
perceive LGBT Community as outweighing concepts like heterosexism, homophobia,
biphobia, sexualism among others. The term “gay pride” symbolizes the identity and strength
of the community. Political affiliation enhances the cultural diversity of the community
(Dentato, Orwat, Spira & Walker, 2014). Mention can be made of the different colours,
which represents the core values of the community:
 Pink in the flag represents sexuality
 Red colour symbolizes life
 Orange is the indication for healing
 Yellow colour represents the brightness, as that of the sun
 Green colour stands for vigour, vitality and energy
 Blue reflects the artistic skills

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 Indigo stands for harmony within the community
 Violet symbolizes spirit (Beasley, Jenkins & Valenti, 2015)
Statistics and acceptance
According to the Australian Census Statistics, LGBT Community accounts for 11% of
the total Australian population. There has been a rise in the number of same sex couples in
the period between 1996 and 2011. In 2011, 6300 children lived in the families consisting of
same sex couple. Most of these children are from female same sex families. Regarding
intersex, estimates are made about one in 2000 births to 4% of the population. As per the
revelations of Organization Intersex International Australia (OLL Australia), a mid-range
figure of 1.7% of all births are estimated (Humanrights.gov.au, 2018). Most of the people
from LGBT Community hide their sexual identity at the time of accessing services in the
social events and employment. These are mainly the young people belonging to the age group
of 16-24 years. 61% of the LGBT Community people encounter verbal homophobic abuse.
81% are the victims of physical homophobic abuse and other types of homophobia. This
includes cyber bulling, graffiti, social exclusion and humiliation.
80% of the homophobic bullying consists of the school students. This heavily impacts
their education and wellbeing. Transgender males and females are victimized more than
lesbians and gay in terms of physical and non-physical abuse. These issues generate
depression in the minds of the community people. Typical evidence of this lies in the claims
of 61% of the same sex people regarding verbal abuse as a result of sexuality. 18% of the
people belonging to the same sex narrate their experience of physical abuse
(Humanrights.gov.au, 2018). These issues deprive them of the basic subcultures, which
would act as their empowerment.
LGBT culture

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Early 19th and 20th century’s gay culture projects the dominance of codes and
symbols. There was high association between gay men and opera, ballet, couture, cuisine ans
theatres. Golden Age of Hollywood witnessed the empowerment of homosexuals through
their thematic approach in interior designing. Apart from this, songs and literature are the
evidences, projecting the involvement of LGBT Community into the mainstream social
activities. According to the modern trends, tourism is one of the areas, working towards the
empowerment of the LGBT (Ayoub, 2015). There has been a rise in the same sex marriage,
increasing the possibility of rainbow tourism. Marriage equality rallies and celebrity
performances makes the people aware of the cultural heritage of LGBT culture.
Mention can be made of Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is observed for
paying tribute to the murder of anti-transgender. The event is an effective means of raising
awareness about the crimes and injustices towards transgender. Moreover, the event consoles
the deceased and the family members. A Trans March is also organized, which symbolizes
the marches, protests and gathering taking place during the pride week. This March is an
initiative of the transgender Community to address the existentialist struggles.
Youth Pride, is an extension for Gay Pride and the social movements of LGBT
Community. This group consists of the members, usually above the age of consent
(MacCartney, 2018). The area of operations of this group is wide. The group aims to organize
festivals and events for the LGBT Community in order to ensure their empowerment and
wellbeing.
Positive legislative developments
LGBT Community was underrepresented by the Civil Rights. However, modern
legislatures have succeeded in projecting the existentialist struggles of gay community. The
major drive behind this is globalization. The etymological origin of legislature for LGBT lies

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in World War II, the consequences of which resulted in political uprising through gay right
movements. Typical evidence of this lies in the movements in Stonewall. However, focusing
on Australia, protective policies and scholarships have enhanced the security and wellbeing
of the LGBT young people in schools. These policies and scholarships have reduced 50% of
the physical abuse, self-harms and attempt to suicides (Techakesari et al., 2017). Through the
governmental initiatives, the people of the same sex community have attained success in
education. Along with this, they have proven themselves in the field of employment.
August 1, 2013 was the period when Sex Discrimination Act (1984) was
implemented for ceasing the discriminations based on sexual orientation, gender, race, caste
and religion. In spite of such legislative attempts, LGBT Community encounters
discriminations, harassments and hostile treatments in all walks of life. Australian Human
Rights Commission investigates the cases of discriminations. The revised version of the acts
aims to protect the same sex couples from the harassments (Knight & Wilson, 2016).
Criticism
Political groups attempt to destroy the cultural diversity of LGBT Community
through commercialization. Protests for this practice takes place in the form of Pride Parades.
However, this criticism is nullified through the extension of the Community to LGBTI. This
is in terms of including the intersex people into the community. There has been minimal
research about the intersex people in the past, which reflects the poor understanding towards
their cultural and societal expression. Previously, these people were considered as a subset of
the “gender identity”. This is according to the definitions of the Anti-Discriminatory Laws
enforced in the states and the union territories. According to the revelations of Organization
Intersex International Australia (OLL Australia), this definition is inaccurate, as the intersex

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people are defined on the basis of their sexual characteristics rather than gender identities
(Jones et al., 2016).
As per the revelations of Theguardian.com, (2018), March 2017 is a turning point in
the life of the intersex people. This is the era when the representatives of Androgen
Insensitivity Syndrome support Group Australia and Organization Intersex International
Australia (OLL Australia) collaborated for development of Consensus for reducing the
injustices towards the intersex people. This was commonly known as Darlington Statement,
which aimed to mitigate heinous crimes like genital mutilation. The target audience here was
the female child. As a matter of specification, the statement necessitated the need for legal
reforms, improving the access of care and support for the peers of the victims. Through the
enforcement of the statement, stereotypical classification of sex was ceased giving rise to the
third classifications, which were legal (Theguardian.com, 2018). Typical example of this was
binary classification, the basis for which was structural violence. One of the weaknesses of
this classification was that it failed to preserve the cultural diversity of the community, which
acted as a negation for the individual rights.
Media coverage
With the advancement of civilization, there has been noticeable transformations in the
perceptions and acceptance towards LBGTI Community people. Journalists have realized the
aspect of protecting the rights of the Community people. Through the media coverage, they
enhanced the awareness about the cultural expression of the LGBTI Community. Fair,
accurate and inclusive reporting of the LBGTI culture has resulted in their inclusion within
the mainstream society (House, 2014). Typical example of this is the interview, which was
conducted on transgender and gender non-conforming people (GNC). Within this interview,

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Data Protection Act was implemented in terms of protecting the individual sentiments of the
Community people.
Mention can be made of The Guardian news regarding enforcement of the marriage
equality law in the landslide votes. As per the revelations, Australia become the 25th country
to legalize same sex marriage. A cross party bill was passed after the unprecedented national
postal survey ignited a spark to legislate the social reforms towards empowering the people of
LGBT Community. Support from the Prime Minister acted as a freedom for the citizens in
terms of moving ahead with the decision. The statements of the Labor Opposition Leader
added to the equality within the same sex people (Theguardian.com, 2018). Passing the bill
resulted in the creation of “modern, inclusive and fair Australia”. Equality Campaigns
through prominent celebrities like swimming stars Ian Thorpe, Daniel Kowalski, actor Magda
Szubanski add to the colour and vigour of the victory.
According to the statement of Abc.net.au, (2018), representation of the gay men in the
field of sports is highlighted. The statements of Corbin Middlemas finds an important
position in the news coverage, where he shares his experience about the hostile relationship
with Australian Football Club and the rules. He narrates his likes and dislikes. At last, he
confesses that he is “gay”. After this confession, he was narrated that he intended to keep his
sexual identity confidential. This was due to the experience, which he acquired while
travelling from one city to the other. Highlighting the tragic fate of such personalities makes
the people aware of the cultural expression of people belonging to the LGBT Community. He
opines that being a gay does not affect masculinity. This statement projects consistency with
that of the gender and identity (Abc.net.au, 2018).
Conclusion

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The culture of LGBT Community gains prominence in the essay. Individual logo is
the symbolization for their identity, which enhances their societal status. However, this was
not the case from the beginning. Initial perceptions about the LGBT Community was
characterized by discriminations, harassments, and marginalization, physical and mental
abuse among others. With the advancement of technologies and civilization, various
initiatives have been taken for upgrading the standard of living for the people belonging to
the LGBT Community. Typical evidences of this lies in the policies, educational
scholarships, legislatures among others. Media coverage about the protests and movement
enhances the awareness of the presentation of this people. This enhancement results in
portraying the culture of LGBT Community people in literature, music, theatre, art among
others. Consideration of ethical considerations helps the government agencies in respecting
the individual rights of this Community people.

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References and bibliography
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