Queerness in Popular Culture: A Critical Analysis

This essay critically analyzes the political empowerment of queerness in popular culture. It discusses the impact of diversity on society and politics, legislative progress in Australia, political parties' quotas for queer candidates, and the experiences of queer individuals in public and political spheres. The essay also explores the role of media and popular culture in shaping cultural pedagogy and identity formation.

Popular Culture and society

Table of Content.
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Diversity can be defined as the variety which stands for the differences in people, culture,
region, geographic, racial and ethnic, socio-economic, and academic/professional background.
Diversity recognize differences within the individuals and understands that each one is unique.
Promoting diversity within the corporations may improve well being of workers as equal
treatment will be ensured to them without giving values to their differences while it also
contributes to negative impacts such as promoting diversity among new and traditional
organization might cause distrust and conflicts. Popular representations of diversity is not
politically empowering due to multiple factors that are discussed in the essay. Diversity in
context to queerness in popular culture is not enough political empowering. Societies across in
many parts of the world are making legislations to embrace the queer progress especially in
political era that will be discussed in brief along with the essay in relation with its examples.
MAIN BODY
Diversity is present in every field of society across the world. Diversity can be seen in
people, culture, region, academic background etc. on the basis of different culture, religious,
racial, sexuality etc. Diversity among several fields are political empowering but in few areas,
diversity is not appreciated and not felt to be the political empowering even after there are
several legislations to it. Similar in relation with queerness in popular culture, queer is a merged
term used for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender community of people may belong to the queer people. Queer in sexual politics
describe the sexuality that has been rejected due to their unusual characteristics. Queer concept
has been potent in people to protest and the subject has been an political aspect of importance
due to its regular protest of equal rights in every field. Politics and political actions have used
queer as a part of their strategies and methodologies. Few of them are even not considered to be
the political. The term queer has always been a point of demand in political system for their
equal values and rights. Empowering them in political field means considering them as an equal
part as any other. Queer is considered as a conflict which has a specific relation with politics. A
research poll from Australia established that 79% population of Australia agrees for acceptance
of homosexuality by society, which is making Australia to 5th most queer supportive country in
world. In between of 1975 to 1997 states and territories of Australia revoked anti- homosexuality
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laws. Since 2016, there is an equal consent for all sexual acts. Since 1 April 2021, Australia's
jurisdiction have legally eradicated homosexual advance defence. On 9 December 2017,
Australia legalised homosexual marriage. Since 1 august 2013, discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation and gender identity expression prohibited (LGBT rights in Australia, 2022).
After passing several legislations, queer is still not political empowered that can be further
explained using few examples.
Political parties of different countries have chosen voluntary quotes for queer persons in
their candidate list. To make diversity in their political party and to empower different
community of people among politics, political parties are adopting several quotas for each
community or specific gender. There is a case of political party in Turkey, “people's democratic
party”. The party adopted half of the quota for women and a 10% of the quota to queer
candidates in legislative elections of 2015. similarly, in Australia, “Queensland Labor party”
adopted few action measures for queer candidates. 5% of its winnable seats quota was adopted
for queer people as established in its 2017 rules book. In contrast the Australian capital
territory(ACT) legislative assembly have high queer MPs that is about 16%. In total, 3.5% of
current queer MPs are there in Australia. Where as Tasmania and Queensland do not have any
queer MPs (LGBTIQ+ parliamentarians in Australian parliaments: a quick guide, 2022). The
political parties are giving spaces to queer community but on another hand queer community in
popular areas are significantly not working for the purpose of political empower. In a voting
preference profile, a high strength of queer voters were in the support of a seasoned political
candidate rather than non queer voters. 51% of queer voters were in the favour of a politician
who knows his/her way in politics, when compared to 40% non queer voters. A same strength of
queer and non queer voters were in the support of an outsider who can bring a fresh perspectives.
In side of that, a majority of queer and non queer agreed for choosing a experienced political
leader. Most of the queer and non queer voters when asked, said a candidate's sexual orientation
will not have any impact over their voting. However, there were a few queer voters who said that
they would support a candidate of queer community in respective to the non queer. Generally,
queer voters are diverse on the basis of race and ethnicity, many of them are young. Half of the
queer voters belong to urban areas. When asked, political experience and age mattered to both
queer and non queer voters. However, on a good side queer voters were most likely to favour a
black candidate that is irrespective of the race (The 2020 LGBT vote preference and
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characteristics of LGBT voters, 2020). Queer community experience discrimination and
harassment in many parts of their lives every day. In public, work, study, health services or any
other services they are judged for their sexual orientations. The similar scenario occur when
there is a political view, the discrimination with them get converts into their aggression and that
ultimately leads to change in their opinions regarding their choices weather in political area or
somewhere else. A high number of queer people are hiding their sexuality when asked or
accessing any services at social and community events and at work. The positive development of
the side is that there are some protective policies to make them feel safe.
One of another example here include of John, who is a 19-year-old youth generally living
in foster care. John's foster mother, specifically referred him to the agency it is because his
mother was concerned regarding his low self-esteem as well as the depression which she
generally felt emanated from the John's traumatic past. His parents were both killed in a car
accident when he was at his 5 age years. It was generally a traumatic experience for the John as
he was generally physically abused in another placements. He generally informed about own-self
that his major concern was not his past, but instead a sense of isolation from the effects of the
heterosexism as well as homophobia in the face of his evolving the identification of gay. In
context with the cultural perspectives of harry potter book, it can be reviewed that strengthen the
cultural exploitation of the childhood. From the book, it cannot only serve to strengthen the
commodification of the childhood, but can also replicate the social standard messages as well.
The books characteristics of the nuclear families without the inclusion of the presentations of the
divorced, single, lesbian, step, gay or an adoptive as well as the adoptive families of the
contemporary communities as well. The harry potter book can also strengthen the cultural
representation of the power as well as gender, systematically depicting the female as a secondary
feature as well.
From the sociological perspectives or from a queer non-normative view points, the stories
that are coming out are generally being considered about conforming to a societal demands for a
coherent sexual as well as gender identities, a demand which can subject the people to effectively
clearing the choices among the fixed as well as essentialist identity categories. The identity work
of the coming out stories is quite deeply paradoxical in that the requirements to produce the
sexual identity narratives for support narrows an entire range of the experience of queers. In this,
the cultural industries can specifically create the images and messages which can give the
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materials out of which the people can constitute their identities. The media images can supply the
models out of which the people can construct their sense of race, gender, nationality, class,
ethnicity and sexuality as well. In this, the media stories can also give the specific symbols,
resources as well as the myths that can aid to constitute a very common culture for the majority
of the public within the contemporary global, the capitalist communities. The media culture
generally aid to induce a person to effectively determine with the dominant discourses, their
values, institutions as well as the practices. In addition to this, the media as well as the culture of
the people is so omnipresent, it is quite essential to learn how to effectively understand, interpret
as well as can critique its meaning and messages. Within the contemporary culture, the industrial
culture are mainly deep as well as frequently comprehend the sources of the cultural pedagogy,
they can contribute to how a person can conform towards the dominant systems of the specific
norms as well as can effectively influence what a person can desire as well as what a person can
think, believe or can feel as well. Therefore, the enhancement of the critical media literacy is
generally an essential resources fro a person in the learning of how to overcome the alluring
service user's cultural surrounding environment. In this, the learnings of how to critique as well
as can resist the media manipulation can significantly help in creating a context for self support
providing the people with more power over their cultural environment as well. It is because the
therapy clients are generally embedded in the culture of people, the popular culture can play a
prominent role in their regular livings (LGBTQ Inclusion: Good for Families, Communities, and
the Economy, 2016). Yet, critically determining the popular as well as the media culture has
largely remained over the margins of the care therapy practice. In addition to this, one of the key
notions within the cultural studies is that while the media does induce a person to conform
towards a dominant culture, it can also give resources which can create the potential context for
the self-encouragement. In this, the cultural study methods can embraces as well as can identify
these such contradictory perspectives, leaving open the possibilities for a proliferation of the
meanings as well.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is concluded that the queer theorist generally analyse the
sexuality and gender as a culturally and socially builded concepts. In this, the aim of the theory is
to effectively challenge the traditional academic methods as well as then fight against the social
disparities as well. In this, the above discussed LGBT culture can involve a culture which is
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being shared by the gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer individual and transgender. In addition to this,
the mass media can play a specific role in describing the concept of experience of culture of the
contemporary childhood as well as adolescence. Currently, the popular culture more frequently
can serve as a primary aspect for an ongoing debates about the youth. From such perspectives,
the media can generally be seen as a commercializing kids as well as taking away the innocence
of the childhood as well as undermining the authority of adults as well. More frequently such
perspectives are effectively framed across a simplistic moral panics about the impact of violence
and sex within the media. In addition to this, there is generally exaggerated optimism about the
very new technologies specifically recommending that the youth can use the media for a
subversion as well as an autonomous creativity.
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REFERENCES
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Harvey, R., Fish, L.S. and Levatino, P., 2020. Sexual identity development and
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Kahle, L.L. and Rosenbaum, J., 2019. Making gender-responsive programming more queer
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Mcdonald, D.A., 2021. 7. The Stones We Throw Are Rhymes: Imagining America in Palestinian
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Wai Weng, H., 2022. Packaging, Persuasion and Propaganda: Popular Preaching and Islamic
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Online:
LGBT rights in Australia, 2022, [Online] Available through:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Australia>
LGBTQ Inclusion: Good for Families, Communities, and the Economy, 2016 [Online] Available
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LGBTQ+ parliamentarians in Australian parliaments: a quick guide, 2022 [Online]. Available
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The 2020 LGBT Vote preferences and characteristics of LGBT voters, 2020 [Online]. Available
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