Title
"Lesbianism and the media"
Description
Newspaper review of Female Homosexuality, discussing NHC in reference to media stereotypes. Published in Communist newspaper Tribune.
Creator
Joyce Stevens
Source
Tribune (Sydney, NSW).
Publisher
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/236922125?browse=ndp%3Abrowse%2Ftitle%2FT%2Ftitle%2F1002%2F1975%2F06%2F17%2Fpage%2F25601581%2Farticle%2F236922125
Date
17 Jun., 1975.
Format
[Text in Image]
Lesbianism and the media
FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY - Conditioning Process in education and the Mass Media. Published by CAMP (NSW). Box 5074, GPO, Sydney, $1.00 post free.
These are the papers presented at a seminar organised by CAMP and funded by the International Women's Year Committee. They examine the ways lesbianism is viewed by society and how this fits into a general pattern of sexual behaviour and attitudes.
The ways in which social patters are established and passed from one generation to the next are discussed. Moral attitudes are extremely variable and "there is no form of sexual activity that is not deviant at some time, in some location, in some specific relations, or with some partners." (How to Fit a Round Tot into a Square Hole, by Claire Burton.)
The media, schools and the family are all centres which help to turn people out according to assigned male or female characteristics. Although one Establishment explanation for assigning people to sex roles is tat they will otherwise "grow up to be homosexuals", the real purpose for them is to maintain the existing power relations in society. (What is a Square Hole?, by Elaine Whiteman.)
Sue Collins discussed the difficulties involved in trying to established new values with one's own children when school and the rest of society are moving in a different direction.
In the session "Conform or Else", Penny Short tells how the NSW Department of Education, despite heavy medical evidence to the contrary, hid behind a "medically unfit" classification to deprive her of her scholarship. This action followed the publication of her poem about lesbian love. Josepha Sobski and Pam Waugh outline other ways in which the education system discriminates or establishes a morality based on strictly defined sex roles. Sylvia Martin talks about religion and homosexuality.
The final papers discuss Literature and the Mass Media. Tess Ack in "Trendy is the New Oppression" warns against the gay movement seeing legal reforms as the whole question and points out that although not illegal "lesbians are invisible ... partly because women are not supposed to have any sexuality."
Dilys Kevans talks about books, TV, plays and rock music. Her subjects range from the few books with "what might be called a homosexual bias", to No. 96 and The Box and general rock/pop music where "there is a general confusion around about homosexuality and tranvestism". She talks about the need that everyone has for models with whom they can identify and the parts that popular forms of culture play in this.
She concludes, "I have tried to indicate some of the ways in which gays can be treated in not too stereotypical fashions, I do not feel that we can do away with stereotypes either by wishing them away, or producing more literature. The image of the homosexual is all too pervading, and a lot needs to be done to break it down. More emphasis on critical approaches can help, but this only gets to a small "enlightened" audience. Radical social change is necessary. Until society is no longer structured along the lines of race, class and especially sex I can't believe that homosexuals (along with other minorities) will be able to have freedom. Stereotypes are the official strait-jacket of society and we can't easily escape.
The fifty pages of this pamphlet provide some informed discussions on an issue that many on the left find difficult to accept as an essential part of radical politics.
It doesn't provide answers to the problem of how homosexuals - radical and conservative - can act in a more effective way to change society. The National Homosexual Conference to be held in Melbourne in August this year sets this as one of its aims.
Joyce Stevens.
Lesbianism and the media
FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY - Conditioning Process in education and the Mass Media. Published by CAMP (NSW). Box 5074, GPO, Sydney, $1.00 post free.
These are the papers presented at a seminar organised by CAMP and funded by the International Women's Year Committee. They examine the ways lesbianism is viewed by society and how this fits into a general pattern of sexual behaviour and attitudes.
The ways in which social patters are established and passed from one generation to the next are discussed. Moral attitudes are extremely variable and "there is no form of sexual activity that is not deviant at some time, in some location, in some specific relations, or with some partners." (How to Fit a Round Tot into a Square Hole, by Claire Burton.)
The media, schools and the family are all centres which help to turn people out according to assigned male or female characteristics. Although one Establishment explanation for assigning people to sex roles is tat they will otherwise "grow up to be homosexuals", the real purpose for them is to maintain the existing power relations in society. (What is a Square Hole?, by Elaine Whiteman.)
Sue Collins discussed the difficulties involved in trying to established new values with one's own children when school and the rest of society are moving in a different direction.
In the session "Conform or Else", Penny Short tells how the NSW Department of Education, despite heavy medical evidence to the contrary, hid behind a "medically unfit" classification to deprive her of her scholarship. This action followed the publication of her poem about lesbian love. Josepha Sobski and Pam Waugh outline other ways in which the education system discriminates or establishes a morality based on strictly defined sex roles. Sylvia Martin talks about religion and homosexuality.
The final papers discuss Literature and the Mass Media. Tess Ack in "Trendy is the New Oppression" warns against the gay movement seeing legal reforms as the whole question and points out that although not illegal "lesbians are invisible ... partly because women are not supposed to have any sexuality."
Dilys Kevans talks about books, TV, plays and rock music. Her subjects range from the few books with "what might be called a homosexual bias", to No. 96 and The Box and general rock/pop music where "there is a general confusion around about homosexuality and tranvestism". She talks about the need that everyone has for models with whom they can identify and the parts that popular forms of culture play in this.
She concludes, "I have tried to indicate some of the ways in which gays can be treated in not too stereotypical fashions, I do not feel that we can do away with stereotypes either by wishing them away, or producing more literature. The image of the homosexual is all too pervading, and a lot needs to be done to break it down. More emphasis on critical approaches can help, but this only gets to a small "enlightened" audience. Radical social change is necessary. Until society is no longer structured along the lines of race, class and especially sex I can't believe that homosexuals (along with other minorities) will be able to have freedom. Stereotypes are the official strait-jacket of society and we can't easily escape.
The fifty pages of this pamphlet provide some informed discussions on an issue that many on the left find difficult to accept as an essential part of radical politics.
It doesn't provide answers to the problem of how homosexuals - radical and conservative - can act in a more effective way to change society. The National Homosexual Conference to be held in Melbourne in August this year sets this as one of its aims.
Joyce Stevens.
Language
English