Why the Lesbians?

I love Grey’s Anatomy but I have a complaint. I am wondering why they always seem to pick on the lesbians. Since Callie came out as bi, the writers have constantly messed around with her partners. First there was the other doctor (I can’t remember her name) but they sent her away just as she started to become human. Then when Callie hooked up with Arizona, things are going well and the baby thing comes up to drive a wedge between them. Then Arizona goes to Africa and doesn’t really want Callie to come. Then Arizona comes back. Callie is pregnant and they are going to get married. So now, there is a tragic accident. Thankfully she didn’t die.

 

But seriously why are they messing with the lesbians so much? Have they run out of heterosexual story lines? I for one would really appreciate it if they would just let Arizona and Callie be happy for a while. I’m just asking for a couple of episodes. I know I am not going to get my wish as now, no doubt, the baby will be touch and go.

 

It seems like we have not come very far with regard to lesbians on tv. In the past, if there was a lesbian either they ended up with the man or their lives did not work out. It would seem that those story lines are still happening. Is it too much to hope that we can have positive lesbian stories on tv?

Grey’s Anatomy Grows Up

Grey’s Anatomy. You know that show where all the doctor’s are having sex with each other including all the residents and the interns. It was the show that birthed the term vajayjay as a substitute for the word vagina. I looked up the word ‘vajayjay’ in Wikipedia and it re-directs to the page on the vagina.

Things have changed at Grey’s Anatomy. In yesterday’s episode they actually used the word ‘vagina.’ They said it twice that I registered. There may have been a third utterance of a word that was considered too racy for TV just a couple of years ago. Perhaps the world is evolving.

The Queering of TV Shows

I just watched this weeks episode of Grey’s Anatomy. It was such a pleasure to see queer people and their lives completely integrated into the show. Finally, something on television that seems to just ‘get’ the way things are for most people when it comes to, at least, lesbian and gay people in society.*

It was not too long ago that us queer people would cheer about a gay or lesbian storyline. We would all know it was coming up and many of us would tune in to see ourselves represented. Generally, the characters (generally they would be guest characters) would be labeled as gay or lesbian and we would all marvel at how the regular characters on the show would interact with them and one of them would have some kind of breakthrough understanding about homosexuality and then try to enlighten everyone else.  One of the characters would be a homophobe and would spew some vitriol at the lesbian or gay character. Generally this would be followed by an epiphany of sorts that the “homosexuals” are just like us. They live and they love only they do it with members of the same-sex. Then the show would end, the ‘homos’ would be gone and next week would feature some other kind of aberration. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Things are different now – at least on Grey’s Anatomy. This is a very good thing. A lesbian couple** is part of the fabric of the show with no explanation. Their characters go through their own trials and tribulations and they live and love. The sex scenes are just as hokey as the heterosexuals get and just like the heterosexuals sometimes they are hot. Straight and lesbian characters can interact with each other and talk about their partners and this is nothing different from 2 straight characters having the same conversation. This, my friends, is progress.

One of the things about growing up gay or lesbian or bi or trans is unless your parents are any of the above you really don’t have a role model. Teachers and other people who work with kids generally keep their sexual orientation quiet if they want to keep working with kids. We all know how some parents can react if their child has a gay teacher. How do queer youth learn how to be if they can’t know real people who are also queer? Television is a poor stand-in for real, live role models but it can help. Seeing yourself reflected in the characters of a TV show is normalizing. It says to the queer kid that they can be successful and fall in love with a member of the same-sex and that it will all be fine. It gives kids a name for what they may be feeling. It also gives parents an easy way to talk about these issues with their kids and find out if their kids are struggling with their sexual orientation.

It would be great if the integration would also include bisexual and trans people. There have been many strides forward made by gay and lesbian people that, unfortunately, do not translate to other members of the community. It is great to celebrate the progress but we must not forget that the struggle is not over until we are all integrated.

*I have yet to see any integrated trans or bi-folk on a TV show.

**Although it seemed like they were going to flirt with bi-sexuality for a while last season but I think that go too risky for the network.