|
|
Media Watch
by JIM EDMINSTER 2006-10-04
|
|
This article shared 3056 times since Wed Oct 4, 2006
|
|
Two studies on gay brothers are out: Discover Magazine ( Sept. ) tells of a 'fraternal birth-order effect' study in which it has been shown that boys with older brothers are more likely to grow up gay ( and the more older brothers, the more likely the younger is to be gay ) . Also, the Molecular Genetic Study of Sexual Orientation, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times ( 9/26 ) , is looking for 'one or more genes that help determine sexual orientation' among pairs of gay brothers. Homosexuality does run in families: '... 2 percent to 4 percent of all men are gay, 8 percent to 12 percent of brothers of gay men are gay.'
Looking pretty buff, gay playwright Tennessee Williams in a nude P-Town beach foto from the 1940s ( of which you only see the top, unfortunately ) was more out than was previously thought, according to the New York Times ( 9/24 ) . A number of short plays from his early career have been uncovered and one deals explicitly with his affair with a draft dodger, Kip Kiernan. Known for the subtle nuances about homosexuality in his later plays ( e.g., The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ) the director of this earlier play, now being put on for the first time, David Kaplan says, 'There is a lot of nonsense that says Williams was conflicted about his homosexuality in this period of his life ... That's not true ... The tone of 'Parade' is beautifully unequivocal. It is not whining. It is not apologetic. He demands his audience ... take seriously gay people onstage.' The new-old play's whole title is The Parade or Approaching the End of a Summer.
Joining the Canadian Mounties who wed several months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times ( 9/17 ) shows and tells of two Spanish soldiers getting married ( in full Air Force dress uniforms ) . Alberto Linero and Alberto Sanchez are the beneficiaries of a government in which gay marriage is legal and there are no laws against gays in the military. The Albertos plan to continue their military careers.
An essay in the Chicago Tribune ( 9/17 ) tells of the trends toward acceptance of gay athletes building in the four major U.S. sports: football, baseball, basketball and hockey. While no athlete has ever come out while active in the sport, a number have done so after retiring. The essay ironically points out that much of what happens in sport is behavior that only gay men practice: 'Nowhere else in our culture do we see men hold hands, slap each other warmly, hug in celebration or even ry together in defeat.' Professional teams are presenting diversity panels to rookies; various pro athletes have good-naturedly done gay-speculative commercials; and surveys have found that three-fourths of players and fans would not mind if some players were gay.
The controversy section of the Chicago Sun-Times ( 9/24 ) complains, in its cover article, of the one gay group that movies and TV have skipped: the butch lesbian. Gay male characters run the gamut from flaming queens to burly bears, but lipstick lesbians are the major visible gay women. The author points out that the only two butches who've appeared in movies in the last three years ( Maggie in Million Dollar Baby and Aileen in Monster ) both got to die horribly. One hopes, the article goes on, that at some point one will get to see on TV 'a butch who is not going to be stuffed into a skirt or stuck in a coffin.'
|
|
|
|
This article shared 3056 times since Wed Oct 4, 2006
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | Media Watch 2009-09-09 - The New York Times Book Review (6/28 ) in its look at the new bio, Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love ...
|
| | Media Watch 2009-03-18 Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times - From the "Top-of-the-25" file, Mental Floss magazine (March-April ) has picked gay author Randy Shilts' book And the Band Played On as the most influential of the 25 most important books of the past 25 years. ...
|
| | Media Watch 2009-02-25 Special to the online edition of Windy City Times - From the "History-Not-Mystery" file, Roger Ebert, movie critic extraordinaire, was a bit astonished in his question-and-answer column in the Chicago Sun-Times (Dec. 5) when a writer criticized him for spoiling the plot of Milk, which he ...
|
| | Media Watch 2009-02-25 Special to the online edition of Windy City Times - From the "Subculture-Merges-Into-the-Uberculture" file, a cartoon strip, "Sally Forth," from the Chicago Sun-Times (2/11) has this exchange between an office manager & his subordinate. Subordinate: "Just because Aria and I ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-11-26 - From the 'Hooray-for-Bollywood' file, the Los Angeles Times (Nov. 19) reports that two of the biggest straight male hunks (and, yes, they are) in Indian cinema, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-11-12 - From the 'MYOB' file, the Chicago Tribune (Oct. 9) quotes Queen Latifah: 'I don't have a problem discussing the topic of somebody being gay, but I do have a problem discussing my personal life. I don't ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-10-29 - From the 'Transgender-Is-the-New-Normal' file, The Atlantic (Nov. 2008 ) , in an article called 'A Boy's Life,' tells us of the new attitude of parents, teachers and doctors toward small children who clearly exhibit the belief ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-10-15 - From the 'MYOB' file, the Chicago Tribune (Oct. 9) quotes Queen Latifah: 'I don't have a problem discussing the topic of somebody being gay, but I do have a problem discussing my personal life. I don't ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-10-08 Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times - From the 'Media-Idol-as-Trojan-Horse' file, The New York Times (Sept. 19) , in a big ol' article, tells us that Oprah (by way of subtitles) has become the biggest thing for women on Saudi TV since ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-10-01 Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times - From the "Old-Dead-White-Man-But-He-Was-Gay" file, the Chicago Sun-Times (Sept. 24) says a revival of the play adapted from Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is "enthralling" and "crystal-clear." The theme and plot of Dorian seem ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-09-24 Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times - From the 'Of-Course-I-Can-Tell-You-What-Read' file: While Snopes has told us that the list of books circulating on the Internet that Sarah Palin ostensibly wants to ban is spurious, The New York Times (Sept. 14) did find that ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-09-17 Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times - From the 'Yay-Gay' file, The New Yorker (Sept. 15) has a cartoon of some clothing store clerks, one of whom is saying, 'It's gotten so customers won't take my advice unless they think I'm gay.' From ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-09-10 - From the 'Rum, Sodomy and the Lash' file, the Chicago Reader's (Sept. 4) 'Straight Dope' column talks about 'rampant buggery' in the Royal Navy in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. In brief, it was there, ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-09-03 Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times - From the 'Which-Madonna?' file, one really, really tried not to comment on Ricky Martin (as reported in the Chicago Tribune, Aug. 21) and his twins 'via a surrogate mother.' This is all very confusing. Were the ...
|
| | Media Watch 2008-08-27 Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times - From the 'Lest-You-Forget' file, the Chicago Tribune (Aug. 20 ) reports that in India one can get a cell-phone ringtone in which a professional singer chants, a cappella, the word 'condom' more than 50 times. Would ...
| |
|
|