Straightwashing

Straightwashing (also called hetwashing) is portraying LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) or otherwise queer characters in fiction as heterosexual (straight), making LGB people appear heterosexual, or altering information about historical figures to make their representation comply with heteronormativity.[1]

Straightwashing is seen most prominently in works of fiction, especially television and cinema, whereby characters who were originally portrayed as homosexual, bisexual, or asexual are misrepresented as heterosexual.[1][2]

Straightwashing is a relatively contemporary term which has increased in usage and acknowledgement in recent years.[3] Despite increasing presence and recognition on U.S. television, queer characters and storylines are still subject to empirical examples of straightwashing. Common justifications for straightwashing include "producers' concerns about audience reactions and social norms and stereotypes regarding acceptable forms of queerness."[4]

Terminology

Etymologically, straightwashing is derived from the term 'whitewash', which alludes to "both censorship and the intersectional link with the discrimination faced by people of color."[4]

Straightwashing differs from "pinkface", the use of straight actors to play LGB roles or characters. Anna King of Time Out likens "pinkface" to blackface.[5] The LGB community raised concerns about the film Brüno, in which the straight actor Sacha Baron Cohen plays the role of a gay man to "...mak[e] fun of the queer community".[6]

In fiction

Dragos Manea distinguishes between changing a queer character in fiction into a straight character; toning down the queer aspects of a character to make the character more acceptable to a heterosexual audience; removing queer referents from marketing posters or DVD covers; and changing the depiction of entire queer cultures or societies into a heterosexual version.[7]

Film

In fiction, the practice of straightwashing has particularly been noted in screenplays based on comic books.[1] The X-Men character Mystique is depicted as bisexual in the comic books, but in the films, she is shown as straight.[1] Within the comic books published by Marvel comics, Mystique had romantic relationships with both male and female characters. Her most prominent relationship was with Destiny, a female "fellow member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with whom she raised a child."[8] Within the X-Men films that date back to the year 2000, the character Mystique, now played by the actress Jennifer Lawrence, has not had any relationship or interest in another female character.[8]

The 2015 film Stonewall was accused of straightwashing and of the related practice of "ciswashing" for not including a representation of the two black and trans activists who launched the Stonewall riots.[1] The NBC TV drama Rise has been criticized for changing the basis of the production, a "real-life gay drama teacher" in a working class town, into a straight man; Out magazine calls it "cultural theft and [gay] erasure" that "should have been the story of a complicated LGBTQ hero".[9]

In Stuart Richard's article "The Imitation Game and the 'straightwashing' of film", about the film The Imitation Game, Richards states that WW II code breaker "Alan Turing's [gay] sexuality is downplayed and used as a plot device", to show him as a "tragic hero and an eccentric, secretive man"; to make the film " 'safe' for a potentially conservative audience", the film only depicts him romantically with Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley).[10]

Television

The character John Constantine, played by the actor Matt Ryan, from the NBC television series Constantine has been highly criticized for not displaying the same sexuality that was originally written in the DC comic book series, Constantine: Hellblazer. The TV executives decided that John Constantine's bisexuality was not to be included in the TV show and he was depicted as a straight male.[11][8] However, when Ryan reprised the role on Legends of Tomorrow, the character was portrayed as bisexual.[12]

The TV series Riverdale from The CW television network has been subject to criticisms about their depiction of one of the main characters Jughead Jones (played by American actor Cole Sprouse) as a straight male character. According to an interview with comicbook.com, Chip Zdarsky, the author of the Jughead comic book, stated that he wrote Jughead as an asexual character.[13] Many people "within the asexual community are upset about the development of the TV series, Riverdale, on the CW".[2]

Video games

Games such as Blizzard's World of Warcraft can be seen as inherently queer, since in the game both gender and sexuality are fluid and customizable. Here, the possibility of playing a non-straight main character is developmental.[14] However, in 2010 Blizzard began to "straighten" many parts of the game by removing the majority of the same-sex material and mechanics. The heteronormativity can be seen as a movement towards homophobia especially seen in two parts of the game which were added in 2010. First, is entitled "Shafted". Evocative of phallic penetration, the task is to "shoot 10 players with the Silver Shafted Arrow", which is a special holiday item that creates a small, cupid-like goblin that flits about the target.

Both the item and quest flirt with the titillation and anxiety over penetrative sex, specifically anal or male-on-male sex. The second is entitled "Flirting with Disaster", and requires the player to "get completely smashed, put on your best perfume, throw a handful of rose petals on Sraaz [an Alliance NPC] or Jeremiah Payson [a Horde NPC] and then kiss him. You'll regret it in the morning." The humorous intention of "Flirting with Disaster" is for a male avatar to kiss another male. When a player character drinks in-game to the point of being "completely smashed", the game clouds the player's screen as if everything becomes drunkenly blurry and unfocused. This confusion begins the joke that they must engage in a kind of "gay chicken" and flirt with a male toon. The "regret" the player character supposedly feels is one of homophobic shame excused by the fiction of drunken experimentation or ignorance.[14]

Zynga's FrontierVille game, is "a wild west-themed social game that allows users to tame the wilderness, grow a family, and build a thriving frontier town."[15] Zynga is allowing players to create virtual families by customizing a spouse in order to raise a virtual family. The game does not set a gender to your spouse, opening a place for queer possibility.[14]

The video game Undertale has "been straight-washed by many writers and fans", leading to the "erasure of the queerness found in Undertale and a recasting of the game as one that jibes with the interests of heterosexual male gamers".[16] Edmond Chang, an assistant professor of women's and gender studies at the University of Oregon, gave a speech at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2016 entitled "Brown Skins, White Avatars: Racebending and Straightwashing in Digital Games". Chang states that video games such as Assassin's Creed and World of Warcraft "manipulate race and sexuality, reinforce stereotypes and sometimes lack diversity".[17]

Heidi McDonald conducted a survey which statistically positioned BioWare as the industry leader of game romances, both gay and straight. BioWare's romance content has been evolving towards more inclusive romances for over 15 years.[18] Females were more supportive of wanting more queer romance content than males; however, more than half of straight males were also supportive of this.[18]

In current affairs

After the mass shooting of gay men at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a gay club, some commentators did not refer to the LGBT victims, with the Republican National Committee denouncing "violence against any group of people simply for their lifestyle or orientation" and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell not mentioning LGBT people in his statement. Activist John Becker stated that media are "straightwashing" the attack by "downplaying or even omitting the fact that the shooting was a crime of hatred against the LGBT community".[19]

During the 2018 Winter Olympics' Opening Ceremony, the television network NBC did not "mention or highlight a single out LGBTQ athlete in its three hours of Opening Ceremony coverage"; the network did not acknowledge the only "publicly out American woman at the Games" or the first four "openly gay [men] at the Olympic Games"[20]

A promotional video campaign created by the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce shows the town's busy nightlife and artists, but the advertisement makes no mention of the town's active LGBT community, in what some LGBT activists call an example of straightwashing.[21]

In the Philadelphia's gay neighbourhoods, gay bars such as Woody's are facing "straight gentrification", becoming, in effect, "gay-themed straight bar[s]" where straight men and women predominate, a trend triggered by the desire of straight women for spaces where they will not be harassed by straight men, the rise of gay dating apps such as Grindr (which reduce the need for going to gay clubs), rising rents and gentrification, and increasing mainstream acceptance of LGB people and their spaces.[22] Bob Skiba states that the "pattern is that gays move into a seedy area, make it their own and transform it. It then becomes desirable to straights who see it as both exotic and safe."[22] An LGBTI club in Sydney, The Imperial Hotel, was accused of straight-washing the venue by removing the rainbow flags prior to a visit from the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. He is a Pentecostal Christian who previously voted against same-sex marriage in the Australian legislature.[23] While local artists and LGBTI community members have called for a boycott of the business, the venue denies the accusations.[23]

Lotte Jeffs has criticized the "straight-washing" of the London (UK) LGBT Pride event, stating that rather than focus on recognizing the rights of queer, trans and non-heterosexual people, it has switched to making the LGBT event "palatable for the masses" and for heterosexual people who will attend.[24] She says that while big companies sponsor activities and include rainbow-themes in their publicity materials, they hire straight celebrities to endorse products and brands for the event, with few "dar[ing] to use the words "gay", "lesbian", "trans" or "bi" when they show their support for Pride".[24]

History

In the US, from 1930 to 1968, the Motion Picture Production Code caused major studios to eliminate gay characters or references from movies.[25] The 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet shows how some screenwriters and directors tried to subtly introduce gay characters, roles or themes, without it being noticed, such as with Gore Vidal adding in a gay relationship in Ben-Hur.[25]

The Motion Picture Production Code also led to the elimination of depictions of bisexuality in the film version of Truman Capote's novel Breakfast at Tiffany's. In the book, the male "artsy gigolo-writer" had "male and female clients", but in the movie, he is only shown with Holly Golightly. As well, the Code led to the elimination of a gay relationship in the film version of Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In the play, Brick Pollit is depicted as being the lover of a family patriarch named Skipper. In the 1958 film version, the story arc of the gay relationship is replaced with a story of Skipper's frustration over his faded football career and a heterosexual sexless marriage.

Historical accounts of lesbian suffragettes Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper in some cases straightwash their sexuality, with the historian Gifford Lewis claiming they were not lesbian or queer in his biographies of them.[26] Some letters by the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in which he expressed his homosexual feelings remained censored and unpublished until 2018.[27][28]

The New York Times published no more than two front-page articles per year that made any kind of references to gays from the end of World War II through until 1965.[29] It did not improve much over the following 20 years either. It was rare that anything published was positive; most saw gays as security threats in the time of the Cold War.[30] Gross (2001)[31] pointed out gays invisibility in this time period along with their concerns being publicly excluded.[29]

In 1981, the AIDS crisis also received little media attention, even with the death rate rising rapidly. The New York Times did not mention AIDS until many years after the outbreak and finally made the front page in 1983.[32] Alwood (1996),[32] Kinsella (1989)[33] and Shilts (1987)[34] all commented on The Times silence in relation to LGBT issues, especially the AIDS crisis. Coverage in the New York Times remained infrequent until the mid 1980s and then increased dramatically. This change in media is seen to be reflective of changes in society. Rock Hudson's death, Ronald Reagan's statements on AIDS in 1987, and President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign proposal and the early 1993 congressional debate over the ban on lesbians and gays in the military all increased Times coverage of lesbian and gay issues.[29]

References

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Alexander, Julia (2017-01-26). "Riverdale's Jughead is no longer asexual, and that's a problem for fans". Polygon. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
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King, Anna (7 July 2009). "Brno reignites the pinkface debate: As gay-themed films Brno and Humpday hit theaters, TONY weighs in on the drama behind the comedy". www.timeout.com. Timeout. Retrieved 1 August 2018. Brno—in which a straight Sacha Baron Cohen plays a flamingly gay Austrian fashion reporter—is the latest film to be accused of making fun of the queer community, drawing the accusation of being pinkface. The epithet is a recent addition to the cinematic lexicon: simply put, it's a riff on the term blackface. It carries the same pejorative connotations but applies to straight actors taking on gay roles. Blackface has long gone the way of anti-miscegenation laws, yet Prop 8 is still with us. Is being gay the new black?
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