Stereotypes In Desperate Housewives

This final section is going to be about gay stereotypes which the series explains. First of all, the paper will mention some gay clichés and how gay stereotypes appeared in the past and present American television. After this, homosexual representation in Desperate Housewives will continue the section. Thereafter, examples from the series will disclaim sexual stereotypes. Thus, Bree’s relationship with her son, Andrew, the gay couple moving in during the fourth season and two lesbian women will reinforce that homosexual people cannot be seen as one big minority because they are dissimilar. However, the stereotype for homosexual men is that they behave like heterosexual women, have good relationships only with women, as a couple they cannot

From the ‘70s, however, the media turned towards them with a hostile attitued (Lester, 199). By today, it has changed a lot and there are sportsmen, celebrities, presenters or even large companies’ CEOs who were coming out and their success is unbroken since then, for example Apple chief executive Tim Cook (Apple) or American comedian and television host, Ellen DeGeneres (Shipman). In Desperate Housewives, queer representation appears in various ways. Characters like Andrew Van De Kamp, Bob Hunter and Lee McDermott, Katherine Mayfair and Robin Gallagher definitely reinforce gay representation in the series. Reading Desperate Housewives discusses several aspects of the show, including queer dilemmas. The eighth chapter written by Kristian T. Kahn contains that Marc Cherry “is a self-proclaimed ‘gay Republican’” (McCabe, 95). Cherry supports Republican values and he is also homosexual which appears in the show, so left and right wings also can enjoy it (McCabe, 97). The creator of the show has a lot in common with Andrew Van De Kamp. When he came out to his mother, she was surprised and worried about the fact that they would not meet in heaven. Thus, Cherry felt it was something difficult to deal with, especially that they had a very good relationship before. It appeared in the show when Andrew came out to his mother, Bree

The actor who plays Hunter said in an interview that he wears the fancy suits and carries the briefcase and Lee is like a desperate housewife (TheBacklot). In the seventh season, it turns out that Bob likes sports and does not fit into the gay stereotypes of loving musicals. Gabrielle wants to give him tickets for a musical but she recognizes that it does not make Bob happy. “Give me a beer and a college basketball game, I’m happy.” Gabrielle is shocked and says to him: “It’s like you’re not even” and Bob finishes this sentence: “a tired gay stereotype?”