Unveiling the Dynamic Impact of Queer Celebrities on School Youth’s Perceptions of Gender and Sexual Diversity
Abstract
This study explored the disruption of queer celebrities on the normalisation of heterosexuality and cisnormativity amongst school youth. Qualitative research was employed with a phenomenological research design to conduct semi-structured interviews with seven high school learners between the ages of 16 and 17 in the town of Kroonstad in the Free State Province of South Africa. The findings highlight the symbiotic relationship between queer celebrities and school youth gravitating between self-identification, challenging stereotypes, visibility, and advocacy. Bigger platforms for queer celebrities should be created in schools to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues and equal rights. This will contribute to a more inclusive society, making its way to educational settings, and leading to more inclusivity of gender and sexual diversity in the school system.
References
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https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-291x(75)90506-9.
2. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1(3), 77-101.
3. Brooks, S. K. (2021). FANatics: Systematic literature review of factors associated with celebrity worship, and suggested directions for future research. Current Psychology, 40(2), 864–886. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9978-4.
4. Brown, W.J. (2015). Examining four processes of audience involvement with media personae: Transportation, parasocial interaction, identification, and worship. Communication Theory, 25, 259-283.
5. Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of “sex”. New York: Routledge.
6. Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/978003499627.
7. Croteau, D., & Hoynes, W. (2014). Media/society: Industries, images, and audiences (Fifth Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
8. De Lauretis, T. (1991). Technologies of gender. Essays on theory, film and fiction. London: Macmillan Press.
9. Department of Education (DOE). (1996b). The South African Schools’ Act No. 84 of 1996. Government Printing Works.
10. Department of Education (DOE). (2001). Education White Paper 6: Special education: Building an inclusive education and training system. Government Printing.
11. Driver, S. (2008). Queer youth subcultures: Temporalities and subculture lives. New York: SUNY Press.
12. Duguay, S. (2016). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer Visibility Through Selfies: Comparing Platform Mediators Across Ruby Rose’s Instagram and Vine Presence. Social Media + Society, 2(2), 205630511664197. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116641975.
13. Eleftheriadis, K. (2015). Organizational Practices and Prefigurative Spaces in European Queer Festivals. Social Movement Studies, 14(6), 651–667. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2015.1029045.
14. Fox, J. & Ralston, R. (2016). Queer identity online: Informal learning and teaching experiences of LGBTQ individuals on social media. Computers in Human Behaviour, 65: 635-642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.009.
15. GLAAD. (2016). GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. Retrieved from https://glaad.org/publications/whereweareontv16/.
16. Gomillion, S.C. & Giuliano, T.A. (2015). The influence of media role models on gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity. Journal of Homosexuality, 58(3): 330-354.
17. Gorin, V. & Dubied, A. (2011). Desirable people: Identifying social values through celebrity news. Media, Culture & Society, 33(4): 599-618. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443711398695.
18. Grossman, A. H., Haney, A. P., Edwards, P., Alessi, E. J., Ardon, M., & Howell, T. J. (2009).
19. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth Talk about Experiencing and Coping with School Violence: A Qualitative Study. Journal of LGBT Youth, 6(1), 24–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361650802379748.
20. Guilbert, G-C. (2018). Gay Icons (p.2). McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers.
21. Halperin, D. M. (2003). The Normalization of Queer Theory. Journal of Homosexuality, 45(2–4), 339–343. https://doi.org/10.1300/J082v45n02_17.
22. Jagose, A. (1996). Queer theory. Melbourne: University Press.
23. Kimathi, T., (2013). The role of media in creation of role models among the youth. GRIN Verlag.
24. Linda Duits and Liesbet Van Zoonen. (2011). “Coming to Terms with Sexualization,” European Journal of Cultural Studies, 14(5).
25. Marshall, D. (2006). The celebrity culture reader. London: Sage.
26. Nichols, H.J. 2021. South African school youth in favour of the teaching and learning of “queerness” and about the “other” – A contrast to current literature. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Gender and Sexuality, 22-31. The International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM). https://doi.org/10.17501/26028611.2020.2103.
27. Richards, C., Bouman, W. P., Seal, L., Barker, M. J., Nieder, T. O., & T’Sjoen, G. (2016). Non-binary or genderqueer genders. International Review of Psychiatry, 28(1), 95–102. https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2015.1106446.
28. Robhemed, N. Forbes magazine. (2017). How LGBTQ Stars are changing society through pop culture.
29. Retrieved October 2, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2017/10/02/how-lgbtq-stars-are-changing-society-through-pop-culture-evan-rachel-wood-tyler-oakley-asia-kate-dillon/?sh=1dd70a2159a1.
30. Valkenburg, J.P. (2016). “Adolescents and Pornography: A Review of 20 Years of Research,” Journal of Sex Research, 53(4-5).
31. Valkenburg, P. M., & Piotrowski, J. T. (2017). Plugged in: How media attract and affect youth. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press.
32. Victor C. Strasburger, Amy B. Jordan, and Ed Donnerstein. (2010). “Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents,” Paediatrics 125(4).
33. Wiesmann, U. N., DiDonato, S., & Herschkowitz, N. N. (1975). Effect of chloroquine on cultured fibroblasts: Release of lysosomal hydrolases and inhibition of their uptake. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 66(4), 1338–1343.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-291x(75)90506-9.
Authors
[1]
“Unveiling the Dynamic Impact of Queer Celebrities on School Youth’s Perceptions of Gender and Sexual Diversity”, Soc. sci. humanities j., vol. 8, no. 08, pp. 4547–4557, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.18535/sshj.v8i08.1232.
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