Around the early 1900’s people thought minstrel shows were really funny. And seriously, what’s funnier than a white guy in black face imitating one of those darn funny blacks, right? White racists laughed and blacks probably laughed, too. Even some white people who had black friends laughed. Reinforcing stereotypes was soooooo funny!
Fast forward a century and it seems like reinforcing stereotypes is still the funniest thing around. And golly gee, you don’t even need to dress someone up to exploit the stereotypes of a minority group for a few laughs. Members of minority groups will parade around making fun of themselves for everyone else’s enjoyment. Fabulous!
Cue Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: the Bravo channel’s reality show in which a group of five gay men advise a slovenly straight guy on how to revamp his life. Each of the guys specializes in one area in which gay men are supposed to excel: fashion, food and wine, culture, interior design and grooming.
The members of the”Fab Five” each take the straight guy shopping, redesign his house, teach him how to cook and even how to properly groom himself. (However, if you have been to a GU Pride meeting, Georgetown’s club for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning students, you’d know that a lot more LGBTQ’s dress more like the straight-fashion victims than their the stylish gay counterparts.)
While many of the Fab’s off-handed comments are witty and hilarious, there’s probably nothing funnier than the fact that of the Fab Five, only one is a person of color. Wait, is that funny? No, because Black, Hispanic and Asian people can’t really be gay, right?
But calm down. If you watch the show and enjoy it, it doesn’t mean you’re homophobic. You’re probably a really good person deep down inside. You’re probably a self-described liberal or progressive. And you probably even have gay friends, so you couldn’t be homophobic.
So just sit back and try not to think too hard about the stereotypes that are being solidified in your brain. Turn on Bravo and keep on watching. Because come on, dem gays are funny.
