Popular culture, the ‘victim’ trope and queer youth analytics

Abstract

This article offers a joint reading of two cultural texts that reflect the contest over victim‐oriented characterizations of queer youth in contemporary culture. The first text is a representation of queer youth taken from the popular UK television series Shameless (2004). The second text is an online discussion about representations of gay and lesbian characters on television that was recently posted on the Queer Youth Network website. Through my reading of these two texts, I explore the rise of explicit mainstream representations of gay and lesbian characters and the emergence of an identifiable queer youth audience as key characteristics of the contemporary ‘after‐queer’ moment. Through a reflection on the queer youth analytical techniques observable on the Queer Youth Network site, I conclude by outlining some key implications for future educational research in the field of youth, sexuality and popular culture.

Keywords:

• cultural studies
• new technologies
• queer theory

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge Joel Windle, Mary Lou Rasmussen, Susan Talburt and blind reviewers who provided useful critical commentary on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

1. Individual groups outline their target audience, drawing on a raft of formulations that mix‐and‐match identitarian labels (LGBT, Gay/Straight), putatively anti‐identitarian labels that have coalesced into labels (SSAY or queer as code for SSAY) and anti‐identitarian labels such as Questioning or Queer (in its anti‐identitarian application). Sometimes local groups include different acronyms to reflect local priorities and politics (e.g. some groups include extra T’s in the queer acronym to signify Two‐Spirited and Transsexual). Many of these groups need to draw on notions of homo‐victimhood for funding purposes, although they may have post‐identity sensibilities.

2. This is not to suggest that young people have not previously been involved in queer youth cultural practices (they have) or that LGBTQ youth groups are only a recent phenomenon (they’re not). In Australia, for example, young gay and lesbian people were actively participating in groups like the Gay Teachers and Students Group and Young Gays 30 years ago (Marshall 2005). However, the current volume of collective public queer youth activity and the formalization of structured and institutionally administered queer youth groups distinguish the past decade or so in a marked way.

3. This article uses ‘scepticism’ in a specific way. I do not intend to use it literally to refer to a generalized repudiation of all accepted positions or the possibility of ‘truth’. The sceptical representations and readings I discuss are sceptical in that they are critical reflections on the limitations of the victim trope guided by an awareness of the regulatory historical‐discursive operation of the trope and a political valuing of youth agency and queer difference.

4. The representation of transactional sex requires its own fulsome analysis, which I cannot provide here.

5. It is important to point out that while the soaps discussed in the Queer Youth Network discussion focus on the experiences of the ‘respectable’ mainstream working class, Shameless focuses on the less respectable ‘underclass’.

6. Citing its constitution the website states that the Queer Youth Network is a ‘youth‐focused movement that aims to provide a progressive, innovative, infrastructure at grass‐routes [sic] level to improve the general well‐being for all young people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Transsexual, Intersex, Questioning, Curious, Asexual, Pansexual or “Queer” and/or who are socially marginalised as a result of their identity as well as those who advocate on their behalf’ (Queer Youth Network 2009b). Originally called the ‘Queer Youth Alliance’, it was founded in 1999 as a grass roots civil rights group that drew together local social support groups and Gay Straight Alliances (Queer Youth Network 2009b). The ‘About QYN’ section outlines that the network has nine regional groups throughout the UK.

7. I have faithfully reproduced the text and left original spelling and punctuation in place.

8. The ellipses refer to the omission of the following contribution which was not cited in the main text for the sake of brevity: ‘Following JP’s relationship, and now he is getting with the local Priest, Father Kieron Hobbs. (Who is very hot for a man of the cloth) Kris Fisher, is great to HO’s crossdresser who is Bi.’

9. The ellipses refer to the omission of the final contribution to the thread: ‘Contributor #5 (posted 29 March 2008) – What do people think about Emmerdale’s gay storyline? I don’t watch it that much so I’m not too sure but I think that compared to corrie its quite good … In one bit I saw the gay couple (dunno their names) were discussing civil partnerships and I think both the issue and the way it was discussed were quite good. One of them was totally in favour, saying it was a great step forward for gay rights whereas the other wasn’t too keen on it (can’t remember exactly why).’ I chose to omit this contribution as I do not have space in this article to address the issues of civil partnerships and gay rights as raised in this context, although this would be a fruitful and important line of investigation for future research in queer youth analytics.

10. I am grateful to Joel Windle for pressing me to think more about this point.