Respond: Amy Zimmerman, It Ain’t Easy Being Bisexual on TV
RESPOND •
1. Despite the validity of Zimmerman’s claims, how does the existence of her essay stand as evidence that the media have, in fact, made progress in representing bisexuality and other sexual minorities in the past decade? How does her essay give you new ways of thinking about stereotypes in the media generally and how stereotypes of underrepresented groups often change across time?
2. Zimmerman uses a range of kinds of evidence as she seeks to support her argument. Reread her essay carefully, noting the kinds of evidence she uses and characterizing each. (Chapter 7 on structuring arguments should help you with these tasks.)
3. In the course of her essay, Zimmerman lists a number of stereotypes of bisexuals generally and some stereotypes associated specifically with female and male bisexuals. She also describes several processes that perpetuate the stereotyping of bisexuals in and by the media. Make a list of these examples and processes. In what sense do these constitute arguments of definition? What kinds of definition are they? (See Chapter 9 for a discussion of arguments of definition.)
4. In writing this essay, Zimmerman describes in some detail many of the stereotypes she is so vehemently critiquing. In some sense, then, she reproduces the very stereotypes that she dislikes and that moved her to write this article for the Daily Beast. Does she have alternatives, or are those who wish to critique stereotypes doomed to repeat them even as they criticize them? Are there advantages to reproducing such stereotypes in the context of critique, or does reproducing them inevitably contribute to the problem of continued stereotyping?
5. Zimmerman’s style is quite informal, and it is laced with references to popular culture that she assumes will be familiar to her readers. (How many, in fact, were new for you?) Let’s assume you decided to use a summary of this article in an essay you were writing for a course you are taking. Write the summary, being sure to include both paraphrase and direct quotations. Note that you will also need to unpack the popular culture references Zimmerman uses that provide support for her claims; in other words, you’ll need to give your readers more background than she does because academic writing generally requires a kind of explicitness of background that journalistic writing does not. (Chapter 20 on using sources and Chapter 21 on plagiarism and academic integrity will help you with this question.)
6. Zimmerman offers a strong proposal near the end of her article: “children of all sexual orientations [should] be able to imagine lives for themselves inspired by the images they see in movies, television, and magazines” (paragraph 20) — even as she acknowledges that the media fall far short of reaching this goal. Choose another group that you believe the media stereotypes, and write an evaluative argument in which you critique the treatment of that group by the media generally, a particular television program, or a specific movie. Like Zimmerman, you will want to provide evidence for your claims from one or more television programs or movies. (You may wish to review Chapter 8 on arguments of fact and Chapter 9 on arguments of definition as you prepare this assignment.) As noted in the previous question, you’ll also want to include more background than Zimmerman does. You may or may not wish to end your evaluation with a call for action, a proposal, as Zimmerman has.