It is more prevalent in shows now... Netflix I think having the most.   I can say gay couples do not bother me in any show but I still find ones where a person goes both ways triggering.  I think its to be expected  based on all we've been through.
 

I should clarify...not the same sex couple part. That I could care less about when it's portrayed as a healthy relationship. I'm talking about the double standard.

Like, where the main character has a secret man on the side and everyone celebrates him being himself and yet being so loving for his wife (like I said....in the one show he literally cheats on his wife for decades, then puts her in a home and moves his male lover in. But everyone talks about how amazing he is and how loving because he still visits his wife every day. This was a multi-episode plot and development. I could be wrong....but I just can't see it having the same feeling if he cheated with another woman and moved her in after putting his wife in a home. I can't see anyone celebrating his love for his wife then or congratulating him on truly finding himself....it just seems like such a double standard.)

I've just had a number of shows now that actually seem to celebrate the not straight partner treating his/her spouse like dirt. I'm just wondering if this is a new phenomena? Or is this how society actually views us? Like.....it's just great we got discarded and walked on cuz now the non-straight spouse can be themselves!

I have no issues with same sex relationships anywhere, when they're healthy and someone isn't getting cheated on, lied to, or whatever. I feel like the standards should be the same. Same sex or hetero. Hopefully that makes sense?

I posted a thread a couple months ago about this very issue.  I pointed out several examples including links where the straight spouse experience is repeatedly reduced to a punchline.

Not even dramatic portrayals, but literally making a joke out of the straight spouse experience.

There is an AppleTV+ show called Schmigadoon in which a straight wife unironically sings a whole song about her closeted husband.  Also, there was a SNL skit called “Oops, I married a lesbian”

Here is the thread where you will find links:

https://straightspouse.boardhost.com/viewtopic_mobile.php?id=2841

This kind of media depiction doesn’t help at all. After everything we have already suffered, we are literally the butt of jokes.  The identify-with-LGBTQIA-people-at-all-costs mentality in the media is very damaging.

Last edited by Victo (September 21, 2022 5:59 pm)

Media makers avoid complex narratives like the plague.  There is a sense that complexity equals commercial death.  They think audiences don’t want and can’t handle nuance and complexity so they go for blowing up the Death Star at the end of every commercial, tv show and movie.

In this black and white world of media, executives are deeply afraid of making LGBTQ people into any kind of bad guy - for risk of getting their careers canceled.

So we end up with poisonous stories about LGBTQ triumph at the expense of common decency and actual understanding.  The ends seem to always justify the means for LGBTQ characters in the media.

Yes, I cannot sit through these types of TV portrayals either. They sink into my mind and torment me. It’s appalling that the double standard is fed to us! Like they’re setting up my kids’ generation to be treated this way if they’re targeted by a person like our spouses.

I love the American Office. I used to laugh at the Angela storyline with the gay husband. Obviously, can’t watch those episodes again!! I love Angels and Jenna’s podcast about the show and was dreading that part. So I actually wrote them to say this is a real, life-altering thing that many of us suffer through. I asked them to be very sensitive in those episodes. I think they would anyway, but it felt good to advocate for us. I’ll listen to the first one in that storyline and see if it’s OK.