I felt that it was important to talk about lesbianism, as opposed to gay men, because they are woefully under-represented. Gay culture can be seen as a microcosm of the state of gender issues today: those of men are given much more importance than those of women. In short, it's becoming more acceptable to be a gay man than it is to be a gay woman.
Grey's Anatomy is one of my favorite shows, not just because of the great music, the excellent caste or the witty dialogue, but because of the way it represents people. They are shown as doctors, each with their own lives and issues to deal with; nowhere is the issue of race highlighted. Though it is obvious that the protagonists come from a variety of social and ethnic backgrounds, they are shown as human beings. This is why I wasn't surprised at the sensitivity with which Shonda Rhimes (the show's producer) handles the lone lesbian couple on the show.
They are not hyper-sexualized, they are not seen from a male's point of view, and yet they are among the more popular characters on the show. They have fun flirtatious moments, quirky conversations and relationship problems, just like the heterosexual couples on the show. In short, they are just another "normal" couple.
Through this remarkable display of forward thinking, Shonda Rhimes is helping bring lesbians into mainstream society and making them more "conventional".
The show does deal with the many difficulties that homosexual women deal with, even in today's "progressive" social setup. In addition to the usual "difficulties coming out to your parents", there are little scenes that allow me, as a heterosexual female, a glimpse of the everyday mundanities of being a lesbian that almost go unnoticed. One interesting such incident occurs when lesbianism is equated with divorce. In last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy, Callie Torres speaks with Miranda Bailey's father about cutting her some slack. Bailey did not tell her parents about her divorce, and when her father found out (when he surprised her with a visit), he told her that he was ashamed of her. Callie speaks with her father, and tells him that she is a lesbian, and that it took her parents awhile to deal with it, but they did. In this situation, being gay is equated with divorce. Though it is by no means the central theme of the episode, this conversation makes an overt statement about the fact that homosexuality is often seen as morally "wrong" and is equated with divorce, which is similarly frowned upon, especially in small-town America.
The scene is at 17:00 in the video below:
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