Acting Straight: Reality TV, Gender Self-Consciousness and Forms of Capital
New Formations - ISSN 0950-2378
Volume 2014 Number 83
Acting Straight: Reality TV, Gender Self-Consciousness and Forms of Capital
David Alderson pages -
DOI: 10.3898/NEWF.83.01.2014
Abstract
‘Straight acting’ is a category that has become increasingly prominent as a means of describing men who have sex with other men but are not considered effeminate. It may even suggest a form of disidentification with ‘gay.’ This paper looks at the significance of this term in relation to an intensified social self-consciousness of gender, especially in relation to sexuality, by focusing on the reality TV series, Playing It Straight. While straight acting should mostly be regarded as socially conservative, even nostalgic, in its appeal to various norms, it may also be critical of the kinds of ‘postmodern’ understandings of gender promoted under neoliberal conditions. The article concludes by discussing the cultural political dynamics of masculinity and effeminacy in relation to increasing inequality, precarity and austerity.
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To cite this article
David Alderson (2014) Acting Straight: Reality TV, Gender Self-Consciousness and Forms of Capital, New Formations, 2014(83), -. https://doi.org/10.3898/NEWF.83.01.2014