Queer Identities in Popular Culture

From the global spectacle of RuPaul's Drag Race to queer characters in science fiction universes, queer figures have never been more visible and culturally significant. Drawing on a wide array of television and film examples, this work demonstrates how popular culture not only mirrors changing public attitudes toward gender identity and sexual orientation, but also actively shapes them. The search for identity and our place in the world is a timeless topic which these essays situate in a question: How do non-heteronormative people find themselves, their true selves, in a patriarchal and heteronormative hegemony? They highlight possible ways of answering that question: reimagining society and genres, altering one's identity based on new insights (or being forced to alter one's identity), and revealing the truth about one's identity. All of these approaches involve expanding representation with positive depictions that lead to greater acceptance, even in the face of increasing pushback.