Indoctrinated to Hate.
The Power of the Media to Hurt and to Heal
Part six in the PRIDE series
If we think being queer is unnatural, it’s because we haven't been educated on sexual biology and cultural anthropology. If we’re a Christian, and we think queer people are going to hell, it’s because we don’t know Jesus and haven’t truly studied the language and historical interpretation of the Bible. If we think being queer is wrong, it’s because we’ve been indoctrinated to hate from those who came before us: parents, grandparents, the religious community, and media.
Just because LGBTQIA+ was never in our purview as it is today doesn’t mean it’s a trend. Inclusion of new communities into the mainstream has always been called a “trend” until it becomes a movement, and then finally integrates into the fabric of the mainstream and is given a place at the table as an equal. Inclusion of humanity isn’t a trend, it’s an awakening.
In the beginning, nearly all roles in theatre were written for white men, with only token women to represent a romantic interest (and men played those roles). This expanded into radio, film, and television, slowly allowing women to play themselves. By the 1960s, the entertainment industry had evolved to include a token black character, and then a token gay character, usually for comic relief, in their formulaic scripts. Eventually, women began challenging how necessary the gender of a character was; and roles written for men became roles that could be played by women. That evolved to people of color challenging producers to make roles written for someone white to be cast as someone of any ethnicity—which grew to include someone of any sexuality. We’re just beginning to open doors for people with disabilities. The ultimate goal is to create art that reflects life, that isn’t dependent on a person’s skin color, gender, sexual orientation, or how able-bodied they are (unless it’s somehow integral to the storyline). The most recent example of this is in the 2023 film production of The Little Mermaid, which featured a large multi-ethic cast of both lead actors and background performers.
Visible: Out on Television is an excellent 2020 documentary series that might help to educate on how we as a society have been indoctrinated to hate. Perhaps in watching it, our hearts will soften and our judgments will lessen. When we stop to realize that the beliefs we hold are most often shaped by those who come before us and held up as “normal,” we come to see how anything new is often attacked as “abnormal.” We start to understand that rejection of something new can feel very threatening to those who are attached to something old—like an outdated mindset that might be inclusive to them and thereby serve who they are in this world, it may also be excluding who someone else is. Using empathy, we can imagine if the roles were reversed: what if who we are were considered “abnormal” and excluded? How would it make us feel? What would we do to create change? When we can see ourselves in others, we want the best for all concerned. It’s through human compassion that we will heal our world and ourselves. We can choose to break the cycle of being indoctrinated to hate, to judge, to exclude and be a better example of inclusion for our children and future generations.
WRITERS GUILD STRIKE—My husband and I are both working professionals in the entertainment industry and our income is being directly impacted by the Writers Guild Strike. If you’ve found value in my essays on conflict resolution, relationship dynamics, peaceful parenting, or the seven-piece series I’ve written on PRIDE, the four-part series on how to end mass shootings, or the five-part series on protecting children and reproductive freedom would you please consider a paid subscription to SageJustice.Substack.com for yourself and for a friend? A monthly subscription is just $5 a month, a yearly subscription is $45. Writers provide a much-needed service to the community. We gather information and turn it into inspiration, education and understanding to bring people together and solve universal challenges; and right now, we need your financial support. Thank you.
Thanks for reading and supporting The Sage Words substack. For more articles related to being queer, please see my full seven-piece PRIDE collection (most are only one to three minute reads):
Part 1: What Does it Mean to Be Queer? The Q in LGBTQIA+
Part 3: Queer Animals, How Homosexuality Keeps the Straight Population Thriving.
Part 4: In the Closet and How to Come Out
Part 5: Camping with my Girl How Gender Roles are Social Constructs
Part 6: Indoctrinated to Hate: The Power of the Media to Hurt and to Heal
Part 7: Drag Queens Were My Fairy Godparents—Feat. Trixie Mattel and The Trixie Motel
Sage Justice is achingly sincere. Balancing wisdom and humor she most often writes deeply personal solution based pieces about the enduring virtues that connect us all: love and healing. She is an award-winning playwright and critically acclaimed performing artist who has appeared on stages from Madison Square Garden in New York City, to The Comedy Store in Hollywood, California. Ms. Justice is the author of Sage Words FREEDOM Book One, an activist, a member of the Screen Actors Guild and an alumna Artist-In-Residence of Chateau Orquevaux, France. She is a co-founder of The Unity Project which fuses activism with art, to educate and inspire, with a special emphasis on community engagement to end homelessness. She has a series of short reels about living with the rare genetic disorder, Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome that you can find in a highlight reel on her Instagram page @SageWords2027.Sage Justice is the author of “Sage Words FREEDOM Book One.” This series on PRIDE contains excerpts from “Sage Words LEGACY Book Seven.”
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