GenQ - For the not so straight individual

"Cool! It's like Babylon!" they shriek, a bit shocked at how the club looks pretty much as they've expected it to be.

I laugh every time I hear it. To me, our clubs are nothing like the gay club in Queer As Folk. The shirtless/non-shirtless ratio is WAY off -- flesh is favoured on the show, although, thinking about it, walking into the Market on a Saturday you might not see the difference. Characters are able to speak to each other over the music and can understand what's being spoken to them, and, as dark as it is in the place, there's always some magic lighting that's able to follow our heroes around for that ?good shot.? How helpful would that be to some of my friends in the clubs?

Still, I concede there are things that are sort of close. You can't deny there are lots of meticulously groomed men, ultra camp queens, acid-tongued trannies, bears, leather men, or everything else in between running around. As my friends gaze out at the room before them, they notice one boy taking another by the hand into the toilets. They don't flinch or ask questions; they know what's happening. It's normal.

That's the problem -- my friends are too used to the idea of Queer As Folk portraying an honest and accurate portrayal of what real gay life has to offer ? and as such, they act like we've got nothing else to our personalities besides being glamorous, dramatic, good at all things sexy, and sorta yuppyish'and while some of things aren't bad, the saying ?everything in moderation? should still apply. In short, they think we go clubbing every weekend, and then make sure to hang out on Commercial or Oxford Rds all night after work on the weekends.

Sure, our friends are able to pick up on the fact that others shows on TV are overdramatised for effect; Agent Bristow can get away from 50 professionally trained agents, dodging bullets without a scratch, and can eventually escape by skydiving off of a building using a dirty napkin and people get it. It's cool, but they don't really expect to see that happen in real life. That's because it's easy to see where the line between real life and TV life is drawn in Alias, but much harder to in Queer As Folk. In Alias, the world is set up to be one of secret-agent fantasy; the characters are larger than life and routinely perform the impossible.

In Queer As Folk, things are overdramatised too; Justin can just happen to walk into Ethan's recital after-party at the exact moment that his boyfriend seduces and leads away a pick-up. Even then, Queer As Folk portrays a group of characters who could be considered far more ?normal? then on shows like Alias ? they highlight a number of individuals in varying walks of life -- the characters have normal careers, mortgages, kids, you name it (but we rarely do see them on the show). The problem there is that the overdramatised bits are applied to those lives but are far more subtle; Justin was extremely lucky to have walked in on Ethan at that precise moment'too lucky, I'd say, for that to happen often in normal life.

Queer As Folk does not feature an accurate portrayal of gay life, but rather, on sections of gay life. The clubbing scenes? Spot on. The sex? I'm sure most of us would like to claim that's how it is. Homophobia? Pink Ceilings? Yeah, we've got those too.

Still, we've got things that don't match up: Lesbians. Either you're in a loving, caring, child-filled relationship or you don't really exist. Unless they're related to a main character, are a token fag hag, or are a homophobic antagonist, you won't be a straight person featured on the show either.

Things like that are BORING, but things like that are crucial so straight viewers aren't given an unrealistic view of gay life. We never see Justin without his hair done up (and no, stylistic ?bed head? doesn't count), or in a pair of old sweatpants, lounging ? he's always tackling issues, or rolling around in bed, or being hit over the head with a bat. Which is fine ? I'm not taking a stab at Queer As Folk, because at the end of the day, it's only a TV show, and one that has increased acceptance of gay culture at that.

But as much as the show is helping gay culture and perceptions by the straight world, it is also helping to help drive in a wedge. We're not being seen as who we are entirely, and it's evident when those straight friends go into shock not over sexual things at clubs, but because we answer our front door on a Sunday afternoon in pyjamas, slippers, and a mug of hot chocolate we've made while watching DVDs. If movies like Pricilla made the general public think we were separated into two groups: those who wore the dresses and those who wore the hotpants, Queer As Folk can lead some in the general public to think we're quite superficial and caring solely about appearances and experiences. Unless we're attending the local strip club charity ball or something.

I guess that's where we need to come in. Queer As Folk can lead to acceptance of gay life and culture, but we can't let it stop there. We can't play into the stereotypes, meet up with straight friends from work and take them to a gay club once and a while; that's not enough. Friends shouldn't be shocked because I haven't bothered to shave and wear a bunny-hug (yeah, I'm still calling it a bunny-hug; hooded jumper just doesn't work for me). Obviously, I've been lax on my responsibility to show these people I lead, not only a glamorous life, but a well-rounded one as well.

It'd make for crap TV, but I'd like to see Brian make a toblerone cheesecake sometime. It's bloody hard!