User:Figuresk8ter94/sandbox

What does this mean? In a broad sense, media has a particular influence on society's perception of queer identities. Jimmy Draper calls this ability the media- imposed lens of detection. For example, in 2009 on the reality TV show American Idol, Adam Lambert’s sexuality was put in the spotlight and teased to gain hype for the show, specifically hinting  to the audience that he was in fact a closeted gay man, which in itself was pushing the audience to believe this narrative as well as use his sexuality as a device to garner viewership. In this light, media portrayal and framing techniques had a direct influence on audience perception of Lambert’s sexuality. This kind of influence shapes how queer identities are represented and thus received. It also limits the scope of representation by often failing to challenge conventional ideas surrounding gender and sexuality, and not allowing these individuals, specifically in the reality television world to voice and  share their own experience, at least not initially.