Fashion Futures- Tokenism and Erasure of LGBT+ in modern and historical society by Darnel Bailey

Over the 1.5 years I have studied Fashion Communication and Promotion I have encountered many situations and projects I had not otherwise expected and I have had to adapt to them. From fragrance to zine-making, I have enjoyed it all and I have put the utmost effort into each task. I have a keen interest in graphic design and any form of visual communication and I believe I can articulate my ideas aptly in a written sense. I have an interest in fashion but that is not where my specific passion liesit’s communicating with people in creative and exciting ways whether it’s through art, visual reports, film, or creative concept generation. The role best suited for me would be something like creative director where I can experiment with different mediums to deliver my ideas because I like to learn and try new things all the time. I have no specific ideas for where I would like to work, but I thrive in environments where I can work both alone and in a group setting as I feel I can lead a team well with strong ideas, but I require a personal space to gather my ideas and refine them as I often have a huge amount before I decide on a few that I find merit further attention.

My feedback from numerous projects solidifies my self-analysis in that I’m commended for my visual style and unique approach to the given briefs. The response to my previous summative hand-in was largely positive, highlighting success in my aesthetic, research, topic, and application of my own personal style to the project. Knowing the areas where I am performing well helps me to continue on this path and direct my focus onto my struggles. Some areas I am told I could improve on include such things as making sure I am not underselling myself and being sure that I’m recording all of my research and the origin of my own work- this is something I agree with and have since been making a conscious effort to better document my research methodology and explain my processes.

Since the beginning of the course, I have been on a consistent trajectory, refining my skills on the adobe suite and building my knowledge on the terms and processes within the creative industry. One of which being the FCP process itself: using context, ideas, concepts, and outcomes as its structure. I feel that while I am fairly well versed and experienced with the process now, my specialties lie with the last three sections. Context is a fundamental component in starting any project but I feel that because it is creatively the least demanding, I take less interest in it- but I now understand its quintessential role in delivering quality work in the later steps of the process and how it impacts the whole project’s validity.

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pon watching films such as Baren Cohen’s ‘Bruno’ and Disney’s ‘Finding Dory, two dichotomous examples of a modern blockbuster film, It became apparent that these films (along with countless others) had a distinct similarity- their fearful and tactless excuses for representation of the LGBT+ community.

Whether it’s a company’s anxious precaution not to anger their conservative fanbase or a tokenistic appearance of a stereotype to appease a marginalised community- representation of these groups has always been problematic and it is apparent in many forms of media. From film to fashion, and art to politics, especially in contemporary western culture, there is the shamefully apparent erasure and insincerity, primarily for a capitalist gain I’ve chosen to explore the reasonings and examples of tokenism and erasure and the methods in which they have been, and continue to be overcome. As well as measuring the authenticity of the representation of LGBT+ groups using historical and contemporary social contexts. Such as the impact of technology and vocality of individuals throughout recent history.

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Throughout history, it’s essential for someone to be the first to do something monumentalsomething I have noticed is that in LGBT+ history is that the majority of ‘firsts’ are scarily recent, to the point of it barely being considered history yet. Why is the majority of the history in the past 100 years? [1]

While there are countless individuals whose contributions have paved the way for the community, here are just a few ‘firsts’, past and recent.

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[3]

Misogynistic ideologies are the basis for many powerful social and cultural institutions, such as religion, and governmental organisations, which in turn affects social attitudes toward individuals such as the LGBT+ community.

The long-lasting impact that religion has on society (even to those who don’t partake) is partly to blame for the slow progression toward acceptance- although it is down to people’s perception of biblical texts as the messages are often unclear and paraphrased. Authoritative roles in history such as Presidencies, Popeships, and Prime Ministers have almost all been straight white males and use such examples as Christianity as a leading philosophy, enforcing it upon the general population, though it has somewhat become slightly more relaxed- the illegality of homosexuality was only partially ceased in the UK in 1967 [4]. fig 12

The long-lasting impact that religion has on society (even to those who don’t partake) is partly to blame for the slow progression toward acceptance- although it is down to people’s perception of biblical texts as the messages are often unclear and paraphrased. Authoritative roles in history such as Presidencies, Popeships, and Prime Ministers have almost all been straight white males and use such examples as Christianity as a leading philosophy, enforcing it upon general population, though it has somewhat become slightly more relaxed- the illegality of homosexuality was only partially ceased in the UK in 1967. . fig 15-19

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While these Anti-LGBT+ views are of course not shared by everyone, not even the current pope, heteronormative culture is still rampant. Gender roles have a huge place in this, especially since the 18th Century Great Masculine Renunciation which impacted fashion and attitudes toward femininity. There was a purposeful departure from men dressing in typically flamboyant attire and masculinity was defined by an absence of colour and loss of accents on garments. [5] Fashion is a sociopolitical form of expression and implementation of stricter gender roles defines anyone who steps outside of these rules as othered. Combined, these reasons add to why there is residual inequality from these dated ideals.

The compulsory heterosexuality theory popularised by Adrienne Rich is massively relevant and evident in both historical and contemporary culture- while it’s less apparent now, the strides western culture has made from it solidifies its existence in the past.

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It’s an ideology that indoctrinates children from a young age and gives them an unfair perception of their own identity which is especially troubling if they are part of the LGBT+ community, it’s a driving force for hatred it’s seen as deviation from ‘normal’ when in fact it is an idea pushed by patriarchal society.

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From extremely limited teaching in schools about same sex relationships to the disproportionate automatic flagging of LGBT+ content on Youtube, the erasure of this necessary education is not met with enough attention or reform

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The current educational tools for parent’s and children are lacking in terms of readability, engagement and these formats create a disinterest in the education which affects both the community and the people who are miseducated . fig 27

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fig 30 fig 31 We live in a modern culture where the media is shaped by the people, but the people are also shaped by the media. Web 2.0 and the proliferation of technology has been an essential catalyst for widespread acceptance. This is evident when looking at the topic through the lens of Gerbner and Gross’ media cultivation theory [8] (see appendix). The curated social media experience has also helped media become more suited to its audience and there is a huge variety in terms of subgenre now, but the mainstream representation is rudimentary. Social media, modern technology, and the birth of online identities have impacted the speed at which the community is accepted, but also used as tokens. The power of individuals online with such things as cancel culture and online anonymity, has led to an interesting power dynamic that hasn’t been seen in history before where the public have so much influence due to the accessibility of platforms and social significance of them.

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Homophobia and transphobia, having been a ruling ideology for thousands of years has a massive amount to do with the erasure- but the growing verbal community has led to the need for reparation, but we are met with appeasement- hence the tokenistic gestures. The birth of the fandom, forum, and Facebook group have created safe spaces in a time where they’re sparse. 85% of people interviewed said they feel more comfortable voicing their opinion online than in a real life setting. [9] It’s a great thing in that people feel comfortable sharing their truth but its real life translation is not as overt, over 2/3 respondents in a survey for the BBC said they had avoided holding hands with a same-sex partner for fear of a negative reaction from others. An unsurprising 0 heterosexual people I asked answered with a yes. [10]

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fig 36 While there is an unmistakable rise in queer acceptance, brands and companies take the time to temporarily change their logos and post about the community once a year on pride month and sell pride themed products. While showing support for a marginalised group is commendable, when the display is a tokenistic front to make more money during the month of June it comes off as massively disingenuous and trivialises the issues at hand.

Brand transparency and ethical brand alignment is a current trend looking to be a mainstay, brands now are accompanied by a very personal tone similar to a real person and they interact with the audience in order to appeal to consumer sensitivities but when appealing to a community without involving them, or because you feel pressured to save face and raise profits, it comes off as massively dishonest.

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82% of people surveyed by Karmarama, in partnership with Gay Times said the representation in advertisement is tokenistic [11]. However, having said this, the social perception of brands is changing massively and it’s evident in terms of changes made in sustainability, there has been a huge social trend in people’s mindset changing on how they treat the earth, this socially aware mindset helps in other areas such as respect amongst others. 26

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[12]

I tried to survey a fairly equal mix of people in terms of age and sexuality- in retrospect I would have sourced out more people who identify as non binary. These questions were necessary to see things such as if heterosexual people agreed with what the community were saying.

The majority of people surveyed didn’t have any knowledge on LGBT+ histroy but still thought that it would change their perception of the community. This is interesting and makes me think that there needs to be better ways to teach.

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These questiosn helped me to find out that there are some evident inequalities in terms of ocial standing, but not everyone in the community agrees - which is somewaht good. There are also people outside of the community who would like to see change

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SOME SPECIFIC CONSUMER TRAITS I IDENTIFIED WERE THOSE WHO ARE ABSORBED IN THE LGBT+ COMMUNITY AND ARE THEIR OWN REPRESENTATION- BUYING INTO A LOT OF THE PRODUCTS AIMED SPECIFICALLY AT THEM. OTHERS TENDED TO STAY AWAY FROM THE STEREOTYPES THEY SEE PORTRAYED IN THE MEDIA.

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As demonstrated in the past year, people of colour also face prejudice in contemporary culture- not to undermine any of those struggles, I will say members of the LGBT+ community face a lot of the same bigotry. Malcolm X once said.

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This is applicable in the sense of my report in such contexts as jobs within the creative industry (like fashion) where there is a disproportionate success of queer people, there is no sound evidence correlating homosexuality with being more creative, yet there is an overrepresentation of these groups today [15]and an underrepresentation in more serious political positions- suggesting the creative institution is more socially perceptive and welcoming whereas politics and more powerful positions are more ‘traditional’ (white and homophobic). The lack of sound representation causes social inequality and occupational segregation.

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Some brief ideas I have been exploring include a visually interactive medium to give myself and others a platform. Often, works like art and films and exhibitions based on representing the community shift the entire focus onto the person’s sexual orientation or identity but fail to address them as anything more than that. I hope to contribute to this change. I find that being socially perceptive of such issues as this opens people up to more concerns such as sustainability so whatever I do would have to be reflective of that.

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Overall, my intentions for this research and the following project outlined, are to demonstrate authenticity in ways that aren’t being shown by a lot of mainstream media and platforms, to validate the existence and history of LGBT lives and to gain insight into the history and reasoning behind the rampant erasure and tokenism around today.

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