Over-Sexualisation Of Our Community Is Something We Can Stop

The over-sexualisation of our community is something that needs to be addressed.

As a transgender person, I notice that often, when we are represented in the media and the queer community it is in a fetishising manner.

Apps like Grindr have “Transgender” as a group you can search for, which doesn’t help trans people at all.

It just helps chasers. You’ll also find that certain people in our community feel as though they have the right to touch and invade the personal space of other queer people without consent.

This issue stems from the over-sexualisation of our community, and it’s something we can stop.

You’ll also see that the vast majority of advertising aimed at the queer community only chooses to represent tall, muscular, able-bodied cis men.

Mostly they are white, but recently people of colour have been included more often, which is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough.

I believe that as a community that prides itself on our diversity and acceptance, we should be demanding more of it in our media while calling out instances of fetishisation.

We should be seeing more disabled people, transgender people, fat people, gender non-conforming people, people who aren’t conventionally attractive, and every other kind of person you could ever find in our community.

We shouldn’t be turning a blind eye to the marginalisation of those who don’t fit an idealised mould.

Everyone deserves a good role model, but within the queer community, our role models are severely limited.

By only representing certain types of people, we are setting an example that says only certain types of people are valid and normal.

This is wrong. We all deserve to see ourselves represented, just as we deserve the right to not be sexualised against our will.

We as a community cannot continue to allow this sort of behaviour.

We need to be bold in demanding that consent become a priority. We must insist that our media becomes less sexualised and more diverse.

This community must be a safe space. To tolerate anything less is to stop progress in its tracks.

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For more on Adrian and the other finalists of Mr. Gay New Zealand visit the website www.mrgaynewzealand.com

Last Updated on Jan 31, 2017