In plain sight
an exploration of gay rights, lgbtq women, and rural place
METRONORMATIVITY IN MEDIA
TV SHOWS
Queer Eye, a Netflix TV show released in early 2018, has gained widespread popularity as the reboot of Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (2003-2007). With a luxurious loft in Atlanta, Georgia, as a home base, the “Fab Five” travel around Georgia to help less stylish people (almost always men) redirect and redecorate themselves and their lifestyles. It is no secret that LGBTQ events and activism are largely male-dominated and that sexism continues to be a problem among gay men and LGBTQ people more broadly. In many ways, Queer Eye extends this problem through its stereotypical portrayal of LGBTQ life, embodied in five gay, city-dwelling, and traditionally “successful” men who don’t seem to care much about women. (Indeed, the Fab Five have made over just one woman, Tammye, in an episode that is as much about her gay son, who was also made over. Put more directly, not one episode in two seasons has focused solely on helping improve the life of a woman.) But this is old news. Here, we examine a far less remarked upon aspect of the show: its inherent metronormativity.