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”Bad Girls Changed My Life”: Homonormativity in a Women’s Prison Drama

Herman, Didi (2003) ”Bad Girls Changed My Life”: Homonormativity in a Women’s Prison Drama. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 20 (2). pp. 141-159. ISSN 1529-5036. (doi:10.1080/07393180302779) (KAR id:1570)

Abstract

This paper explores representations of sexuality in a popular British television drama. The author argues that the program in question, Bad Girls, a drama set in a women’s prison, conveys a set of values that are homonormative. In other words, unlike other mainstream

television products that may have lesbian or gay characters within a prevailing context of heteronormativity, BG represents lesbian sexuality as normal, desirable, and possible. At the same time, BG reproduces dominant understandings of social relations in other areas, particularly around race. The broader significance of the series lies in its impact on viewers’ lives, its nonconformity with dominant “gay market” images, and its significance as a space

within popular culture from which meanings of gender and sexuality can be contested.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/07393180302779
Subjects: K Law
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > Kent Law School
Depositing User: A. Davies
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2007 19:03 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:40 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/1570 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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