Becoming “Lesbian” in TV land: Television as an Interlocutor of Queer Consciousness & Community

This research interrogates questions of queer consciousness and queer community as influenced by television, or other visual media formats. Utilizing intersectional queer perspectives, I draw on José E. Muñoz’s queer longing and queer utopia as the basis of my theoretical framework. Extrapolating from queer phenomenology as my methodological approach, I conducted four semi-structured interviews. All participants identified as lesbian, lived in Ottawa, Ontario, were between ages 18 and 25, and spoke English. Three main themes were found in the interviews detailing the relationship between television and queer identity: availability and access, finding community in adulthood, and a lingering absence in representation. The interviews outlined several failures of television to represent queerness in accurate and non-normative ways. The narrators confirmed that television, alongside other media formats, is influential in queer subjectivity and community formation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Women's and Gender Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Sherman, Sierra Mary

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2025 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, distribution to students, research and scholarship. Theses may only be shared by linking to the Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be copied without proper attribution to the author; no part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2025-16665

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/44032