Abstract :
Popular media such as films, television
programmes/commercials and magazines have
become the dominant source through which children
learn about others and their world, develop
attitudes and beliefs as manifested in media
expressions, and formulate their sense of identity.
Popular media have enormous influence on children
who are constantly immersing themselves in
value-laden media images that perpetuate overgeneralised
representations of cultural groups, in
particular, lesbian and gay stereotypes. By critically
examining media images in the art room,
media literacy art education offers art teachers
and their students an opportunity to nurture their
aesthetic sensibilities, social awareness and the
media literacy necessary to resist and challenge
prejudiced, dehumanised or unjust social practices.
This article explores issues of lesbian and
gay stereotypes in the media, and proposes using
media images as a pedagogical device to help
students deconstruct them.
