Hostname: page-component-68945f75b7-wph62 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-05T22:38:49.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Consuming Community: Community and Advertising in Brisbane's Gay and Lesbian Newspapers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2016

Get access

Extract

Several things have inspired me to interview the editors of two of Queensland's free gay and lesbian newspapers, Queensland Pride and QNews. First, both newspapers are in transition in 2004. QNews has appointed Australia's first female editor of a broad-spectrum gay community paper. QNews also seemed to be significantly altering the content of its fortnightly publication. At the same time, in an unrelated move, Queensland Pride has shifted from a fortnightly newspaper to a monthly magazine format and included a lesbian-specific section, the L-Pages.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 Female editors were previously confined to specialist lesbian papers and magazines like the Sydney Lesbians on the Loose, for sale by cover price, Lesbian Network, for sale by subscription, and Brisbane's brief but now defunct free publication, Dyke.Google Scholar

2 See, for example, Murphy, P. and Watson, S., ‘Gay Sites and the Pink Dollar’, in Surface City: Sydney at the Millennium (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1997): 6294.Google Scholar

3 See a brief history of the Queen's Ball at www.queensball.com.au/index.htm#about Google Scholar

4 Fejes, F.Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian Gay Identity’, in Sex and Money: Feminism and Political Economy in the Media, eds Meehan, E. and Riordan, E. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press: 2002): 196208 Google Scholar

5 Sender, K., ‘Sex Sells: Sex, Class and Taste in Commercial Gay and Lesbian MediaGLQ 9(3) (2003): 331–65.Google Scholar

6 Fejes, ‘Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity’: 207.Google Scholar

7 Kirk, M. Madsen, H., After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s (New York: Patriot Books, 1989); and G. Lukenbill, Untold Millions: Positioning your Business for the Gay and Lesbian Consumer Revolution (New York: Harper Collins, 1995). The sanitised gay male is monogamous, sexually healthy, young, white, attractive, professional, mainstream and affluent.Google Scholar

8 Sender, ‘Sex Sells’: 332.Google Scholar

9 Barnes, Donna, Editor QNews, interview conducted 5 August 2004.Google Scholar

10 Clacher, Iain, Editor Queensland Pride, interview conducted 4 August 2004.Google Scholar

11 O'Donnell, M., ed., Sydney Star Observer (Darlinghurst: Sydney G&L Community Publishing Ltd, 2004). See also www.SSONet.com.au/advertise.Google Scholar

12 Gurr, T., ed., Melbourne Community Voice (Melbourne: Lencut Pty Ltd, 2004). See also www.mcv.net.au/about.Google Scholar

13 Calder, B., publisher, BNews (Melbourne: BNews Pty Ltd, 2001). See also www.bnews.net.au Google Scholar

14 Ooi, T., ‘Satellite Media's Pink Ink Turns Red’, www.gaynet.com.au/news/arohive/story-156.htm, 2000 Google Scholar

15 Sender, ‘Sex Sells’: 332.Google Scholar

16 Fejes, ‘Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian Gay Identity’: 197.Google Scholar

17 Twitchell, J., Adcult USA (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996): 150.Google Scholar

18 Selected examples from the personal columns in Queensland Pride and Q News, April 2003.Google Scholar

19 Clacher, Iain, Editor Queensland Pride, interview conducted 4 August 2004.Google Scholar

20 Barnes, , Editor QNews, interview conducted 5 August 2004.Google Scholar

21 Fejes, ‘Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian Gay Identity’: 197.Google Scholar

22 Clark, D., ‘Commodity Lesbianism’, in The Gender and Consumer Culture Reader, ed. Scanlon, J. (New York: Mew York University Press, 2000): 372.Google Scholar

23 Hicks, G., ‘Media at the Margins: Homoerotic Appeals to the Gay and Lesbian Community’, in Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal, eds Reichert, T. Lambiase, J. (New York: Michele Bohbot, 2002): 229.Google Scholar

24 Hicks, ‘Media at the Margins’: 234.Google Scholar

25 Reichert, T. et al. ., ‘Designed for (Male) Pleasure: The Myth of Lesbian Chic in Mainstream Advertising’, in Sexual Rhetoric: Media Perspectives on Sexuality, Gender and Identity, eds Carstarphen, M. and Zavoina, C. (London: Greenwood Press, 1999): 123.Google Scholar

26 Sender, ‘Sex Sells’: 332–33.Google Scholar

27 Sender, ‘Sex Sells’: 332.Google Scholar

28 Phelan, S., Getting Specific (New York: UMP. 1994): 141.Google Scholar

29 Kirk and Madsen, After the Ball: 137.Google Scholar

30 Potts, A., The Science Fiction of Sex. (London: Routledge, 2002): 66.Google Scholar

31 Gray, J., Men are from Mars: Women are from Venus (New York: Harper Collins, 1992)Google Scholar

32 Radio interview quoted in Moscaritolo, M., ‘Howard Rejects Gay Marriage’, Herald Sun, August 2001.Google Scholar

33 Wroe, D., ‘PM Accuses Playschool Over Gays’, The Age (Melbourne). 7 June 2004. See also www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/06/1086460177951.Google Scholar