Moore

Genevieve Moore
English 100-16
VanderSlik
November 19th, 2014
Minorities in Media
When Americans turn on their televisions, theres an almost endless list of shows they
can watch. Besides the popular prime time shows and cable programs, there are apps like Netflix
that create their own original series. When a person has a love for a television show, that love
doesnt usually stem from just an interesting plot, but from the love for a character. The
characters of a television show are often what keep people engaged and sometimes even their
sole reason for watching. With so many different programs, its easy to find something for
everyone, unless someone is a minority. Primetime television today is still showing a vast
underrepresentation of racial, gender, and sexual orientation minorities.
In 2012, the population was an ever-decreasing 63% caucasian (Percentage of
population..) Its no secret that the white population is declining in America. Television shows,
however, are not reflecting this. The most popular series on television mostly surround a white
hero, such as The Office, Supernatural, and Last Man Standing. There have been few shows that
revolved around culturally diverse families and characters since the Cosby Show in the late
1990s (Wiltz).
Although there are many more black characters in television, its rare to find a show
featuring a person of color as the main character. Non-white characters are often the background
or secondary characters; their place in the show is to either exist just to add culture or to offer
some kind of comic relief. In a study done by Children Now, children between the ages of ten

Moore

and seventeen in various cities were asked to watch specific television shows and then asked
how the shows depicted characters of different races. A majority of the viewers came to the
conclusion that white characters were most often portrayed as well-educated and wealthy, while
black and Latino characters were more likely to partake in illegal activities and act goofy
(Gosling). These characters are not only making persons of color look bad, but tainting their
reputation as well. When races are depicted a certain way on television, that is the way others
will perceive them in real life.
While television shows are slow to incorporate different races into their programs, they
are just as lagging with genders. Although the gap between men and women lead characters is
getting smaller, there is a huge lack of transgendered characters, leading or not. If and when a
transgendered character is implemented, theyre often portrayed as the victim. Consider mystery
dramas; transgendered characters are often cast as prostitutes. When transgendered teens watch
these shows, it leads them to feeling less than. According to a survey done by the Williams
Institute of UCLA, only .3% of the population identifies as transgender; that number may seem
small, but thats almost one million people. These one million people deserve equal
representation and the chance to feel like theyre understood in a larger sense. Besides just
transgender characters, there are few characters of any gender besides a man and a woman. Its
important that television programs stay socially aware, and the fact is that its not. On the
popular social media website Facebook, there are currently fifty-eight genders a person can
select when creating their profile; some of the genders include agender, female to male, gender
variant, and pangender (Goldman). Its clear then, that in society there are more than just two
genders, however, popular television isnt quick to represent or even discuss them.

Moore

When Americans turn on the news, its more than likely the program will be discussing
same-sex marriage; its a subject that is becoming more frequently talked about and something
that society is no longer shying away from, but embracing. Again, its clear that the diversity of
the real world does not apply to the world of fictual television. According to GLAAD, only 3.3%
of leading characters are not heterosexual. Besides the obvious lack of lead characters, many
networks choose not to include any characters with diverse sexualities. Not including these
characters can have troubling effects. Scott Seomin, an entertainment media director,
commented, When a gay teen living in Iowa doesnt see himself represented in the media, a
message is delivered that says, You do not count (Epstein).
Often when a sexuality besides heterosexual appears on television, the characters appear
as stereotypes of their seuxalities. For example, gay men are often portrayed as more feminine
and overall shown as less of a man than straight men. Lesbians are often sexualized, existing
only to please the men viewing instead of representing them as an actual couple. Bisexuals are
utilized as overly-sexual characters, often appearing more promiscuous than any straight
character. Other sexualities including asexual, demisexual, and pansexual are usually not
mentioned or represented at all.
Because of the huge lack of representation, theres a vast amount of room for
improvement; there are beacons of light out there that are fighting really hard to tip the scale of
inequality. Television show creator and writer Shonda Rhimes is one of them. Shes the creator
of three hit shows, Greys Anatomy, Scandal, and her newest hit, How to Get Away With
Murder. All of her shows feature diverse characters in both race and sexuality. In Greys
Anatomy, for example, the main characters include blacks and Latinas, and until Sandra Ohs
decision to leave, Asians. All of the characters are brilliant doctors, shattering racial stereotypes

Moore

of poverty and unintelligence. The show also includes biracial couples and a lesbian couple. The
patients that have occurred throughout the series are also as diverse as patients in a real hospital;
the endless list includes transgender characters, transexual charactes, and transitioning
characters.
Another show that is generating talk for its diverse cast of characters in Orange is the
New Black. The hit show, a Netflix original series, follows Piper Chapman, a bisexual woman,
as she serves time in jail for transporting drugs. Its extremely rare for television shows to
include bisexual leads, writers usually just write them as confused, but Chapman proudly
declares, I like hot girls and I like guys. I like hot people. This admission seems insignificant,
but is actually a huge step forward for sexuality diversity in television. Besides the main
character, the cast of Orange is the New Black is also very diverse and complex. One of the
black characters, Taystee, is a strong, unapologetic woman, and a math genius. Pousey, another
viewer favorite, is black, female, a lesbian, bilingual, and brilliant. There are different women
from countless backgrounds, all different races and sexualities. One of their most notable
characters is played by Laverne Cox, a transgendered woman. She also plays a transgendered
woman on the show who is prison for stealing drugs to help her transition. This past year, she
was the first transgendered person to ever be nominated for an Emmy. Even the actresses of the
show know the important the diversity of their roles are. Actress Lorraine Toussaint explains the
importance of the work theyre doing and the general importance of representation in television.
There are women of all different shapes. Many of the characters are over 40. There are
short women, straight, gay, old; everyone is represented here. Our audience has fallen in
love with these women in one way or another and totally identified with certain
characters because women get to see themselves. Its so empowering to see yourself

Moore

reflected in television shows. Thats what this show is doing. Its a complete mythbuster
(Rorke).
With such a wide array of characters, the shows creator, Jenji Kohan, is breaking down racial,
gender, and sexually oriented stereotypes, while creating multi-dimensional characters.
Although the world is melting pot of diversity, primetime television is struggling to
reflect the real differences of the people who watch it. The world of television is predominantly
straight, white, male, and cisgendered while the real world is full of many different genders,
races, and sexualities. There are television creators and producers out there who are willing to
push the envelope; theyre making shows that include the diversity people are excited to see. Its
an exciting thing to witness the way ideas are changing and to be able to watch as a new
generation of television begins.

Moore

Works Cited
Epstein, Jeffrey. "Prime Time for Gay Youth." Advocate 27 Apr. 1999: 60. Print.
Gates, Gary J. "How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender?" The Williams
Institute
(2011): 1-8. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
GLAAD. Where We Are on TV. 2014. PDF file.
Goldman, Russell. "Here's a List of 58 Gender Options for Facebook Users." ABC News. ABC,
13
Feb. 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Gosling, Mike. "The Role of Television with regard to Racial Stereotypes." Edge: ethics of
development in a global environment. Stanford University, 3 June 1999. Web. 15 Nov.
2014.
Percentage of population in the United States as of 2012, by ethnicities . Statista, 2014. Web. 1
Nov. 2014.
Rorke, Robert. "'Orange is the New Black' ignites a TV revolution for women." NY Post. Word
Press,
4 June 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Wiltz, Teresa. "STILL WAITING FOR PRIMETIME." Crisis 2012: 32-35. NC Wiseowl. Web.
20

Moore

Nov. 2014.

Smarthinking's E-structor Response Form

(Your marked-up essay is below this form.)

HOW THIS WORKS: Your e-structor has written overview comments about your essay in the
form below. Your e-structor has also embedded comments [in bold and in brackets]
throughout your essay. Thank you for choosing Smarthinking's OWL; best wishes with
revising your paper!
Hi Genevieve, Im Leah W. and Ill be helping you with your essay on Minorities in Media. Lets start!
*Strengths of the essay:
Genevieve, you provide some great examples of television shows that seem to defy the lack of
minorities, like when you discuss Shonda Rimes:

Shes the creator of three hit shows, Greys Anatomy, Scandal, and her newest hit, How to Get
Away With Murder.
These are some great examples of shows that have shown that diverse television shows can be
successful in primetime. Good job at including Rimes as an example!
*Genevieve 7291875 has requested that you respond to the Main Idea/Thesis:
Your thesis statement should be direct, specific, and give the reader a solid preview of what will be
covered in the essay by including the topic and examples that will be used to explore the topic. Heres
your thesis statement:

Television today is still showing a vast underrepresentation of racial, gender, and sexual
orientation minorities.
I dont think your thesis is specific enough here. You say television, but what specifically on television
are you going to discuss in your essay? Will you be talking about a lack of diversity in new anchors?
Are you talking about reality television? If I were to read your thesis statement out of the context of
your paper, I wouldnt know exactly what was going to be covered. Make sure that your topic is
specific in your thesis statement.

Moore

*Genevieve 7291875 has requested that you respond to the Organization:

Genevieve, paragraphs should be organized with a topic sentence at or near the beginning of the
essay, with the rest of the essay supporting that topic sentence. Its important to make sure that your
topic sentence stays on point and aligns with the rest of your essay. Lets take a look at the topic
sentence of one of your paragraphs:

When Americans turn on the news, its more than likely the program will be discussing samesex marriage; its a subject that is becoming more frequently talked about and something that
society is no longer shying away from, but embracing.
What is the purpose of including this as your topic sentence? The reason why I bring it up is because
your paper is about television shows, yet you discuss an issue being covered in the news. Try to focus
the topic sentences of each paragraph to directly relate to your thesis statement.
Introduction/Conclusion:
Genevieve, I noticed that your conclusion is pretty short:

Overall, television has come a long way, but theres still a ways to go. As long as there are
people out there willing to push boundaries and make the change, the fact that there was ever
even a lack of minority characters will be hard to believe.
Not only is it short, but its clear that you think there should be more diversity on television.
Remember, you assignment requirements state that its not supposed to persuade, but the essay does
feel like its showing the reader that this is what would be best. Use the conclusion to summarize your
essay, and if youre unsure where to start, look at your body paragraphs. What are the main ideas in
each? What is the most important information in your essay? Make sure to include this in your
conclusion to further develop it, and to use it to help end your essay.

Summary of Next Steps:

Make the topic specific in your thesis statement.
Organize paragraphs with a topic sentence directly relating to the thesis.
Develop your conclusion further.
Genevieve, I hope this has helped. Good luck revising your essay! Leah W.
Find additional resources in Smarthinking's online library:
You can find more information about writing, grammar, and usage in Smarthinking's
student handbooks. You can visit the Smarthinking Writer's Handbook or the Smarthinking
ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) Writer's Handbook.
*************************************************************************
******
Please look for more comments in your essay below. Thank you for visiting Smarthinking.
We encourage you to submit future essays.
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******

Genevieve Moore

Moore

English 100-16
VanderSlik
November 19th, 2014
Minorities in Media
When Americans turn on their televisions, theres an almost endless list of shows they
can watch. Besides the popular prime time shows and cable programs, there are apps like Netflix
that create their own original series. When a person has a love for a television show, that love
doesnt usually stem from just an interesting plot, but from the love for a character.
[Contractions are two words combined into one, with an apostrophe taking the place of the
missing letters, like doesnt in this sentence, which is made of the words does not. There are
fine for casual conversation, but not an academic paper, which should be more formal.
Both words should be spelled out.] The characters of a television show are often what keep
people engaged and sometimes even their sole reason for watching. With so many different
programs, its easy to find something for everyone, unless someone is a minority. Television
today is still showing a vast underrepresentation of racial, gender, and
sexual orientation minorities.
In 2012, the population was an ever-decreasing 63% caucasian. Its no secret that the
white population is declining in America. Television shows, however, are not reflecting this. The
most popular series on television mostly surround a white hero. [Can you provide examples
here? What are these popular series that have a white hero? If you give examples, then its

Moore

10

something the reader can connect to, which will help you to develop content.] There have
been few shows that revolved around culturally diverse families and characters since the Cosby
Show in the late 1990s (Wiltz).
Although there are many more black characters in television, its rare to find a show
featuring a person of color as the main character. Non-white characters are often the background
or secondary characters; their place in the show is to either exist just to add culture or to offer
some kind of comic relief. In a study done by Children Now, children between the ages of ten
and seventeen in various cities were asked to watch specific television shows and then asked
how the shows depicted characters of different races. A majority of the viewers came to the
conclusion that white characters were most often portrayed as well-educated and wealthy, while
black and Latino characters were more likely to partake in illegal activities and act goofy
(Gosling). These characters are not only making persons of color look bad, but tainting their
reputation as well. When races are depicted a certain way on television, that is the way others
will perceive them in real life.
While television shows are slow to incorporate different races into their programs, they
are just as lagging with genders. Although the gap between men and women lead characters is
getting smaller, there is a huge lack of transgendered characters, leading or not. If and when a
transgendered character is implemented, theyre often portrayed as the victim. Consider mystery
dramas; transgendered

Moore

11

characters are often cast as prostitutes. When transgendered teens watch these shows, it leads
them to feeling less than. [You end this sentence with less than, but tell me, less than what?
In what ways does this make them feel less than? Be more specific to develop relevant
content here.] According to a survey done by the Williams Institute of UCLA, only .3% of the
population identifies as transgender; that number may seem small, but thats almost one million
people. These one million people deserve equal representation and the chance to feel like theyre
understood in a larger sense. Besides just transgender characters, there are few characters of any
gender besides a man and a woman. Its important that television programs stay socially aware,
and the fact is that its not. On the popular social media website Facebook, there are currently
fifty-eight genders a person can select when creating their profile; some of the genders include
agender, female to male, gender variant, and pangender (Goldman). [This is a really interesting
fact that I wasnt aware of. Good job at including it here.] Its clear then, that in society there
are more than just two genders, however, popular television isnt quick to represent or even
discuss them.
When Americans turn on the news, its more than likely the program will be discussing
same-sex marriage; its a subject that is becoming more frequently talked about and something
that society is no longer shying away from, but embracing. Again, its clear that the diversity of
the real world does not apply to the world of fictual television. According to GLAAD, only 3.3%
of leading characters are not heterosexual. Besides the obvious lack of lead characters, many
networks choose not to include any characters with diverse sexualities. Not including these

Moore

12

characters can have troubling effects. Scott Seomin, an entertainment media director,
commented, When a gay teen living in Iowa doesnt see himself represented in the media, a
message is delivered that says, You do not count (Epstein).
Often when a sexuality besides heterosexual appears on television, the characters appear
as
stereotypes of their seuxalities. For example, gay men are often portrayed as more feminine and
overall shown as less of a man than straight men. Lesbians are often sexualized, existing only
to please the men viewing instead of representing them as an actual couple. Bisexuals are utilized
as overly-sexual characters, often appearing more promiscuous than any straight character. Other
sexualities including asexual, demisexual, and pansexual are usually not mentioned or
represented at all.
Because of the huge lack of representation, theres a vast amount of room for
improvement; there are beacons of light out there that are fighting really hard to tip the scale of
inequality. Television show creator and writer Shonda Rhimes is one of them. Shes the creator
of three hit shows, Greys Anatomy, Scandal, and her newest hit, How to Get Away With
Murder. All of her shows feature diverse characters in both race and sexuality. In Greys
Anatomy, for example, the main characters include blacks and Latinas, and until Sandra Ohs
decision to leave, Asians. All of the characters are brilliant doctors, shattering racial stereotypes
of poverty and unintelligence. The show also includes biracial couples and a lesbian couple. The
patients that have occurred throughout the series are also as diverse as patients in a real hospital;

Moore

13

the endless list includes transgender characters, transexual charactes, and transitioning
characters.
Another show that is generating talk for its diverse cast of characters in Orange is the
New Black. The hit show, a Netflix original series, follows Piper Chapman, a bisexual woman,
as she serves time in jail for transporting drugs. Its extremely rare for television shows to
include bisexual leads, writers usually just write them as confused, but Chapman proudly
declares, I like hot girls and I like guys. I like hot people. This admission seems insignificant,
but is acutally a huge step forward for sexuality diversity in television. Besides the main
character, the cast of Orange is the New Black is also very diverse and complex. One of the
black characters, Taystee, is a strong, unapologetic woman, and a
math genius. Pousey, another viewer favorite, is black, female, a lesbian, bilingual, and brilliant.
There are different women from countless backgrounds, all different races and sexualities. One
of their most notable characters is played by Laverne Cox, a transgendered woman. She also
plays a transgendered woman on the show who is prison for stealing drugs to help her transition.
This past year, she was the first transgendered person to ever be nominated for an Emmy. Even
the actresses of the show know the important the diversity of their roles are. Actress Lorraine
Toussaint explains the importance of the work theyre doing and the general importance of
representation in television.
There are women of all different shapes. Many of the characters are over 40. There are
short women, straight, gay, old; everyone is represented here. Our audience has fallen in

Moore

14

love with these women in one way or another and totally identified with certain characters
because women get to see themselves. Its so empowering to see yourself reflected in
television shows. Thats what this show is doing. Its a complete mythbuster.
Overall, television has come a long way, but theres still a ways to go. As long as there
are people out there willing to push boundaries and make the change, the fact that there was ever
even a lack of minority characters will be hard to believe.