Culturally Specific

This Wednesday, we discussed the representations of gays and lesbians in the

media, particularly in advertisements. At one point, we analyzed an ad where a

naked woman was standing behind another, nicely dressed woman. Some of the

commentaries in class suggested that the ad was not necessarily seen as lesbian.

Rather, it was just a hot photograph of two attractive women. However, some other

commentaries suggested that there is something about women, that makes this kind

of ad not lesbian. In other words, two women can maintain a close distance and

still be seen as just good friends, while if men maintain the same kind of closeness,

they will more likely be seen as gays. The video above, is a perfect example of this

kind of interpretation.

Since I forgot to mention it in class, I will argue that this conventional

interpretation isculturally specific. It is here, in America, that people interpret

things as described above.However, in some other countries, the closeness is

expressed and interpreted differently. For example, in Republic of Georgia (Eastern

Europe), when greeting, male friends not only shake each other's hands, but

also kiss on a cheek. This is to signify closeness and brotherhood of men. If you

travel to Georgia, you will see many men walking on streets with their arms around

each other. While you may be astonished by this, it is seen as a normal,

traditional way of expressing brotherhood in Georgia. This is not tosay that

Georgian male friends would lotion each other because of this brotherhood. If

they are straight, which 99% of males in Georgia is, they will avoid doing it.

However, the difference between Georgian and American male behavior is that

there are less limitations, but by no means none, in Georgia than there are in

America.

On the other hand, female friends almost always greet each other by kissing on

a cheek. And this behavior is almost universal.

Because both men and women maintain the closeness, very rarely, if at all,

will a couple of girls, or a couple of guys, be seen as gay or lesbian in Georgia.

However, in America, it is only OK if a couple of girls maintain this kind of closeness,

but not a couple of guys. This cultural difference is precisely what creates these

culturally specific interpretations.