Title
Queering home or domesticating deviance? Interrogating gay domesticity through lifestyle television
Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
Across the Anglophonic west there is increasing mainstream interest in gaymen's domestic sensibilities. This is evident in the growing visibility of gaymen on lifestyle television in the US, the UK and Australia, particularly those programmes concerned with homemaking and the care of self through home. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy [US] is perhaps the most obvious case, built on the premise that gay men are arbiters of good taste, with inherent concernand flair for domestic styling. But this is not the only example. Attwood (2005:92) contends that home makeover shows 'favour the depiction of gay or campmen, both as designers and contestants'. Dandy (if not gay-identified) designers feature in a number of home improvement shows, including Home Front:Inside Out [UK] (Attwood, 2005), Groundforce [Australia] and The Hot House[Australia]. Moreover, gay men have appeared as participants and contestants in several home makeover programmes, including Home Front [UK](Brunsdon, 2003), both series of The Block [Australia} and The Hot House[Australia]. Despite the growing literature on lifestyle television, there is no sustained interrogation of the increasing presence of gay men on home making shows. I address this gap here, contributing not only to this literature, but also to the wider range of work on sexuality and home.
RIS ID
32180