Popular culture or pop culture is a collection of ideas, perspectives, attitudes , images , and other phenomena that are prevalent in a given society , especially the Western society. Heavily influenced by mass media , this collection of ideas enters and makes a place in the everyday lives of the society. The most common pop culture categories are: entertainment (movies, music, TV), sports, news (as in people/places in news), politics, fashion/clothes, technology, and slang. Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and "dumbed down " in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various non-mainstream sources (most notably religious groups and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial,consumerist, sensationalist , or corrupt.
The LGBT+ community is steadily making a place for itself in the Pop culture with rising movies, songs, books, protests, etc., depicting LGBT+ members. Gay characters are common in TV shows, as well as lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders. They have formed a culture of their own and it is gradually being accepted in many parts of the world, albeit with a little hesitation. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture (indicating people who are queer ), while the term gay culture may be used to mean "LGBTQI culture," or to refer specifically to homosexual male culture. LGBT culture varies widely by geography and the identity of the participants.
Not all LGBT people identify with LGBT culture; this may be due to geographic distance, unawareness of the subculture's existence, fear of social stigma or a preference for remaining unidentified with sexuality or gender-based subcultures or communities. LGBT communities organize events celebrating their culture, such as Pride parades , Gay Games and Southern Decadence. The different subcultures of the LGBT+ Culture are -
GAY MALE CULTURE:
According to Herdt, " homosexuality" was the main term used until the late 1950s and early 1960s; after that, a new "gay" culture emerged. "This new gay culture increasingly marks a full spectrum of social life: not only same-sex desires but gay selves, gay neighbors, and gay social practices that are distinctive of our affluent, postindustrial society". During the 19th and early 20th centuries gay culture was covert, relying on secret symbols and codes woven into an overall straight context. Gay influence in early America was primarily limited to high culture . The association of gay men with opera, ballet , couture , fine cuisine , musical theater , the Golden Age of Hollywood and interior design began with wealthy homosexual men using the straight themes of these media to send their own signals. After the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, gay male culture was publicly acknowledged for the first time. A group of seven gay men formed The Violet Quill, a literary club focused on writing about the gay experience as a normal plotline instead of a "naughty" sideline in a mostly straight story. An example is the novel A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White . Female celebrities such as Liza Minnelli, Jane Fonda and Bette Midler spent a significant amount of their social time with urban gay men (who were now popularly viewed as sophisticated and stylish by the jet set ), and more male celebrities (such as Andy Warhol) were open about their relationships. Elements identified more closely with gay men than with other groups include: • Pop-culture gay icons who have had a traditionally gay-male following (for example, disco, Madonna, Judy Garland , Cher , Lady Gaga and Diana Ross)
