“I’m a Homosexual!”: Binary Gender Division and Heteronormativity in But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) By Sydney Dawson The construction of sexual and social dissidence has long been intertwined with media representation; particularly, when conformity is used as a tool to measure the queering of these norms. However, some media pieces subjugate normative gendered sexuality in a way that serves to both highlight and normalize the social and sexual dissidence of female subjects. Jamie Babbit’s film But I’m A Cheerleader (1999) serves as an excellent example of how gendered subjects can be portrayed in ways that construct social and sexual dissidence through purposeful stereotype mobilization and dysfunction. Within the context of the True Directions conversion therapy camp, the protagonist, Megan, the female love interest, Graham, and the program facilitator, Mary, paint a vivid and campy picture of what sexual dissidence can look like in queer media. Through the lens of Sharon Lamb’s research into the functions of binary gender division and the heteronormative construction of sexuality (2001), as well as through the analysis of Didi Herman’s theory of homonormativity (2003), But I’m A Cheerleader (Babbit, 1999) can be framed as a piece of media which tactfully portrays social and sexual dissidence through subversive representations of heterosexuality within a lesbian-centred construction of sexuality. Sharon Lamb’s book “The Secret Lives Of Girls: What Good Girls Really Do - Sex Play, Aggression, And Their Guilt” (2001) is an excellent place to start when examining But I’m A Cheerleader (Babbit, 1999), namely through the mechanism of binary gender division. Firstly, the film magnifies Lamb’s binary gender division theory in a hyperbolic fashion. True Directions’ teenage participants are divided into groups based on their sex, and remain largely separate throughout the course of the film. This is visually represented through binarism in colour symbolism, marking male and female spaces and activities as blue or pink. However, by exploring this separation, one can see that the film actively interacts with Lamb’s theorization of the Birthday Party Effect (2001) and the role that adults play in constructing sexual meaning in co-ed friendships. Through this gendered separation, Mary places social pressure on opposite-sex interactions of any capacity, marking them with sexuality and complementarianism. As Lamb discussed, children internalize this projection of sexuality and self-monitor their behaviour with peers (2001), and although conversion therapy’s ineffectiveness is the underlying theme of the film, the True Directions participants demonstrate this internalization through performative yet transgressive displays of co-ed friendships. Using their awareness of the sexual connotations being placed on their interactions, they avoid punishment, manipulate Mary, and demonstrate their understanding of society’s heteronormative expectations. The group makes tactical use of Lamb’s observation of this phenomenon: “their wish to [interact] with someone of the other gender is interpreted as a sexual wish” (2001, p.33). However, the authentic, sexually-fueled interactions between female characters marks a departure from Lamb’s conceptualization of practice kissing. She posits that same-sex sexual activity is often discounted as juvenile and unserious, simply preparation for “...”adult,” “real,” and heterosexual sex” (Lamb, 2001, p.38). Nevertheless, the viewers are distinctly aware that the sexual relationships in the film reverse this dynamic. The lesbian sexual relationships are depicted as authentic and serious, and pairings that are constructed out of this tactical awareness of gender segregation demonstrate heterosexuality in a “safe and limited way” (Lamb, 2001, p.33). This uncommonly favourable depiction of lesbian relationships is notable for the next aspect of the analysis: applying Didi Herman’s framework of homonormativity in “Bad Girls Changed My Life: Homonormativity in a Women’s Prison Drama” (2003) to Megan, the protagonist of But I’m A Cheerleader (Babbit, 1999). Herman describes homonormativity as the construction of a “lesbian identity as normal, natural, good, and unremarkable in and of itself… and may also construct other
11