Women in Contemporary Cinema: A Study on the Role of Lesbians in LGBTQ Films

Abstract

Women across the globe, along with various feminist outfits, have been struggling to achieve gender equality in social, professional, and personal life. Media is something where women have continuously raised their issues for not getting equal status with men. But, the media is also the place where they face discrimination like getting paid lower than their male counterparts. In Indian TV serials, the role is a little different. Women are given more preference over men, but their role is shown to be restricted to the kitchen and household only. In the world of cinema, actresses are paid lesser than actors.

 

In many cases, their role is just to be the pillow riders of men. Somehow, the same is the case with LGBTQ characters in films. One can easily remember male LGBTQ characters like Abbas Ali of Bol Bachchan, but the role of a woman belonging to the LGBTQ community is either erotic or negligible. In this research paper, the researcher has tried to discover the prevailing gender inequality in LGBTQ films and the preference for male characters. The researcher has used content analysis to analyze the content of four mainstream Bollywood movies. The main aim of the research is to find out if female charact