why are lesbians popular on TV?

I’m at Todd’s parents’ for Easter weekend and I did an odd thing last night: I watched The O’Reilly Factor on FOX. I hold decidedly liberal viewpoints about most things political and usual find myself scoffing at conservatives, not watching their big mucky-mucks on TV. However, I was lured in by the idea that there would be discussion of the whole Howard Stern, American Idol, votefortheworst.com controversy. Before getting to that, however, there was a segment that O’Reilly described as “lesbian chic,” about how lesbians have become popular and cool due to the media in the past year. I wouldn’t say the past year is entirely accurate: I think the popularity of lesbianism and being gay has been increasing for years. I can certainly remember it being the scandalous yet intriguing thing when I was in high school.

Anyway, O’Reilly’s big question was: why? Why is it cool to portray lesbians on TV? This is the part that really surprised me. I hear about older people being disconnected from youth, but I usually don’t notice evidence of it. This just seems so obvious to me that I figured everyone knew it. Here are my opinions on why Britney and Madonna kissed in their performance, why Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston kissed on Dirt, why Girls Gone Wild and spring break videos are riddled with lesbian scenes:

• Sex sells. It’s been called the oldest profession and it certainly seems true. When you’ve got nothing else to sell and make a living, you’ve always got yourself. And if you’re not willing to do it yourself, there are a thousand other women ready and willing to take your place. Sexual scenes show up in all kinds of movies, from horror to comedy, action to, naturally, romance. It’s used in commercials to sell almost anything. Sexual innuendo comes up in television all the time, as well as in print and definitely in comedic skits. Back in 2003, pornography was a $10 billion industry. Obviously, sex sells, and seeing gay sexual acts sells, too.
• It’s controversial and rebellious. Of all the lesbian acts in the media, I would wager the majority are aimed at the younger generation. A wealth of controversy surrounds being gay for various reasons, so seeing any obviously gay act out in the open on public TV is somewhat scandalous. At least where I grew up, being gay was not something your parents encouraged. To the contrary, it was very much impressed on my peers that it was disgusting, wrong, and sinful. Want an easy way to rebel as a teenager? Embrace homosexuality. It’ll concern your parents and get attention from everyone. As soon as being gay stops being an issue, it’ll become less popular to portray on TV to get shock value. I think we would see more of it on TV if it were more accepted, but it wouldn’t be for the sake of getting everyone’s attention, but to tell a story or for any of the reasons you see straight couples on TV. It won’t catch the viewers’ attentions and increase ratings. Out with the old, in with the new–maybe we’ll start seeing bestiality in our TV dramas, if it’s the next scandalous thing.
• Lesbians are hot. I have to think that O’Reilly has never met a frat boy or other young male, or looked at pornography. He showed clips of spring break videos in last night’s show and each time two girls were making out, they were surrounded by guys looking tickled to death. One reason the media is showing so much lesbian action is because it gets the attention of their male viewers. I’m not going to try and figure out the male psyche, but for whatever reasons, a lot of guys like it when two (or more) girls get together in a physical way. Why don’t we see two guys making out in spring break videos or on shows like Dirt? It just doesn’t sell as much as two women. Sure, it would be provoking and get your attention, but I think most viewers would change the channel in disgust. While it has become more socially acceptable for two girls to show attraction to each other, and plenty of people find it appealing to watch, showing gay males still has a big stigma around it.

So what do you think? Am I missing some reasons about why the media shows off lesbian acts? Is it understandable for O’Reilly to be so clueless about lesbian popularity?