Sexuality Representation

Hypersexuality in men

Hypersexuality men was a main theme in Friends. Many of the storylines were about sex and sexual themes. The male characters are often shown objectifying women, watching pornography, womanizing and other notions that present an idea of hyper-sexuality in men. There is an episode called “The One With The Free Porn.” The episode centered around Joey and Chandler discovering free porn on their television. Throughout the episode, the guy make it point to not turn off the TV because they would lose the free porn. Rachel claims that her boyfriend Joshua does not like watching porn and they guys immediately say she is wrong and that it is impossible for a man to not enjoy porn.

Homosexuality

Joey and Chandler’s close friendship are often mistaken for being gay couple. In the episode ‘The One with the Baby on the Bus,’ the two agree to watch Ross’ baby. As they walk down the street, a woman mistakes them for being a gay couple. While they get on the bus, two women also mistake them for being a gay couple. In both scenarios, they immediately get offended and make it know that they are both heterosexual and try to assert their masculinity. This message is cause men to think that having close, platonic relationships with other men is not masculine. This enforces men to sick with stereotypical social and gender roles for fear of being called a homosexual, something that still carries a negative meaning in our society.

Many gay jokes present on the show can be seen as an underlying theme of normality toward heterosexuality. Some of the jokes were clever, but some laugh at, rather than laugh with. Chandler in particular is often mistaken for being a gay man. In season one, an episode called “The One Where Nana Dies Twice” a coworker tries to set Chandler up with a man, thinking he is gay. Throughout the episode Chandler is anxious to find out what about him makes people think like that. He is constantly trying to prove his masculinity. The message here is that being gay is something of an insult and that has to be defended against.

Transsexuality/Transgendered

Chandler's father is a drag queen and often used as a comedic device. Many of the jokes featured on how embarrassed Chandler was for having a drag queen dad. This places more values on Chandler, the heterosexual man, rather the struggles of his transgendered father.