Heteronormative wedding imagery: Are we really ready for gay marriage in Canada?
It’s been a while since I have posted an opinion piece on my blog. Mostly, I write about food, theatre, dance, lifestyle, music, cocktails, wine, restaurants, and events. But last night I was browsing websites associated with weddings (ironically, not because I’m thinking of my own wedding, but because of the fact that the Vancouver Parks Board has a few suggested sites where people can get married in Vancouver). Shall make note… but I digress!
I began reflecting and pondering on the fact that most of the photographic imagery I find on websites that offer wedding services (location rentals, and the like) showcased heterosexual couples. Admittedly, queer folks (gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and double-spirited) are a minority rather than a majority. But you would think that you would find in a country that is celebrating 6 years of the legalization of gay marriage in Canada, many websites would contain queer-positive wedding imagery.
My good friend Candice Albach (Albach Studios) recently hosted a photography reception called TYPO at the Roundhouse Community Centre, where she aimed to break down stereotypical imagery. She took an absolutely beautiful photo of two gay men and their child (see photo to the right). The way she built the sequence of photographs, you would think that a stereotypical family would be a man, a woman and a child. And I couldn’t help but be profoundly moved by the beauty of the photo that Candice captured. I have many good friends who are gay couples and have children and their families are absolutely beautiful.
Why is it that, despite the openness and welcoming attitude of Canadians, and especially Vancouverites (where the queer population is quite visible and noticeable), we still have predominantly heteronormative wedding imagery on Canadian/Vancouverite provider websites? Or am I just making an absolutely broad generalization (which I shouldn’t make, given my academic background).
I’m just noting anecdotes of the numerous websites I browsed that depicted wedding imagery, and I began to ponder. And when I ponder, I turn to my blog to have a conversation with my readers. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Related posts:
- Celebrating a decade of same-sex marriage in Canada
- It’s Your Wedding Day by Stephen Lynch
- Tanya (@netchick) and Barry’s wedding #netchickweds
- The Wedding Singer (theatre review) @F_C_Productions
- Movie review – Wedding Wars
It’s a good question – why aren’t there more images of gay or lesbian couples everywhere, not just in the wedding industry. Which leads me to wonder if maybe there just aren’t enough people out there taking PHOTOS of this, or perhaps couples don’t want to have their photos used for advertising/stock photography etc. because they don’t want to be used as ‘tokens’ or ‘representatives’ for people who share their sexual orientation. I’m just speculating wildly here, but perhaps having won acceptance (or not) from their own family, friends, co-workers, community, etc. is “enough of a battle” for many couples and they feel no need to take it further?
Or perhaps wedding vendors are inherently deeply conservative and everybody’s waiting for somebody else to take the lead.
When I was teaching marketing to first-year students, there was a case study in the textbook that illustrated how the same-sex wedding laws were creating a new “market segment” but all the case studies and examples were from Toronto/Ontario. Could have just been the textbook writer/publisher’s geographic bias, or maybe Vancouver is oddly, bizarrely behind the times?
Perhaps a survey of a diverse group of businesses that advertise wedding related products/services would answer that question. Who better to know why they do or do not do something?
I wonder if there’s any correlation between how traditional/conservative someone’s values are and how much money they drop on their weddings. If people with conservative values are the biggest spenders on a tradition like weddings, then vendors are probably going to stick with conservative, hetero-normative imagery.
It’s probably not so much that Canadians aren’t ready, but Canadian Ad Agencies aren’t ready (or rather, they are more conservative than the general public and assume that such an image will cause so much talk that it will obscure or upstage whatever they are selling).
In the US, for years you never saw a face other than that of a caucasian in any ad. Then, slowly, and with increasing frequency over the decades, you began to see ‘token’ black and asian faces. Now, people notice when they _aren’t_ in an photo (except of course, the web sites for Republican candidates and office holders, other than staged public events, where you’ll rarely see anything but white faces.)
I suspect it will be like that. In those collections of wedding images, there might be one ‘token’ same-sex wedding. Then there might be a couple. Eventually (and it will take years, I’m afraid), there will be fair representation. It will happen in Canada before the US. I suspect that it will be a long, long time before they are ready. Maybe our lifetime, but I wouldn’t bet on that.
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Thanks for the kind words
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