Whitney

I was recently watching the show, Whitney, in which comedians Whitney Cummings and Chris D'Elia live together. The season is based on the fears of marriage that bound Whitney from marrying Chris's character, Alex. In a specific episode, their friends, Neil (Maulik Pancholy) and Lily (Zoe Jones) get engaged, however after many arguments and reflection on their relationship, they decide to call it off. As the season progresses, the audience discovers that Neil is gay. After watching the episodes several times, I realized how the power dynamism in the relationship changes after Neil get out of the closet.

While they were dating and during their engagement, Neil encapsulated the "power," as it is mostly shown in heterosexual relationships through media. However, once Neil explained his sexual situation, the "power" went to Lily, she was shown as the "lead" in their relationship. During the show, Neil had taken the personality of a woman, which was very different compared to his "masculine" self. The media continuously stereotypes what homosexual men act like, and I found it so hard to understand that a show would blatantly show the large variation they gave the character.