‘Queer as Folk’ Creator Feels There Should be More Male Nudity on TV

There isn’t enough male nudity on television, according to Russell T. Davies, creator of Showtime’s Queer as Folk.

Davies has outed himself to the media in order to promote his three new shows, Cucumber, Banana, and Tofu, all of which are connected. Thursday he discussed his projects, both new and old, and where he hopes to take gay characters in the future.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he argued that his shows do not break social taboos, but instead attempt to normalize certain aspects of life. He believes the idea of a naked man on television is only unusual because TV is too tame:

There is not enough male frontal nudity on TV. You’re far more likely to see a naked woman than a naked man. It’s only [seen as] rude because the rest of television is rather tame – it doesn’t actually talk about sex and our bodies and how we feel about them. I’m not out to shock.

Davies feels he has helped to improve television audiences’ acceptance of homosexual characters since the premiere of Queer as Folk, but not nearly enough.

“If you take the soaps out of the equation, you can still turn on prime television from 8pm onwards and on many nights of the week not a single gay character turns up,” he said.

He also explained that he hopes to see more gay characters in action and children’s films, saying “Could Iron Man not have a gay friend?”

Davis reportedly became upset when discussing Pixar’s Toy Story 3. He referenced a scene in which Barbie’s love interest, Ken, writes a letter in pink pen and glitter, which caused other characters in the film roll their eyes.

“You can say it’s not appropriate to address sexuality in kids’ movies, but then why the Ken joke?’ he said. “I get wound up about children’s stuff, because if you’re visible to the young in a harmless and intelligent way, that will stop them developing homophobic attitudes.”

He also explained that Cucumber aims to dispel the stereotype that all gay men prefer anal sex:

It’s one of the great unspoken truths about gay life which is completely true. Gay culture is seen to be all about anal sex, yet an awful lot of men have a fear of it and there is a silence about it. It’s the one thing I can’t wait for transmission for, to see if people stand up and say, ‘That’s me.’

Cucumber, Banana, and Tofu all premiered Thursday night in the U.K., and are set to debut on Logo in the United States some time early this year.