The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race

by Daniel Z. Lieberman

This ability—one might even call it an unconscious impulse—has been used by Hollywood writers to increase acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They do it through the power of story. We develop emotional relationships with characters in stories. If it’s a well-written story, the feelings we have for the characters may be very similar to the feelings we have for real people. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) notes, “TV hasn’t merely reflected the changes in social attitudes; it has also had an important role in bringing them about. Time and again, it’s been shown that personally knowing an LGBT person is one of the most influential factors in shifting one’s views on LGBT issues, but in the absence of that, many viewers have first gotten to know us as television characters.”