Hannah Gadsby: How the Netflix Special ‘Nanette’ Tackles Shame
In her stand up Hannah Gadsby tackles many important subjects including identity, gender norms and most poignant of all, shame.
Hannah Gadsby grew up in small-town Tasmania, where being gay was a crime right up until 1997. In coming to terms with her sexuality Hannah mentions how in gay representation in the media, lesbians rarely got a mention back then, “For a long time I knew more facts about unicorns than I did lesbians…there are no facts about unicorns.”
Often when the media portrays gay representation, even nowadays, it is often focussed on men and if lesbian or trans representation is present, it is often negative. (Disclosure is a fantastic documentary which gives insight into trans representation in the media, highly recommended.)
Negative representation in the media is often made of those who are in a minority. Hannah mentions in Nanette about how her comedy career has been largely based on self-deprecating humor. However, she points out a fact that is often overlooked, when self-deprecating humor comes from someone sho is on the margins of society, “It’s not humility, it’s humiliation.”
Adolescent Shame
Many LGTBQA+ teenagers experience shame but this is often not spoken of on the main stage of comedy. Hannah drew our attention to the fact that by the time she came out, she was already homophobic. (Hannah grew up in Tasmania, where at the time, 70% of people believed homosexuality should be a criminal act.)
It was too late by then — the homophobia was already internalized and had manifested into self-hate. It is this self-hate that develops into shame. This shame greatly affects a child’s thoughts of self-worth and self-love. Shame plays a role in the perception of themselves and this shame is then carried with them. This cannot continue to happen.
Shame was a central focus of Nanette. As with a lot of LGBTQA+ people, Hannah discusses her struggle with shame throughout her own adolescence. These years are crucial to everyone, but particularly important in the lives of young LGBTQA+ people, as it is in these crucial years that self-hatred, guilt, and shame can develop if it allowed. It is this utter shame that affects a child’s thoughts of self-love and self-worth.
Ending the Shame Cycle
Hannah’s message is one of hope and one of someone who has tackled that shame and wants it recognized and abolished. Put very well in a recent Guilty Feminist podcast episode based on the topic of Shame, tackling shame involves not allowing the world to break you. Because shame can break you, and it will undoubtedly be passed on to the next generation.
Hannah’s bravery in bringing the topic of shame was done to ensure it ends,
“What I would’ve done to have heard a story like mine.”
If anyone you know is struggling with shame, show them Nanette.
