Bisexual Representation in the Media
By: Ananya Pandey (@ananyajpandey)
Growing up, my sexual identity crisis was always something that followed me. I knew I wasn’t straight- but it took me so long to finally accept myself as bisexual, and a huge part of that is because of the way bisexual people have been portrayed in the media.
Biphobia is already prevalent in everyday life. Whether it’s other LGBTQ+ people claiming they’d never date a bi person, friends and family stating that bi people just need to “pick a side”, or even bi people being asked to present their entire sexual and dating history as “proof” that we are bi when we come out of the closet to people. Fictional worlds are no exception to this either, and when the only representation that young bisexual people see is poor representation, it can be really detrimental to their journey in accepting themselves.
Ryan Murphy’s show Glee is already notorious for the poor ways in which it handles various social issues, and as someone who frequently watched this show throughout my adolescent years, many of the harmful messages stuck with me, one of them being the blatant biphobia that came up various times. In season 2 episode 14, Blaine Anderson begins questioning his sexuality, wondering if he’s bi. Kurt immediately shuts this thought process down, and perpetuates the idea that bisexuals are just scared gay kids who are afraid to fully come out of the closet. And as a teenager watching this interaction, seeing your identity being invalidated so casually can be very damaging, especially when you’re just learning to accept yourself as well.
Another form of biphobia perpetuated by gay and straight people is the idea that bisexuals are over sexual and “slutty” and thus cannot be in a monogamous relationship. That they can’t be sexually pleased by just one gender and will eventually get bored and go looking for someone else. Using Glee as my example again, there’s an episode where Santana Lopez, a lesbian character, celebrates having a lesbian girlfriend and not having to worry about her straying for “penis”. Being bisexual is not an indication of a person’s ability to stay in a monogamous relationship, and this representation of bisexuals can be very harmful and lead to real life consequences. A younger viewer who identifies as bisexual may watch this scene and have trouble coming to terms with their sexuality because they believe that bisexuality equals promiscuity.
There are other examples in media that may seem small, but they highlight the bigger issue of how integrated biphobia is into our society. For instance, the movie Someone Great, which is supposedly a feminist feel good movie, shocked me with one biphobic comment in particular. In the movie, Erin’s character says she has issues commiting to a relationship because her last girlfriend was bisexual (though she doesn’t seem to understand that bisexuality is a thing). She explains, in a dramatic tone, that her ex “went back to men” and uses it to justify her current relationship and commitment issues. This character got dumped, and she can be upset about that, but she has no say in the gender of her ex’s next partners, that is not about her, her ex’s bisexuality is not the reason Erin has issues, bisexuality doesn’t break people, and it isn’t a betrayal.
In the HBO Comedy Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw never encountered a sexual preference she wouldn’t hear out, until bisexuality. “I’m not even sure bisexuality exists,” she complains in a season 3 episode. “I think it’s just a layover on the way to Gaytown.” She spends the entire episode dating a bi man, irritated over the fact that he “chose” to date men and women, and all of her friends share her sentiments, calling him “greedy” and insisting that he “just pick a side”. Eventually, Carrie rights his bisexuality off as a “quirk” of belonging to a younger generation, and as she leaves him behind at a party full of his sexually fluid friends, her concluding voiceover states that she’s “too old to play this game” like bisexuality is a state that someone can outgrow.
Still, with all these detrimental stereotypes, there are positive portrayals of bisexuality in the media, which gives me more hope for the future. Young adult novels are a good place to start when looking for notable representation of bisexual people. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli is a phenomenal YA book featuring a female protagonist who is struggling to come out to her friends as bisexual, while also grappling with her home and school life. Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann is another amazing contemporary romance novel, with another female protagonist, an asexual and biromantic black girl. This story highlights her summer after her girlfriend ended things with her, as she begins to fall for a new boy who works at the library with her.
As for TV, I’ve also been finding more and more positive representation as well. Eleanor Shellstrop from NBC’s The Good Place, is one example, and she is also a fan favorite. On the show, Eleanor never has a “coming out moment” per se, but her sexuality is always alluded to with small comments and her flirtatious relationship with Tahani. Her sexuality is not the main focal point of the show, but the writers have made her character open and proud about it. As for movies, Booksmart has one the greatest representation I’ve ever seen on screen. Ryan, Amy’s skater girl crush, is a confident and unapologetic character who perfectly illustrates that you can’t put bi people in a box, and because of her, Booksmart is the first Hollywood movie where I’ve really seen my bisexuality mirrored back at me. She fully owns her character and challenges audiences’ expectations for how a woman should behave to attract a man, but also our expectations for how a queer person should behave. Like bisexual people, she doesn’t fit into one box or another, instead she straddles the wall between them.
There are several more positive portrayals of bisexual representation that I could discuss at length, and I’ve put a full list of my recommendations at the end of this article. While contemporary media definitely has a ways to go in representing bisexual people accurately, with no harmful biases, I have full faith that we are on our way there, as more of us work to get rid of the damaging and false stereotypes about bisexual people that have been perpetuated.
My full recommendation list of media with positive bisexual representation
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
NBC’s The Good Place
CW’s Jane The Virgin
NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Netflix’s Orange is the New Black
HBO’s Euphoria
Booksmart (2019)
Disobedience (2018)
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Frida (2002)
Sources
https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/tv-failed-bisexuality-1203249798/
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/5/16/17339992/bisexual-representation-tv-callie-rosa-darryl