The People Who Just Need To Pick a Side Already.
Bisexual misrepresentation and biphobia in media, and how it’s damaging.
Let’s face it, with the amount of progress we’ve made in normalizing and celebrating the queer community in contemporary media, looking back through the archives of bigoted and ignorant content of the past is a little cringeworthy. The age of brushing non-heteronormative sexualities under the rug and labeled as “excentricities” is past, or so it seems for gays and lesbians. But one sexual orientation was left out of this media kumbaya moment and has been consistently misinterpreted and erased: Bisexuality.
This article will take a look at some misconceptions, and how they are actually hurting people and needs to be talked about more.
When referring to archives of ignorant comments about bisexual characters or people, the dates of the latest entries might come as a shock. Cult classic shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Glee have characters making derisive comments about bisexuality, and celebrities like Cara Delevine and Tom Daley have had their sexuality discounted or erased.
This shows the level of mistrust and misunderstanding of bisexuality, not only in the writers’ room but across media industries. There are the classic tropes of “bisexuality is just a phase,’’ in which bisexuality is portrayed as a juvenile and immature experimental phase of development until they snap out of it and settle down. The transitional trope of bisexuality, succinctly coined by Sex in the City as “a layover on the way to Gaytown”.
Now without a doubt, there are other highly damaging stereotypes and myths about bisexuality that warrant discussion. For example the hypersexualized portrayal of bisexual women, or the perceived promiscuity. For the sake of this article, however, only the two misconceptions will be deeply discussed.
Experimental phase
There’s the media perpetrated myth that bisexuality is just a phase, and the person in question will eventually snap out of it and return to their heteronormative lifestyles. Take well-respected singer Jessie J, who came out as bisexual, only to later claim that it was just a phase.
Another closely tied misconception is that identifying as bisexual is just a child-like rebellious act because of some vague childhood trauma; accusations leveled at Cara Delevigne when she came out as bi.
The real kicker to this misconception is that it invalidates a core aspect of a bisexual person’s identity, which casts doubt for people who genuinely are bisexual or bi-curious. The question then becomes how much therapy do they need to get out of this phase. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to tell you that having everyone constantly question your identity and actively try to convince you that it doesn’t exist, isn’t the most helpful in maintaining a healthy mind. Here’s published academic Hannah J. Johnson’s take on it to hammer it home:
“It should be noted that though biphobia and monosexism certainly can negatively affect mental health, it is not the individual’s orientation that is to blame, but rather the societal oppression against that orientation.”
Transitional trope
Next onto the “transitional” trope, where Bi characters and real-life people have their sexual orientation discounted as them just “not being fully out yet”. The idea of this one is that bisexuality is just a safety blanket to dip your proverbial toe in the homosexual pool before diving in.
This idea of bisexual people being just “lesbians in hiding” or “gays in hiding” is problematic because it carries the connotation that these people are being dishonest, and should not be trusted. It’s further perpetuated by pop media, which frames bisexuality as being disingenuous and deceitful to the real gays who are all in. Or as Charlotte says, “pick a side, and stay there”.
This mistrust is what breeds a specific brand of discrimination or biphobia, and even translates to the types of friendships and relationships. Bisexual people on average have fewer friendships with other bisexual people, and lesbians and gays consistently prefer friendships within their communities. This leaves the bisexuals the odd ones out, with biphobia and internalized biphobia working against them to drive them out of the queer community.
Another result of this perception of dishonesty is that people don’t believe bisexuality is a thing, or that bisexuals have different healthcare needs. The sad truth is that because of society’s biphobia, perpetuated by constant reinforcements in the media, medical professionals sometimes discount the specific needs of this group. A study recently published shows that bisexual men are at higher risk of contracting STIs and more affected by HIV because of bi-erasure in society.
Contemporary steps for Bi-representation
It’s slowly looking up for bisexual representation in media, as more and more awareness about the misconceptions is brought to light and slowly debunked by celebrity testimonials and academic research.
It’s going to be a long road ahead before the dominant biphobic narrative is dismissed, but shows like The Bisexual and characters like Rosa in Brooklyn 99 are great indicators of positive change in the industry.
