Time to Say Bye to Bi-Erasure
“You’re dating a guy? Last I heard you were a lesbian.”
Every bi person reading this just cringed. Sorry.
Bisexuality seems to be mystifying to many, which is bizarre considering people who are under the bisexual umbrella make up a slight majority within the LGBT+ community. Bi people are everywhere, confusing grandparents and making for saucy gossip, but they are just people who feel attracted to more than one gender.
So why do bi people seem so peculiar? Not to sound like Donald Trump, but I blame the media!
While Western media has made vast improvements to the representation of the gay and lesbian communities, they have failed the bisexual population. And unfortunately, this lack of representation has allowed narrow-minded stereotypes to go unchallenged.
The Stereotypes
It’s likely you already know the stereotypes associated with bisexual people and, unfortunately, it’s likely you agree with some of them, consciously or not.
Bisexual people are greedy, confused, indecisive, disloyal, promiscuous and incapable of commitment. Nobody is really bi, after all; they all end up picking one in the end, don’t they?
And these stereotypes aren’t only held by straight people.
Despite priding itself on being a place of acceptance, the LGBT+ community has a bisexuality issue. To straight people they are gay; to gay people they are straight. This is called “double discrimination”, where regardless of the environment bisexual people still can have their identity disputed. And it is exhausting.
So, to save me from entering a deep depression about humanity’s intrinsic tendency towards prejudice, let’s look at what can be done to improve things.
Bye Bye Bi-Erasure
Bi-erasure in the media is something you have likely seen or even engaged in without realising.
When someone mentions Brokeback Mountain, do you think “the movie about the gay cowboys” or do you think “the movie about the bisexual cowboys?” If you think the former, you’ve just provided an example of how well bi-erasure operates.
Bisexuality has been labelled a “silenced sexuality” for this very reason. “Bisexual” has been a dirty word, not often used in our favourite shows. Often, when a character is attracted to someone of the same gender they’re going through a phase or they “become gay.”
Of course, transitory phases are common for people coming to terms with their sexuality, but bisexuality is not always a rest stop on a journey. Suggesting so by not representing many stable, self-identifying bisexual characters is problematic.
Media Representation Matters
It seems obvious at this point. We have argued about representing women, trans people, people of colour, gay and lesbian characters. But for the Scarlett Johansson’s of the world who still somehow can’t understand the importance of representation, I’ll go over it once more.
For LGBT+ people, especially youths, positive media representation has the invaluable ability to increase their resilience. Positive media representation can make viewers feel stronger, cope with their challenges through escapism and help them find a sense of belonging or community.
While bisexual people may be less likely to experience some forms of discrimination such as hate crimes or job discrimination, the negative attitudes towards their sexual orientation have been linked to higher rates of mental health problems than found in gay and straight populations. Apparently, not being accepted by a significant proportion of the population can have some lasting impacts on a person’s mental health. Strange, huh?
Positive media representation can help combat this issue by increasing bisexual people’s well-being. It allows bisexual people to see examples of people like them or people they aspire to be like, and help them develop a more positive relationship with their own sexual identity. This positive representation is crucial.
This is especially the case for bi people from less accepting backgrounds. Actress Stephanie Beatriz who plays Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn Nine Nine knew this. After coming out herself, she worked with the show’s writers to authentically portrayal Rosa as an expressly bisexual Latina. She understood the significance of showing that Rosa may not have an entirely supportive family, but she remained strong and true to herself regardless.
So generally, how do we achieve positive representation of bisexuality in the media?
Firstly, bisexual female characters can no longer just be there for heterosexual males to fantasize about. Not only does it perpetuate negative stereotypes about bisexuality, but it’s also poor writing worthy of a CinemaSins video.
Secondly, good representation means depicting the diverse, complex and wonderful people who exist within the bisexual community. One bisexual character does not equality make.
And lastly, by far the simplest task of all three, writers need to stop doing cartwheels to avoid having characters using the dreaded b-word. Simply saying the word can mean so much to a group used to being tiptoed around. Even Glee, a show renowned for pushing the representation envelope, couldn’t say “bisexual”. And no, I will not be accepting Brittany calling herself a “Bicorn” as real representation.
The media is an agent of change that can support the demoralised and challenge damaging stereotypes. But historically, it has failed bisexual people by upholding negative stereotypes and sidestepping good representation. It’s time for both the media and us as its consumers to put our feet down and say enough is enough.
Just say the word bisexual. We dare you.
