Media portrayals of bisexuality

Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography (1928) is one of the earliest examples of bisexuality in literature. The story about a man who changes into a woman without a second thought, was based on the life of Woolf's then bisexual lover Vita Sackville-West. Woolf's used the gender switch to avoid the book being banned for homosexual content, and was successful for it. Following Sackille-West's death, her son Nigel Nicolson would publish Portrait of a Marriage, one of her diaries recounting her affair with a woman during her marriage to Harold Nicolson. Other early examples include works of D.H. Lawrence, such as Women in Love (1920), and Colette's Claudine (1900–1903) series.

In more recent years, following a more culturally liberal perspective of sexuality, bisexuality has become more common in literature. This includes the work of Bret Easton Ellis, Anne Rice, and Alice Walker.

The British film Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) portrayed a bisexual male named Bob with a lover of each gender. This was one of the earliest portrayals to be explicit on the subject of bisexuality, though a film versions of several novels involving bisexuality, such as Women in Love (1969) and Goldfinger (1964), had been released earlier.[4] The film is told from the perspectives of the homosexual partner and the heterosexual partner. Critics of the time described Bob as "shallow", "callous", and "selfish".[5] The following year, the American musical Cabaret was released as a film, featuring a bisexual protagonist.

1975 saw the release of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a musical about a bisexual anti-hero. Memorable films from the 1980s involving bisexuality include the film adaptation of The Color Purple (1985) and The Hunger (1983).

1992's Basic Instinct received controversy from the bisexual community for portraying a bisexual as a psychopathic killer.[6]

It's not uncommon for film adaptations of bisexual-themed novels or plays to remove the bisexual content.[6] This is seen in films such as Less Than Zero (1987), Hair (1979), Midnight Express (1978) (affair between prisoners becomes fictionalized rape) and The Dreamers (2003).

In 1994, independent film Go Fish, features a lesbian-identified character who has sex with a man, and is challenged by a "jury" who question her sexual self-identity. In 1997, Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy took on the question of sexual identity in a story about a lesbian-identified woman who falls in love with a man.

Bisexuality in film became increasingly common in the early 21st century, seen in studio-produced and high-profile independent films such as Wild Things (1998), Y tu mamá también (2001), Kinsey (2004), Alexander (2004), Brokeback Mountain (2005, receiving numerous awards), Rent (2005), Cloud Atlas (2012), and Call Me by Your Name (2017, receiving numerous awards). In 2007, the musical Love Songs was released in France to considerable success and a Golden Palm nomination.

The 2008 documentary Bi the Way, which aired on the LGBT cable TV network Logo in August 2009[7] followed the lives of five bisexual Americans ages 11 to 28. The movie talked about bisexuality in general and featured scientific studies, interviews with bisexual leaders and media portrayals.

Bisexual characters appear in television series such as Karen Walker (portrayed by Megan Mullally) in the US situation comedy Will & Grace (1998-2006, 2017–present),[8] and All My Children (1970). In a 1988 episode of NBC drama TV series Midnight Caller, "After It Happened", a bisexual man is depicted as an AIDS carrier who deliberately infects straight women. This episode proved highly controversial in the bisexual community.

In 1990, a BBC mini-series adaptation of Portrait of a Marriage aired. In 2001, another bisexual-themed miniseries aired called Bob and Rose, written by Queer as Folk creator Russell T Davies. The mini-series is about a gay man who falls in love with a straight woman, and is based on the experience of a friend of Davies.[9]

The characters Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez (portrayed respectively by Heather Morris and Naya Rivera) from the musical TV series Glee (2009–2015) are depicted as cheerleaders, who have dated other characters from both genders and even each other. Later on the show, Santana is revealed as a lesbian who was struggling and denying her sexuality, while Brittany is bisexual.[10][11]

Torchwood (2006), created by Russell T Davies, is a spin-off of long-running British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The show is based in Cardiff, Wales, and deals with several LGBT themes, specifically bisexuality. Each of the main characters in Torchwood has same-sex encounters at some point in the first season.[12] Davies said that he hoped to defy audience expectations of monosexual characters:

Without making it political or dull, this is going to be a very bisexual programme. I want to knock down the barriers so we can't define which of the characters is gay. We need to start mixing things up, rather than thinking, 'This is a gay character and he'll only ever go off with men.[12]

— Russel T. Davies

The lead male in the series, Captain Jack Harkness originated in parent series Doctor Who, which is considered a family show, as opposed to Torchwood's adult orientation. Davies has also described Jack as omnisexual. Other bisexual characters in Torchwood are Jack's lovers Ianto and Captain John, and Jack's colleague Toshiko.

The high rated MTV series, A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila (2007), is a bisexual reality show. Tila Tequila, is the bisexual bachelorette, trying to find love from 16 straight males and 16 lesbians, as well as its spin off A Double Shot at Love with the Ikki Twins.

The Showcase series Lost Girl features a bisexual succubus as the main character and there are several bisexual characters and themes throughout the show including a bisexual love triangle. In a 2008 New York Times interview, actor Sean Hayes revealed he is working on a television project called Bi-Coastal about "a guy with a wife and kids in California and a boyfriend in New York."[13]

The ABC drama Grey's Anatomy features Callie Torres, a bisexual main character portrayed by Sara Ramirez. The show portrays Callie's first experience with a woman and her realization that she is bisexual. She eventually goes on to marry fellow surgeon Arizona Robbins.

The FOX television series House features a bisexual female doctor, Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, played by Olivia Wilde, from season four onwards. The same network had earlier aired the television series The O.C., which for a time featured bisexual Alex Kelly (also played by Olivia Wilde), the local rebellious hangout spot's manager, as a love interest of Marissa Cooper.[14]

The Nickelodeon animated series The Legend of Korra features main protagonist Korra, a teenage girl, as well as major character Asami Sato, a young female industrialist. The two girls are both initially romantically interested in the same man, but after putting their feelings aside, they manage to become friends. Over the course of the series, their relationship is shown growing and developing, and eventually culminates in the final scene, which indicated the start of a romantic relationship between Korra and Asami. The series was lauded for its unprecedented representation of bisexuality in American children's television, as well as its portrayal of a same-sex relationship between bisexual women.[15]

In 2011, presenter and singer-songwriter Tom Robinson on BBC Radio 4 explored the topic of bisexuality.[25]

David Bowie's androgynous appearance and open bisexuality was reflected in some of his songs, in particular "John, I'm Only Dancing" (1972). The original video directed by Mick Rock, featuring androgynous dancers from Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe, was banned by Top of the Pops.[26] The single was not released in America, being judged too risqué by RCA.[27]

In 2003, Britney Spears staged a kiss with Madonna (who also kissed Christina Aguilera in the same performance) on an MTV Video Music Awards performance that would continue to fuel bisexual chic, and at the time many news and tabloid outsources referred to it as "lesbian chic",[28][29] since it was clear from her impending marriage to Kevin Federline that Spears was certainly not a monosexual lesbian. The kiss is seen as a publicity stunt but helped to fuel the ever-growing trend. In November 2006, Paris Hilton appeared in public with her hand on Spears' left breast.[30]

In 2008, Katy Perry released a song called "I Kissed a Girl", though it is unrelated to the Jill Sobule song. It was by received Billboard Top 40 success. The song is about a girl's curiosity about kissing another girl, though she has a boyfriend.[31]

In 2008, Lady Gaga, who is openly bisexual, released her second single "Poker Face", which is about fantasizing about women while in bed with a man.[32]

• Bisexual erasure
• Bisexuality in the United States
• Biphobia
• List of media portrayals of bisexuality
• List of American television episodes with LGBT themes
• List of television shows with LGBT characters
• List of bisexuals
• Media and sexual orientation
• Media portrayal of lesbianism
• Bisexual lighting

• Bryant, Wayne M.. Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee. Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies, 1997. ISBN 1-56023-894-1
• Thomas Geller's Bisexuality: A Reader and Sourcebook (1990)

• GLAAD: Bisexuality in Movies, Television and Music
• The Bisexual Option - Fritz Klein's psychological exploration of the bisexual.
• Out Films: Top 10 bisexual films
• Bisexual Literature
• AfterElton.com about gay and bisexual men in entertainment
• AfterEllen.com about lesbian and bisexual women in entertainment
• Lee Wind's blogsite, "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?," lists, summarizes, and offers reader reviews of 4 books with Bisexual Teen Characters and Themes