Regardless of the century, bisexual individuals still face a lack of validation for their sexuality, even within the LGBT+ community.

BuzzFeed published a video last week titled “Questions Gay People Have For Bisexual People” with the ever so aggravating and ignorant question “Do bisexuals exist?” placard as their tagline. The video, although assumingly well intentioned, is a flawless example of the struggles that bisexual people face, even within their own community. Aside from their prominent lack of representation in the media, they are also confronted with doubt of their legitimacy.

In an era where sexuality has never been more visible, the concept of bisexuality is seemingly so abstract that those who identify as such have been colloquially dubbed unicorns, even further reinforcing that they do not exist.

While those that were being questioned in the segment clearly brought up the most stereotypical misconceptions of their sexuality — cue the dreaded threesome question — the interviewers fell short in defending their inclusion of fellow LGBT+ members.

Some questions included, “Do you ever think you’re just being selfish?” and “Are you like 75 percent gay, 25 percent straight or is it fifty-fifty?” with one member of the video, Curly Velasquez, even outright stating that bisexuals are not real.

Despite the fact that many conclude with Velasquez’s obtuse misconception, a 2015 study by YouGov found that 1 in 3 young Americans say that they aren’t 100 percent heterosexual.

In the study, young adults were asked to plot themselves along the Kinsey Scale. The results showed that 78 percent of all Americans identified as completely heterosexual, while 31 percent those under the age of 30, were less likely to assign themselves a firm category.

If you’re a believer of science, it goes without saying that the study accurately shows that bisexuality is, in fact, real, despite the disbelief presented in BuzzFeed’s video.

But while BuzzFeed failed to fairly represent bisexuality, they are not the only ones at fault.

Regrettably, a recurring trend in media is bisexual erasure, a pervasive problem in which the legitimacy of bisexuality is questioned or denied outright.

Take MTV’s “ground-breaking show” “Faking It,” for example. The teen drama, which is slated for the premiere of its third season this year, falls short in its attempts to grasp something other than typical biphobia. Although the main character Amy openly shows interest in both men and women, she and the rest of the cast struggle to figure out her sexuality as they fail to consider the ever-so-ominous “B word.”

Being that this is a show that is meant to embrace and raise awareness of sexuality within teen circles, it is mind-boggling that it shies away from labels that could create the representation that bisexual viewers are demanding.

Avoiding labels continues to be a theme in media portrayals of bisexual characters. Even “Orange is the New Black,” a show known for its diverse cast and compelling storylines, also perpetuates bisexual erasure, regardless of being based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, a woman who openly identifies as such.

While both shows still tackle intense LGBT+ related topics, such as Lauren being intersex in “Faking It,” and Laverne Cox as Sophia in “OITNB,” they fail to follow through on what can be argued to be a simpler topic. It goes without saying that no issue is equal, but the continued ambiguity on behalf of the media, especially within such critically acclaimed LGBTQ shows, furthers the misconception that bisexuality is invalid as it is proclaimed to be simply confusion.

However, in spite of the ignorance shown, BuzzFeed is an avid promoter of bisexual visibility, exemplified in their 2015 video: “I’m Bisexual, But I’m Not…” The video debunks multiple stereotypes, raising the question of what went wrong this time.

“People in general are afraid of ambiguity, either around gender or sexuality,” said Robin Riley, director of LGBT studies and assistant professor of women’s and gender studies at Syracuse University. “We want everyone to fit into a category. It makes everything neater and helps us make sense of the world.”

Although fighting for the same cause of acceptance, the skepticism that exclusively gay people have toward bisexuals, as demonstrated in the video, could be due to the interpretation of bravery.

“It has to do in some ways with a hard-fought journey for people to be able to express their desires,” said Riley. “Once they are able to express themselves as how they want to be, they are sort of impatient with people who seem to not be choosing that kind of path.”

This reluctance can also be seen in trans* issues, but in no way do the excuses for opposition against either group means that is acceptable to scorn fellow LGBT+ members.

Various studies have consistently concluded that bisexuality is becoming increasingly common, as is millennial opposition to the binary, proving that once again, sexuality is fluid and should not depend on a label to be valid.

Inclusion starts with visibility, something that the media has been avoiding for far too long. So thanks BuzzFeed, for further raising awareness of media discrimination against bisexuality.

Moving forward, it should be remembered, in and outside of the LGBT+ community, that just because something is uncomfortable to some does not make it make-believe.

Brontë Schmit is a sophomore magazine journalism major and marketing, English and textual studies, and LGBT Studies minor. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at bkschmit@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @brontizzlee.

 

Published on January 21, 2016 at 1:47 am