Slate: Why Bisexual Women are TV’s Hot New Thing

[Brian]

From June Thomas' Blog on Slate:

In the Big Book of Quotations for Boorish Dudes, pride of place goes to Woody Allen’s line that bisexuality “immediately doubles your chance of a date on Saturday night.”

But on television these days, a bisexual character does seem to double a show’s chances of building a fan base. And judging from three series currently featuring strong bisexual women...

More... (http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/03/08/bisexual_women_are_tv_s_hot_new_thing.html)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/03/08/bisexual_women_are_tv_s_hot_new_thing.html

[Long Duck Dong]

lol.... interesting........

my flatmate loves to watch coronation street, a UK drama program and I remember reading how there was a big outcry cos they introduced a gay male character.... a compromise was reached where the gay male character could stay but he was not allowed to have a relationship with another male character at all, yet hetero characters that had affairs and cheated on their partners, was fine...... recently they have one young female character enter into a relationship with another female, after being in a relationship with a male, and there is a strange quietness...... as people are glued to their tv's to see how it will play out.....lol

personally, bisexual female characters tend to come across as strong, independant women that make intelligent choices * I am woman, I am bisexual and I am in control of my life * and it attracts males and some females like a lamp attracts moths.... and honestly, it leads me to question if people tend to secretly desire that sort of bisexual lady, that would take control and your hand and draw you into the world of the bisexual when often people secretly long to experiment but lack a lady to take their hand......

that resonates a lot with some of the threads I have read in the site where a good number of bi males have had their first sexual experiences with a older in control male, tho the ladies are a lot more discreet about their first times, so its hard to see if there is a equal situation from the feminine side......lol

either way, if they continue to portray bisexual people as people that are intelligent, mature, well adjusted people that are more than bed hoppers, then let there be more bisexuals in the media, cos it adds more of a positive light to the world of bisexuality, rather than a dimly lit dark alley groping type portrayal

[tenni]

Is anyone aware of any TV images of strong, intelligent bisexual men?

If not, I have to wonder if this is just similar to showing two women having sex as supporting hetero men's fantasies?

It also seems that to portray a bisexual as intelligent, well adjusted person would also include such bisexuals that are practioners of casual sex. I believe that these female characters tend to be practioners of casual sex ?

[axlton]

Is anyone aware of any TV images of strong, intelligent bisexual men?

If not, I have to wonder if this is just similar to showing two women having sex as supporting hetero men's fantasies?

It also seems that to portray a bisexual as intelligent, well adjusted person would also include such bisexuals that are practioners of casual sex. I believe that these female characters tend to be practioners of casual sex ?

There's not any that I'm aware of at least not on American T.V. but then I don't watch any of the reality T.V. bullshit that's so popular these days so I could be wrong. Either way, it does kind of reflect the double standard that it's O.K. for women to be bi but not guys. Bi women tend to be well accepted by guys, because if he's with one it increases his chances of a M/FF threesome (at least in his mind) and there are not many guys that are going to turn that down. However, when a guy says he's bi the general reaction from straight men and women is usually just "EEWWWWW!!!" I've even heard a bi woman say once "It's ok for women to be bi because there's no penetration, but guys being bi... That's just gross" :tongue:

That leads me to wonder though. How are bi female characters and bi females generally accepted by straight women?

[æonpax]

Is anyone aware of any TV images of strong, intelligent bisexual men?
If not, I have to wonder if this is just similar to showing two women having sex as supporting hetero men's fantasies?
It also seems that to portray a bisexual as intelligent, well adjusted person would also include such bisexuals that are practioners of casual sex. I believe that these female characters tend to be practioners of casual sex ?

Overall, I agree with you here. Sex sells and even just of idea of having a TV series based on bisexual females is enough to draw a large crowd titillated by such things. I get these strange visions of guys expecting to see these women in bed with high-heels, hose, lipstick and full make-up. It's funny but also pathetic.

Unfortunately, such a concept with males would never make it on TV but surprisingly, "Brokeback Mountain", which was about bisexual males, was a resounding success on the big screen.

[keladry]

What about Lost Girl? Bisexual succubus anyone :P

[elian]

TV loves anything that brings ratings and bisexual women are a lot "safer" to show than bisexual men..for one society seems to accept women being liberal with their sexuality to a greater extent...not to mention they can endlessly tease out a plot line with innuendo to keep people interested..less expensive, more impact for the money. If a TV program showed two men kissing they would have to worry about if they had advertising sponsors for next week's show. Television, for the most part has ALWAYS been about selling things, at least here in the US.

[Hephaestion]

What about Lost Girl? Bisexual succubus anyone :P

1) Is Bo the one with a very long tongue that can reach parts some beers cannot.
2) Some of us already live in Fae world - (unfortunate choice of name) - Oooooh get you ducky! You are awful, but I like you.

[The Bisexual Virgin]

Is anyone aware of any TV images of strong, intelligent bisexual men?

If not, I have to wonder if this is just similar to showing two women having sex as supporting hetero men's fantasies?

It also seems that to portray a bisexual as intelligent, well adjusted person would also include such bisexuals that are practioners of casual sex. I believe that these female characters tend to be practioners of casual sex ?

Well there has been a few strong Gay male characters. is that good enough? We have Kurt from Glee, Barca from Spartacus who was a gladiator I might add, we have that guy from Torch wood, that guy from Two in a half Men, and that's all I can think of right now.

I guess a reason there's hardly any bisexual males on tv right now, is because society still believes there that bisexual men do not exist, hell I use to believe they don't exist. It always be either gay or straight when it comes to men, they have to choose a side. But there's a lot gay men that have their own shows, I guess that's good enough.

[Gearbox]

When the film 'Sybil' came out about a woman with multi personality disorder, suddenly 100's or 1000's identified themselves as having that particular condition. They just didn't know what it was until it was portrayed on their TV's as a recognized condition.
I'm NOT saying that bisexuality or homosexuality is an illness, but it has the same effect IMO, as with many things. It's FANTASTIC that lots of young men and women can see gays & lesbians on their TV and realise that they are NOT alone, and it's even ok to be what they are.

NOT so for a bisexual male at the mo. Your either gay or straight or confused. If there were as many bi male characters as gay male ones on TV, I expect there would be far more bi males realising that they are not as alone as they may think.
Who knows? It may even help ALL males to explore their sexuality and not be ashamed of it. It's good to know that female bi's have such characters though, and at least bisexuality is there at all.

[DuckiesDarling]

I think that TV may be picking up on the trend in Hollywood. It's become commonplace to hear an actress say she is bi, not so much with males. To be honest I'd rather watch a show that depicts any sexuality in a good light rather than nothing but a bunch of bedhoppers. One of my favorite shows was "Queer as Folk", I say was, because I no longer have that cable channel, so not sure if it still comes on or not. They had committed couples, both males and females and they had singles who serial dated. But to me a story line should be about the character not who the character shagged this week.

[12voltman59]

Sad to say---I don't think that we will be seeing any positive portrayal of a male bisexual character anytime soon, since even in the supposedly hyper-left wing world that is Hollywood, while they do tend to be open to more things than in the past like that there can be some strong and positive/cool bisexual female characters---the take on males being bisexual is pretty much that with males----bisexuality is at best a very confused state for men to be in--and a very temporary one since what they are really finding out about themselves is that they are actually gay---about the only positive portrayal by a "Hollywood" derived story was the character Detective Tim Bayliss (played by actor Kyle Secor) on the '90s crime drama, "Homicide: Life on the Street" that centered on the detectives of the Baltimore PD homicide squad.

They played it very "straight" that Bayless had figured that he was bisexual----he had some intimate relations with other guys he met, but was very clear that he was bisexual, not gay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Bayliss

Other than this character---the trend in Hollywood is to hold to the dictate of the gay world that a man who says he is bisexual is wrong for whatever reason---mostly that he is actually gay but cannot yet admit to it---or that he is trying to "have the best of both worlds" by hiding as someone trying to seem straight but who does like sex with other guys and that if a guy likes to have sex with other men--than he is gay whether he realizes it or likes that fact or not.

You also get from Hollywood, all of those films staring Vince Vaughn and other actors of his type with stories about guys who have to do every cliched thing in the world to prove that they could not possibly have any aspect of "being gay" about them, God forbid!!

[darkeyes]

I have no idea what the fuss is all about... whenever there has been owt on telly about two women having it away it has created a lot of interest, some concern and condemnation but really very little.. I grew up watching more adult telly in the 90s and although there wasn't much same sex naughty on telly, what there was always created interesting discussions at school especially among the lads... from man on man... "jeeez... appalling they should be put down.." to all girl rumpy... "whoooorrrrrr!!!!". Both media and the general public then, as now, were always much more anti male on male nookie than their female equivalent.. it is symptomatic of the double standard of our societies.. just as sex sells books, newspapers and magazines, so it helps sell telly drama and film.. and lesbian sex is a goodly sized seller of all..

[goldenfinger]

Can't name any of the top of my head, but here in Australia on SBS channel, we see a lot of everything from Europa and Asia, not so much from Hollywood.I think it all come down to censorship and religion in the US.