Bisexuality IS An Option -- And An Intriguing One, At That

[originalpuck]

Is slash canon? Well, that's the question that has been prominently displayed on metafandom, and in every BNF's journal across the web. And, predictably, I've been following this debate with a lot of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, this whole mess has left me (a pansexual woman) with a headache and a vague feeling that the general slash community is turning a

Comments

[lisefrac]

Yeah, I've never understood all the shipping wars that are based on "HOMG, that character isn't gay!" Um... short of, say, JKR coming out and saying "X isn't bisexual?" why isn't that an option in ficcing? I used to follow the One Piece fandom, and the argument against smutting up two major male characters was "HOMG one of them toatally likes girls!" And this means he doesn't like guys... why? Then again, I've always loved both slash and het pairings. As long as it makes sense in my mind, I can write it convincingly

[originalpuck]

I agree with you about the prevelence of bisexuality in people -- I think a lot of people aren't as 100% one way or another as sometimes society leads us to believe.

Oh, man, I wish I had some good Tonks/Sirius/Remus recs, but I can't think of any lately that came out that I liked. ^^;;

[lisefrac]

Also, icon love :)

[lavenderfrost]

Me, I'm married and mostly straight, but I've kissed a lot of girls--and not when drunk--and find the female figure attractive, too. I don't like to use the term bisexual - because it is so laden with negative connotations - but I'm definitely not straight as an arrow.

Ditto. That is, if you substitute "married" for "single and a virgin." But still - the desires and fantasies have definitely been there, and that's what counts.

[shane_mayhem]

I agree. Not to go off on a socio-political rant, but as a transguy who is currently mostly attracted to guys but has definitely preferred women until recently, I feel like "bisexual" is almost totally overlooked, or even put down as "not real." I think it's more real than "totally gay" or "totally straight," actually. And certainly probably much more common. Though, don't get me started on people who say they're Bi (with a capital B) just so they can feel edgy. ;)

[originalpuck]

Oh gosh, I hate when people try to tell me that bisexuality isn't real -- or some of the other great ones: that bi people just can't make up their minds, that we're all whores, etc. Blech -- it just makes me want to scream, "get educated, people!"

[niprhidel]

Hmmm, judging by what you say here a lot of my Angelos characters are bisexual (both Angelos and human)...Some Angelos are even asexual...And a bit of them are hermaphodites...

Soo, I'm not really ignoring it when it just seemed to develop that way organically: an Angelos could be with either male or female but the gender of their mate is out of their control - whether they are the same or opposite gender it is up to them to accept their mate.

[originalpuck]

Soo, I'm not really ignoring it when it just seemed to develop that way organically

I didn't mean ignoring it in terms of the actual fiction writing (bisexuality in fiction is a different topic entirely, which I'd love to have a chance to get to), but in terms of the fandom meta about the writing.

That said, I'm glad to see some more bi characters! A lot of my characters are queer in some fashion, so I'm glad to see there are more out there!

[niprhidel]

I see what you are saying about it in fandom - but a lot of the time it's because the person wants that specific couple - they don't want to explore the sexualities of those characters...

Which I may be guilty of that to an extent...*Remus/Harry shipper all the way! XD*

But i hope to make up for it in my original fiction, i never realized how many of my characters were bisexual until i really thought about it and wow! *lol*

[originalpuck]

Like I said, the amount of bisexuals in fandom's fiction is an entirely different discussion (though your words were a great temptation).

they don't want to explore the sexualities of those characters...

What I'm discussing specifically in this post is the meta that does focus on those things, precisely. The point is that, in the fandom meta that I have been seeing, the arguement goes something like this:

Anti-Slasher: I'm against slash since they're straight in canon.

Slasher: But sometimes straight people are either gay the whole time and surpressing it, or come out later in life.

Anti-Slasher: But the canon shows they get married, have kids, got a white-picket fence...yaddayadda

Slasher: Gay people have come from straight marriages, and have been known to leap fences in a single bound...yaddayadda

-or-

Anti-Slasher: I'm against slash since orientation isn't mentioned in canon.

Slasher: Why should it have to be mentioned if the character is gay? Why assume that if a character's orientation isn't mentioned, that they'

[13_tezcatlipoca]

Not sure if this makes sense as a response, but I'm going to post it anywho. You must have tapped into my thoughts, heh; I've been thinking about this a lot recently

[originalpuck]

Quite frankly, I believe that's because, and I say this as someone who knew gender didn't matter since they were 5 years old, bisexuality, from an EXTERNAL perspective, only exists until you're in a relationship, and then, as far as the "world's" simplified belief system goes, you're either a breeder, or you're gay.

Oh goodness, bisexual invisibility ftw! People constantly refer to me as a lesbian, even after I've corrected them, because I'm married to a woman, and having to remember an additional fact/alter their perceptions is too difficult. It regularly boggles my mind.

But, most fanfic writers err on the side of "bisexuality is assumed" if the character was previously in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex and now is in a same-sex relationship, and thus it is glossed over.

You would think that, since it is what I assume, as well, but that is precisely what boggled my mind about the recent fandom meta -- there WASN'T any discussion of assumed bisexuality, simply about assumed het or gay status. Which is kind of

[sora_kainomori]

Does Bicuriousity count too? As for someone who just wants to experiment.

I don't know why people count out bisexuality either, I suppose everyone just associates it with Tila Tequila, who IMO gave a bad wrap to bisexual people. That's interesting that people wouldn't even look into it further. I have some bisexual characters in my story and I feel like it's an easy way for some depth of character as they try to figure out just one aspect of what they truly want. This is just my opinion but people will argue about anything.

[originalpuck]

Erm...who is Tila Tequila?

And yeah, bicurious is another option outside of the 100% straight-or-gay options. Unfortunately, in the meta that was mentioned, bi-anything wasn't really being discussed -- which led to my over-all WTF *facepalm* reaction/post.

After the responses that I've been getting to this, I think I might need to do a seperate post about bisexuals in fiction. ^^

[sora_kainomori]

Tila Tequila
Even the wikipedia doesn't have it right. They assume that all the women are lesbian, when in actuality I believe that only a small handful were lesbian. @_@. Anyway, I only know about this through my roommates who watch her show religiously.

That would be an interesting post about bisexuals in fiction.

[originalpuck]

Well, that show sounds like a damned good reason for me to wish I had cable -- it sounds like it would be interesting as hell to check out!