“Help make bi visible,” a bisexual writer scrawled on a comic I received at a convention in 2013. I thought it was a neat sentiment, but the gravity of the phrase didn’t really resonate until recently, when I really began to understand the impact that bisexual invisibility can have.
Recently Kristen Stewart (of Twilight fame) was photographed with another woman. For the paparazzi, it created a certain amount of confusion: after all, she had previously dated Robert Pattinson. The story was all over the media, with some fans claiming that it was “obvious” that she was really a lesbian. The thought that Stewart might be bi or queer or pan or omni or fluid never seemed to cross anyone’s minds. Instead, it all went back to the sexuality binary: you’re either straight or you’re gay, nothing in between.
The first time I encountered bisexuality in media, it was never referred to by name. It was the late nineties, and I was watching the movie Chasing Amy (you can see my Throwback Thursday post here). The entire movie is about relationship fluidity; Alyssa’s character is bisexual, but the word itself is consciously absent. I remember thinking it was a pretty good movie on the topic, but I didn’t put much thought into it at the time.
And maybe I should have.
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