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No Bisexuals: Difference between revisions
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One surprising aspect of TV is the lack of bisexuals. Although some series don't address any sexuality specifically, even gay characters tend to be more numerous. One reason might be it's very hard to attach a gimmick to this character. [[Camp Gay]] can't apply consistently; the majority are female [[Lipstick Lesbian]]s, coming off as [[Fan Service|transparent]] [[Ratings Stunt|bids for ratings]].
This trope seems to apply to the ''characters'' on TV (and sometimes other media) as well. Any character, male or female, in a same-sex relationship or professing a same-sex attraction is assumed by the others to be either gay or joking. If the existence of bisexuals is acknowledged, they're considered [[Anything That Moves|totally defined by sex]], [[Depraved Bisexual|for better or for worse]] (an idea that often extends to the writers as well). A few characters do manage to use a version of [[Ambiguously Gay]] to [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|avoid scrutiny]] (see [[Hide Your Lesbians]]). Perhaps one of the most distracting aspects of this trope is when a television character who has been heterosexual until this point falls for a member of their own sex, they jump the fence and become ''only'' interested in their own sex from that moment on; the possibility that they might be bisexual is never even brought up.
Ironically, this is nearly the polar opposite situation in some anime, especially [[Shojo]] and [[Boys Love|BL]], where [[Everyone Is Bi|a unusual number of characters seem to be mildly bisexual]]. This is not often specifically addressed, either because it's impolite to discuss one's sex life or just to maximize the [[Shipping]] possibilities. In [[Web Comics]], as well, it's not uncommon for one or more characters to be bisexual.
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== Fanfiction ==
* In-universe example in [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5713948/1/Lassiter_learns_How_To_Bend this] [[Psych]] fanfic and its sequels. Lassiter has a gay acquaintance from his academy days, [[Original Character|Russell Santos]], who claims that there is no such thing as bisexuals, even though his own partner of fifteen years lived with a woman before they got together. The partner himself is quite adamant about the fact that she was not his [[The Beard|beard]], but that he was in love with her for real. Lassiter is understandably miffed when Russell tells him that his relationship with [[Slash Fic|Shawn]] is doomed because they both identify as bisexual.
* In slash fic, when a character previously known only to get involved with the opposite sex, reveals his having a same-sex attraction, it's quite common for another character to respond with something along the lines of "But you were married!"
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* In the film version of ''[[Queen of the Damned]]'', Lestat's canonical male love interests from the novels are nowhere to be found in the film. Nicki's absence was especially jarring to book fans, considering his crucial importance to Lestat's backstory (in The Vampire Lestat, it was Nicki's Stradivarius that he played to wake Akasha). Rife with [[Unfortunate Implications]] when you consider one of the novel's female characters (who had no romantic or sexual interest in Lestat) was [[Promoted to Love Interest]] in the film to compensate for the removal of the other male characters.
* In ''[[Eating Out]]'', when Troy claims to be a bisexual, he is met with every character around him shouting, "THERE'S NO SUCH THING!!!"
* Completely subverted in a deleted (now restored) scene in ''[[Spartacus]]''. Crassus is shown in the film to be sexually attracted to both Men and Women, even hanging his own Lampshade; [[Unusual Euphemism|"My tastes include both snails, and oysters"]]
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** Another episode featured Matt Damon as a straight guy trying to pretend he's gay to join the gay men's chorus. When he checks out a woman, another character says,"Holy Anne Heche Laffoon, he's straight!," thus invoking the trope for a character and a real person.
* An episode from the first season of ''Brothers and Sisters'' literally invoked this trope when Kevin was trying to figure out if a guy he was interested in, Chad, was gay or straight. When one of his siblings suggested that the guy might be bi, his answer was ''literally'' that no one is really bi, and that everyone has to "make a choice" eventually. A few episodes later, after they had been seeing each other for a while, Kevin decided that he was mistaken and that Chad was living proof that someone could really be bisexual.
* During John-Paul and Craig's gay romance on ''[[
{{quote|'''John Paul''': You have sex with men, in my books that makes you gay.}}
** The show has, however, averted this trope with several characters, most notably Kris.
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* [[Played for Laughs]] on the Comedy Central roast of William Shatner, where the other comedians repeatedly and pointedly refer to Andy Dick as "gay," while the camera cuts to him getting steadily more indignant in the background.
* [[MTV]]'s The Real World: DC features Mike Manning, who is exploring his attraction to men. Despite dating and making out with other men, he still feels an attraction to women. This is hard for his housemates to understand (They think he's gay, but denying it) and even the guy he dates think he's in denial about being gay. [http://www.afterelton.com/people/2010/02/mikemanning?page=0%2C0 In this article with After Elton], he comes out as fully bisexual and says he prefers men.
** MTV themselves invoked this as well, by editing the episodes to almost exclusively include his interactions with men.
* ''The Steve Wilkos show'', while generally making a point of showcasing the scum of the earth regardless of sexual orientation, sometimes uses this as a way to further demonize some already skeevy people. A man accused of orally sodomizing his four-year-old niece supposedly admitted to a lie-detector test administrator that he'd had sexual relationships with men in the past, and that he preferred men to women. Despite being in a long-term sexual relationship with a woman at the time, ''everyone'' on the show condemned it as being a further element of his monstrosity. Even Steve chewed him out for not just admitting that he was gay and living an ordinary gay life, because "if you have sex with men, you're gay".
* ''[[Roseanne]]'' had an interesting case with Nancy. She would frequently say things such as "Ugh, I'm sick of women, I'm going back to men this week," and being very blase about dating both men and women. All arrows point to her being bisexual, but when she came to Roseanne's house with a male date after coming out, Roseanne and her other friends were confused, asking things such as "Well, won't they kick you out of the club for that?" They were more confused than anything.
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* ''[[The Lounge]]''.
* Maybe it doesn't exactly qualify as a web comic, but parodied in [http://www.asciiartfarts.com/20020920.html this] [[ASCII Art Farts|ASCII Art Fart]].
* In ''[[Something
* After Didi from ''[[Ménage à 3]]'' realizes her bisexuality, she's quick to object when someone refers to a bisexual, or even a bisexual's gay activities, as "gay".
** [[Jossed]]: After a failed attempt at lesbian sex with similarly curious Sandra, Sandra declares herself and Didi [http://www.menagea3.net/strips-ma3/straight_girls "two naked straight girls with poor boundary issues."]
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* Dr. Ruth, not so long ago, was telling teenagers in her books to make up their minds as to whether to be gay or straight. She adopted a broader position some time later.
* [[David Bowie]] is a somewhat peculiar example. In 1972, he came out as bisexual. However, in 1983, he stated that it was "The biggest mistake I ever made". In 1993, he stated that he had always been a closet heterosexual, simply interested in gay and bisexual culture. The current word, from 2002, is that he is bisexual, but when he had made his comments in the 80s and 90s, he'd simply wanted to be a musician, and felt that the American public looked at him more as a bisexual singer than as a person, and had wanted to distance himself from that headline.
* [[James Tiptree Jr]] was married twice and had physical relationships with both men and women, stating at one point that she liked some men, but women from the start. Many articles about her boil her complex relationships with sexuality down to being a repressed lesbian, without so much as a mention of the idea of bisexuality.
* Averted in Ancient China. Almost all major Chinese belief systems had no problem with same-sex attraction, ''unless'' it was exclusive. The most important thing in Chinese society was (and often is) having children, which wouldn't happen if gay people didn't at least experiment with bisexuality.
** This is similar to ancient Greece. They were cool with you having sex with men as long as you had children at some point.
*** In Greek, and later Roman, culture this really only applied to male sexuality. Women were still expected to be straight by culture at large, Sappho be damned. This is somewhat the opposite of present day, where culture is more accepting of female experimentation than male.
*** What it basically comes down to is, the Greeks were fine with you and respected you if you were a "penetrator", whatever sex you chose to penetrate didn't matter. But if you were the "penetrated," you were looked down on. Men could be either penetrators or penetrated, but women could only ever be penetrated.
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* Film reviewers often seem to hold this view. In his review of ''[[Casablanca]]'' Roger Ebert labeled Captain Renault "subtly homosexual" despite his habit of pulling [[The Scarpia Ultimatum]] on women. Likewise more than a few reviewers have labelled Colin Firth's character in ''[[Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy]]'' as being gay despite him explicitly stating he is involved in relationships with both men and women (at the same time.)
* [http://www.penny-arcade.com/2004/2/11/ A blog/newspost by Penny Arcade author Tycho] espouses a common misconception that all sexuality is simply a preference and bisexuality is nothing but an indecision among preferences.
** As that blog post spends the rest of its time discussing quantum sex and sex between living planets, coupled with the recent revelation that Tycho actively pursues gay porn to get aroused, it's worth considering that his No Bisexuals moment might have been a joke.
* [[Emilie Autumn]] is very forward with her sexual and romantic relationships with both sexes. Insists she's [[Asexual]] though.
* [[Amber Heard]] is currently in a relationship with a woman. She has said she's attracted to people, not gender (which might be called bisexual or pansexual), but the media consistently refers to her as a lesbian.
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[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
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