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No Bisexuals: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.NoBisexuals 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.NoBisexuals, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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See also [[Suddenly Sexuality]]. Contrast [[Depraved Bisexual]] and [[Bi the Way]]. This can also lead to [[Unfortunate Implications]], especially for bisexual men who have a harder time being accepted as bisexual. In [[Real Life]], this phenomenon is occasionally called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexual_erasure Bisexual Erasure]. Also contrast [[But Not Too Bi]], which is essentially this trope in reverse - a character who is established as bisexual yet only shows interest in one or the other sex.
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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* This is the [[Internet Backlash|controversy]] among the fandom which the title character of ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya (Light Novel)|Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' faces regarding her sexuality, even though she is clearly attracted to both Mikuru and Kyon, and actually spells it out in the first episode:
{{quote| '''Haruhi:''' I don't care if it's a boy or a girl!}}
* Minto from ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' is [[Ambiguously Bi]] - she expresses a rather excessive admiration for her [[Onee
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* In [[Greg Egan]]'s short story ''[http://www.utilitarianism.com/greg-egan/Reasons-To-Be-Cheerful.pdf Reasons To Be Cheerful]'', the narrator, due to repaired brain damage, is given the ability to design his own likes and dislikes, starting from a blank slate of general approval. With regards to his sexuality, he starts off bisexual, but for [[Unfortunate Implications|rather unfortunate reasons]] decides that he must choose to be either gay or straight.
{{quote| I didn't want to be bisexual. I was too old to experiment like a teenager; I wanted certainty, I wanted solid foundations. I wanted to be monogamous, and even if monogamy was rarely an effortless state for anyone, that was no reason to lumber myself with unnecessary obstacles.}}
* ''[[Biting the Sun]]'' is a rare example of a work that uses this in conjunction with multiple [[Gender Bender|gender benders]] and ''doesn't'' use [[The Mind Is a Plaything of The Body]]. If a guy's into girls, and he turns into a girl, he'll still only be into girls. In essence, it has no homosexuals either, since each character primarily identifies with a particular gender and is attracted to the opposite of that gender. (One guy in a girl's body enters a relationship with an otherwise heterosexual girl, but it's closer to [[If
** It's a little more complicated; up until that last one we mentioned, every relationship we see has the participants as opposite ''sexes'' (Meaning the bodies), but not necessarily opposite ''genders'' (Meaning the mind). Which is still basically [[No Bisexuals]], unfortunately.
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* ''[[House (TV)|House]]'', despite having a bisexual on the character list in the form of Thirteen, invoked this in the episode "The Choice" - the choice for the patient being straight or gay. That there is a third option is brought up in passing a couple times, but not much is made of it; mainly because the character was entirely attracted to men until he decided to get "fixed" at one of those infamous camps, and became entirely "straight" as a result.
* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' is often thought to be lesbian because of her love for Gabrielle, despite seeming to enjoy sex and relationships with many men (Ares, Marcus, etc).
** One might argue the same with Gabrielle, though it's also possible that one of her two relationships (with Perdicus or with Xena) is a case of [[If
* Kerry Weaver on ''[[ER]]''. This was briefly addressed in one episode - Weaver was re-united with her birth mother, but the mother was appalled when she learned of Weaver's sexuality, asking her how she could "choose" to be that way. Weaver said in no blunt terms that she was "alone in her soul" before she realized she was gay.
** Despite a couple of obviously passionate relationships she had had with men before that.
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I dunno man, I miss pussy. }}
* Susan from ''[[Seinfeld]]'' briefly becomes a lesbian, seeing at least two women. One of these women leaves Susan for Kramer until being turned off from men by a coat, and the other was an ex of George's who remained infatuated right up until meeting Susan. Susan herself eventually returns to George. Despite the fact that the orientations of these three change at the drop of a hat (or coat), each of them is identified by her immediate status at all times, never as bisexual.
* [[Spell My Name With a "The"|The Todd]] from ''[[Scrubs]]'' appears to be bisexual, but the lines and actions that suggest this are ''just'' isolated enough that they could be in jest.
** Until one episode features Carla and Eliot becoming convinced Todd's offensive sexual comments are over-compensation because he's a repressed homosexual, before deciding he isn't. The episode ends, however, with Todd making sexual comments to ''[[Anything That Moves|everyone]]''. Thereafter, he's pretty much an openly bisexual hound-dog. One might suspect [[Unfortunate Implications]], but it's generally treated as just being a result of his personality, not his sexual orientation.
{{quote| '''Janitor''': What the hell ''are'' you?<br />
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** There was also an episode where Drew becomes interested in what he believes to be a bisexual woman, but who turns out to simply be a lesbian. Then he meets a woman who turns out to actually be bisexual. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* In an episode of ''[[Cheers]]'', one of Rebecca's ex-boyfriends comes to the bar, and she's thinking of taking him back. When, with Rebecca absent, an off-hand mention of an ex-boyfriend of his own makes Sam realize that winning him back is impossible (which, of course, it turns out to be), and starting off a plot of [[Cannot Spit It Out|wondering whether to tell her]]. Note that he doesn't say he's gay until near the end of the episode (when Rebecca's trying to seduce him).
* Men in the ''[[
* ''[[A Shot At Love]]'', a reality series based around the concept of having Tila Tequila dating (completely) straight men and (total) lesbians, to, as promos put it, "choose" whether to be straight or gay.
** There have also been several hints that Amanda is bisexual, though it's been entirely for comedy.
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** Granted, they don't seem sure of this theory until they get to the third victim, whose friend ''saw'' him leave the bar with a woman.
** It gets weirder. It turns out {{spoiler|it wasn't a killing team, it was one guy... whose alternate ''female'' personality was the one committing the rapes and murders.}}
* [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist|Liz Lemon]] of ''[[
* Karen from ''[[Will and Grace]]'', though played by the openly bisexual Megan Mullally, was never explicitly described as bi, but she certainly expressed interest in men and women alike.
** 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.
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* ''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.
* Possibly ''[[Sherlock]]''. Whenever anyone [[Mistaken for Gay|assumes John and Sherlock are a couple]], John always insists he's 'not gay', as though there's no other possibility. Then in A Scandal in Belgravia, Irene is apparently gay but [[If
* ''[[Degrassi]]'' almost escaped this, but then fell right back into it once Ladette Lesbian Alex was written off the show. When they started the plot, Paige's feelings for Alex had her confused, eventually coming to terms with not having labels attached. Having Paige openly date guys and Alex at the same time. Alex also said she was bi at the start of the arc, then revealed herself to be a lesbian by the middle of it. Paige stuck with bisexual up until Alex left the show, then it was a 'phase' and Alex was 'the only girl for her.' And while Degrassi has at least one gay or lesbian character (plus satellite romantic interest cast), the line is clearly defined each time.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* In ''[[Nine Chickweed Lane]]'', Seth spends a large chunk of time trying to coax {{spoiler|Edda's uncle, Roger}} out of the closet, never once considering that {{spoiler|Roger}} might be attracted to men AND love his wife. This is made even more egregious later on when Seth continued to [[Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?|assert his gayness]] after {{spoiler|sleeping with diva ballerina, Fernanda}}. The latter is [[Hand Wave|Handwaveed]] by [[Informed Attribute|an earlier revelation]] that Seth was attracted to "true artistry" and thus was seduced by {{spoiler|Fernanda's dancing skills.}}
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* Freddie Mercury of [[Queen]] is often referred to as gay in popular culture. In real life he was actually bisexual.
* There is the phenomenon known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi_erasure bi erasure]: Quite often, people assume a person is a certain orientation based on their current relationship. Two women dating are assumed to be lesbians, two men dating are both gay, and a man and a woman dating are both straight. On a larger scale, there is also the tendency to refer to same-sex marriage as "gay marriage" or the movement at large as the "gay rights" movement even though these both include bisexual people, and trans people too. Bisexual people tend to be ostracised, at times, by both straight and gay communities, ironically accused of faking it by both.
* That infamous University of Toronto study led by J. Michael Bailey, especially as reported [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/health/05sex.html by the New York Times] and [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html?pagewanted=all again in a more recent context], has become a fair crevasse for [[Internet Backdraft]]. This study is often [[Square Peg, Round Trope|falsely said to be]] bisexual erasure based on quotes like "Straight, Gay or Lying" when in reality the study only showed that men who call themselves bisexual are more similar physiologically to homosexuals than expected, but [[Averted Trope|not]] [[Freud Was Right|similar]] in experience. This was in context with some interesting [[Everyone Is Bi|secondary findings]]. It also didn't help the matter how his [[Transsexual|previous]] [[Everybody Has Lots of Sex|project]] [[Scandalgate|turned]] [[Demonization|out]].
** Another study has been done even more recently that attempted to correct some of the apparent flaws found in the previous study. The New York Times headline on the finding was solid gold: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/health/23bisexual.html?_r=1 No Surprise For Bisexual Men: Report Indicates They Exist].
*** Ironically, [[Fridge Logic|taking both studies together the conclusion seems to have become,]] "Bisexuality exists, [[Pyrrhic Victory|you just can't find it without asking]] [[Bad Liar|invasive personal questions]]."
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