list of media portrayals of bisexuality

The portrayal of bisexuality in the media reflects societal attitudes towards bisexuality.

Film

• Alexander (2004) (bisexuality presented as a social norm)
• All Over Me (1997)
• Art School Confidential (2006) (Audrey)
• Auto Focus (2002)
• Basic Instinct (1992) (Catherine Tramell - insatiable, untrustworthy, and homicidal)
• Bedrooms and Hallways (1998)
• Les Biches (1968)
• Borstal Boy (2000) (sexuality portrayed as fluid but can be socially problematic)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005) (sexuality portrayed as fluid but socially problematic)
• Butley (1974) (Butley - uncommitted, emotional failure)
• Cabaret (1972)
• Chasing Amy (1997) (sexuality portrayed as fluid but can be socially problematic)
• The Color Purple (1985) (bisexuality portrayed as a simple fact with no value judgements)
• Confusion of Genders (2000)
• Death in Venice (1971) (Aschenbach - seen as homosexual cripple and failure)
• De-Lovely (2004) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975) (Sonny - real bisexual, portrayed realistically)
• Face to Face (1976) (Bisexual seen as symbol)
• Femme Fatale (2002)
• The Fox (1967)
• Frida (2002) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Grindhouse (2007) (Dr. Dakota Block)
• Henry & June (1990) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Imagine Me & You (2005) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Kinsey (2004) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Les temps qui changent (2004)
• The Libertine (2005)
• May (2002)
• Midnight Express (1978) (controversial, film replaces consensual affair between prisoners with a fictionalized rape)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Portrait of a Marriage (1990) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Savage Nights (1992)
• Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989)
• Sobreviviré (I Will Survive)
• Something for Everyone (1970)
• Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Swimming (2002)
• Teorema (1968) (The Visitor - a symbol, sexuality portrayed as fluid with no value judgements)
• Three of Hearts (1993)
• Torch Song Trilogy (1988)
• Velvet Goldmine (1998) (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• The War Widow (1976) (Amy - seen as a lesbian)
• Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000)
• Women in Love (1969)
• Y tu mamá también (2001) (sexuality portrayed as fluid but sometimes socially problematic)

Literature

• Advise and Consent
• American Gods (Sam)
• Ancient Evenings
• Bye-Bye (Rosie)
• The City and the Pillar (bisexuality as the most "natural" human state)
• Claudine novels
• The Color Purple
• The Corrections
• Cry to Heaven
• The Dispossessed
• Drawing Blood (Zack - promiscuous, but able to commit)
• Dusty Answer
• The Fox
• The Front Runner (Harlan Brown - homosexual but formerly married to a woman; Vince Matti, identifies as gay but still sleeps with women)
• Goldfinger (Pussy Galore - a lesbian until she falls in love with Bond)
• Giovanni's Room (David - Vacillating, weak, neurotic; Giovanni - villain, killer)
• How I Paid For College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theatre
• "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood"
• The Left Hand of Darkness
• The Last of the Wine
• The Lost Language of Cranes
• Lost Souls (Zillah - sexually driven; Nothing - young, lonely, loving)
• The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon
• The Metaphysical Touch
• Milk and Cookies
• The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
• The Neanderthal Parallax (All Neanderthals considered bisexual)
• The Passion
• The Persian Boy
• Portrait of a Marriage (True story of Vita and Harold Nicolson, a bisexual couple)
• "The Sea Change"
• Time Enough for Love (Bisexuality considered the norm)
• Two for One--a novel about having choices
• While England Sleeps
• Wicked and its sequel, Son of a Witch
• Women in Love
• Woman on the Edge of Time
• Young in One Another's Arms

Comic books

See also: List of gay, lesbian or bisexual comics characters

• Anima
• Batman (Poison Ivy)
• Captain Marvel (Marlo Chandler and Moondragon)
• Doom Patrol (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Hellblazer (John Constantine)
• Lost Girls
• Marvel 1602
• Spider-Man (Electro)
• Starman (sexuality portrayed as fluid)
• Strangers in Paradise
• Supergirl (Sexuality portrayed as fluid but socially problematic)
• X-Factor (Multiple Man's duplications occasionally exhibit alternative sexual desires)
• X-Men (Mystique and Destiny (as originally intended by Chris Claremont) - apparently a committed couple)
• X-Statix / X-Force (Doop)

Television

• 24 (Mandy - terrorist)
• Bob and Rose (Bob - apparently gay, though finds the only female he's attracted to is Rose)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Willow Rosenberg, identifies as lesbian. Possibly Angel, Spike and Andrew)
• Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Dirt (Leo Spiller - in denial of homosexuality? And Julia Mallory, "only when stoned")
• Doctor Who (Captain Jack Harkness- brave, self sacrificing)
• Drawn Together (Foxxy Love, Captain Hero)
• Family Guy (Lois Griffin)
• The L Word (various, sexuality portrayed as fluid but can be socially problematic)
• The Midnight Caller (episode "After it Happened"/1988 - spreading AIDS from the Gay community to straight women)
• Nip/Tuck (Quentin Costa, possibly Christian Troy and Matt McNamara)
• The O.C. (Alex Kelly and Marissa Cooper)
• One Tree Hill
• Oz (Chris Keller, homicidal sociopath)
• Queer as Folk (Hunter, Lindsay - sexuality portrayed as fluid but can be socially problematic)
• Roseanne - (Nancy Bartlett, Beverly Harris)
• Sex in the City (Samantha Jones)
• Six Feet Under (Russel - confused, lonely, Keith Charles - primarily gay)
• Skins (Tony Stonem - narcissist, sociopath, primarily straight)
• South of Nowhere
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Jadzia Dax)
• Torchwood (Jack Harkness, Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones, though all characters sexualities intended to remain fluid)
• Will & Grace (Karen Walker)
• Xena (Xena and Gabrielle)

Music

• "Bi" by Living Colour

Theatre

• Butley
• Gemini (Francis - treated sympathetically, seen in positive light)
• Rent (Maureen - unable to commit)
• Rocky Horror Show
• The Shadow Box (Brian - bisexuality simple fact)
• Torch Song Trilogy

See also

• Bisexuality
• Biphobia
• List of television episodes with LGBT themes
• List of television shows with LGBT characters
• Media and sexual orientation
• Media portrayal of homosexuality

References

• GLAAD: Bisexuality in Movies, Television and Music
• Bryant, Wayne M.. Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee. Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies, 1997. ISBN 1-56023-894-1
• Thomas Geller's Bisexuality: A Reader and Sourcebook (1990)
• The Bisexual Option - Fritz Klein's psychological exploration of the bisexual.
• Out Films: Top 10 bisexual movies
• Bisexual Literature
• AfterElton.com about gay and bisexual men in entertainment
• AfterEllen.com about lesbian and bisexual women in entertainment

This article is based on a GNU FDL LGBT Wikia article: of media portrayals of bisexuality List of media portrayals of bisexuality

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