Monosexuality = the practice of or the idea that a person can only be sexually attracted to one gender, i.e. homosexual or heterosexual.
It truly floors me how much fanfiction assumes monosexuality as the only option. Characters must be straight or gay. Over and over again. I shake my head sadly. There is certainly overwhelming evidence of bisexuality at the physical, historical and cross-cultural levels. There are now even hundreds of books on the topic. (At least two of my own published books have it in the title.) So why is that so many fanfic authors seem absolutely stuck with the idea that someone can really only enjoy men or women? This is more of a rhetorical question, so, I guess, that makes this entry a rant.
I was recently told by someone that Harry Potter could only be straight because he had been attracted to Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley. Only straight. The idea that he might fancy blokes and not have figured it out by age sixteen, well, that never happens. (Hear massive sarcasm in that please.) I was also told by a game moderator that they wouldn’t let Harry be anything but straight because then the game would only be about sex! Seriously, they said that. Because, of course, if you aren’t straight, that is all life is about, sex. Sigh.
Yeah, I play in some pretty “ship” focused RPGs online. Because I like to read about and write about sex. Even my straight characters have sex. Yes, I am playing at least one straight and one gay character at the moment. (Anyone reading this journal, will note that Neville and Ginny have been having fun. And that Neville in the series is apparently straight.) But the idea that only playing straight characters would focus on the plot just irked the hell out of me.
Then there are the other assumptions about bisexuality, like that we are automatically gonna fuck “anything that moves.” I shocked people when I made one of my Draco RP characters both bisexual and a virgin. I think part of the shock is that Draco is assumed to be so worldly. But there is also an element of bisexuals being assumed be unable to resist sex. The Draco in the game had been estranged from almost everyone he cared about for a long time and unable to have who he really wanted. That meant he choose not to have sex rather than have it without meaning.
One of my pet peeves in most SF/F television shows is that characters are usually only allowed to be bisexual if they are evil. They did it in Star Trek with the mirror universe stuff on Deep Space 9. Damn, even Josh did it on Buffy! Willow clearly loved and enjoyed sex with Oz. But when she is with Tara, suddenly she is lesbian, not bi? But the evil Willow from the alternative universe is allowed to be openly bi. Doctor Who is the first SF/F television series (BBC made, of course) I have seen with an openly bisexual character – Captain Jack Harkness. So popular he now has a spin-off series, Torchwood. But even he is shown to have what might be considered “flexible” ethics.
I am bisexual. Always have been. But I also have one of the strongest sense of personal ethics you are likely to run across. Some friends consider them too inflexible, in fact. I wouldn’t have sex with anyone in my research projects no matter how tempted. I won’t have sex with someone who I know is in a monogamous relationship. (I have been lied to about it, but that is different.) I have a strong personal code against lying, even so-called white lies. I believe that killing another human being should be a last resort even in self-defense. And even then, it should be mourned, not celebrated. And so on.
I would like to challenge more fanfiction (and other writers) to recognize that bisexuality is not only real, but that being bi doesn’t erode any of our essential humanity. We can be as much in love and just as ethical as anyone else. (Or as hateful and fucked up.) There are a ton of websites and books out there on bisexuality, so if you haven’t already, maybe you should educate yourself about the topic.
End of today’s rant. Thank you for at least skimming this far… Smiles.
Draco’s Gift
