Emmerdale Demonstrates How to Get Bisexuality Right
Last week rural soap Emmerdale broke an unwritten rule of primetime storytelling: you don’t say bisexual. Robron fan Charlie tells us what else they’re getting right.
Finding an on-screen bisexual is about ten times harder than finding one in real life. This is because films and TV shows seem to have an obsession with alternating a character’s sexuality depending on who they are with at that current moment – especially in soap operas. ITV soap Emmerdale, has been no stranger to this trend.
Ali, who was on the show last year with her partner Ruby, was the butt of many lesbian jokes as she left her husband to be with her new girlfriend, yet it was never explored whether she was bisexual or gay. Earlier this year, a plotline involving Lawrence’s old lover returning did nothing but create confusion regarding his sexuality, since he had been in… Continue reading
Event: “Identity v Misbehaviour: Miscommunication Between Lesbian & Bi Women”
Friday 25th September
Goldsmiths, University of London
SE14 6NW
6.30-8.30pm
Run by Gracey Morgan for the Goldsmiths LGBTQ* Society
Marking Bi-Visibility Day by bringing together leading bi activists, writers, thinkers, and community leaders to discuss this important topic.
Speakers include:
Prof. Surya Monro – A leading academic specialising in sexuality
Jacqueline Applebee – Renowned writer and poet
Elaine McKenzie – Prioprietor of Glass Bar Events
Faith Cheltenham- President of BiNet USA
Hopefully we will touch on questions such as:
▼ “Why is there such a big separation within the LGBTQ Community, especially among lesbian and bi women of color?”
▼ “Why is there so much distrust between lesbian women and bisexual women?”
▼ “Why do some lesbian sisters within the LGBT community still continue to ostracise their bi sisters?”
▼ “When did communications began breaking down between the two?
▼ “Are there similarities/differences between the two, and does identity… Continue reading
You Didn't Hear it from Us (4/04/15)
Here’s a round-up of some of the news, blogs posts and comment we missed this week.
- Autostraddle gave us the lowdown on how bisexual women can take care of their health
- Afterellen quizzed The 100 writer Kira Snyder of bi favourites Clarke and Lexa
- Center Bi, the only bisexual organization that is hosted at a BLGT centre in the US is urgently seeking donations
- A study by Australian mental health charity Beyondblue found homophobia in teenage boys is at alarming levels
- An anonymous poster at the couple connection spoke candidly about what it’s like to be bi in a ‘lesbian’ relationship
- Vanessa Celis wrote about the similarities, and differences, between bi- and pansexuality
- Porn all-rounder, sexpositive feminst and generally awesome person Nina Hartley vlogged about the stigma of male bisexuality at sex parties, and for some reason MSN categorised it under ‘food and drink’.
- The Guardian published a… Continue reading
Janis Hetherington – Part 19: "Marriage"
Janis Hetherington was the first UK woman in an openly same-sex couple to be artificially inseminated. In this, the 19th part of her exclusive autobiographical series for Biscuit, Janis ponders the issue of marriage.
So, let’s describe my dilemma. Marriage. Like not an agreement but the whole shebang.. crash bang wallop. Suddenly we (myself and my polyamour of 40 years) have a drawer full of invites. The present list alone would sort out Biscuit for life!!
What is it? How can you contemplate it if, like me, you know you are capable of having multiple sexual partners? What are you committing to? The right of equality? Is that all it is? To prove YOU have the right to be equal? But equal to what? As I understand marriage vows in my nearly 70 years on this odd and not so green planet I see it as a contract of bondage not always lovey dovey bliss. We (as playful partners) were supposed to be different. Yes we signed legal contracts over property and wills but nuptials….? Not our bag dear-hearts.
And no I am NOT naïve. I have fought many court cases that I would still have had to fight had I and my children been part of a conventional marriage contract. Equality yes. The right to choose yes. For those of us who’d be throttled by tying the knot, don’t make us look like non-committers. Security? That seems to be the issue. It always was in a failed marriage and those who specialise in the new brand of GAY MARRIAGE I fear will charge a premium when sorting out assets and unfortunately custody.
Continue reading
Biscuit shares panel with asylum seeker Aderonke Apata
Last weekend, Biscuit’s editor-in-chief Lottie was privileged enough to join a panel of inspiring lesbian and bisexual woman at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation’s Sugar and Spice event. One of these was Nigerian Aderonke Apata, who is fighting to stay in the country in light of a Home Office ruling that she cannot be a lesbian because she has children and has been in heterosexual relationships.
Apata appeared in the High Court last week to challenge the Home Office’s decision to refuse her asylum. During the hearing, Home Secretary barrister Andrew Bird insisted that she was simply someone who had “indulged in same-sex activity”. “You can’t be a heterosexual one day and a lesbian the next day,” he asserted.”Just as you can’t change your race.” Apata was told that the results of her appeal would arrive at the end of the month. Outside the court, Apata fell into the arms of her wife-to-be, Happiness Agboro.
Biscuit’s Lottie Dingle joins Aderonke Apata on a Lesbian and Gay Foundation panel
Apata’s story is a harrowing one. When Apata’s family found out she had a female partner, they dragged her to a Sharia court to be stoned for adultery. A “legal technicality” gave her the time she needed to flee to England. After she left, her female partner of 20 years was killed by vigilantes.
Continue reading
Biscuit Female Sexuality Index – the results are in!
It’s official! A new online survey of 1,000 British women reveals a startlingly open-minded attitude to same sex relationships.
Conducted by your friends at Biscuit, we recruited a random sample of women via Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, asking them to choose which of 15 statements most closely described their sexuality.
While similar surveys ask respondents to identify themselves as ‘gay’, ‘straight’ or ‘bi’ (and sometimes ‘asexual’), Biscuit’s study reflects an increasingly accepted understanding that sexuality falls along a much more specific spectrum.
The study differentiated between behaviour and fantasy, revealing that 26.5% of women are fully bisexual, although some of this group did express a preference for one gender or another. However, the figure rises to 38% when taking into account straight women who have occasionally had sexual contact with a same-sex partner and gay women who have sometimes had sex with men.
The completely anonymous questionnaire did report a… Continue reading
Janis Hetherington – Part 2: "Breaking the rules of 70s family life"
On the way to make a baby, spring 1971
Janis Hetherington was the first UK woman in an openly same-sex couple to be artificially inseminated… In this, the second part of her exclusive autobiographical series for Biscuit, Janis discusses the conception of her son.
Despite the amazing consequences of a decision my lover Judy and I made in September 1970 – for me to conceive a child by artificial insemination – in our household it wasn’t an earth shattering moment and didn’t seem like such a big deal. She already had a six-year-old daughter (although not the product of her estranged marriage) and I had been discussing AI for years with doctor friends and lawyers who made up the guest lists of the notoriously naughty parties I was famous for in the late 60s.
Although well known for my lesbian relationships I had been living with an infamous lawyer (his… Continue reading
Janis Hetherington – Part 1: "A graphic sexual voyage"
Embarking on my brothel career
Janis Hetherington tells Biscuit all about her explicit new book, Love Lies Bleeding: Memoirs of a sexual revolutionary
Love Lies Bleeding is a graphic sexual voyage. It explores in detail, sometimes brutally, the journey of a female who was aware at a very early age of her sadomasochistic and lesbian tendencies.
It has upset many people that I began the saga by detailing fantasies I had at the age of four. It is not the story of a victim and has therefore been subjected to some vitriol by those who mistakenly feel I condone child molestation and encourage self-harm. What I try to achieve is an understanding of the process I went through to obtain sexual gratification.
I was also the first lesbian to have openly declared that I was artificially inseminated, 42 years ago. When I bore a son, my late female lover was… Continue reading
Giving Up Men is a Slippery Slope
Our Ed Libby thinks they’re missing one vital point.
Since the Gay Liberation movement first found its feet way back in the 1970s it has been asking bi women to call themselves lesbian, seek only relationships with women, and generally refuse to acknowledge their attraction to anyone else. It was, we were told, not fair to muddy the waters with multi-gender attraction. Better to stick to one and make things easy. It was an act of solidarity, they said. Attraction to one gender is just easier for people to understand. After all, weren’t we all working towards the same goal?
Similarly within the feminist movement, both bi- and heterosexuality were, in some quarters, roundly… Continue reading →