Bisexuality Amy Zimmerman Analysis

Mainstreaming Bisexuality
It's one thing for an individual to be bisexual, lesbian, gay or any other sexuality they identify as, it's another thing to be portrayed as something they are not. Although people are adapting, and even accepting gender diversity stereotypes exist. Amy Zimmerman, the author of "It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV," states "Our mainstream media reinforces the notion that bisexuality is either a fun, voluntary act of experimentation or a mere myth through two tried and true tactics: misrepresenting and oversimplifying bisexual characters until they are either punchlines or wet dream fodder"(p562). She proclaims that bisexual actresses/actors are mainly stereotyped on television. By providing specific examples in video media today, allowing the reader to visualize storylines making an easy to connect with. Zimmerman makes claims that television shows don't accurately portray the characters, stating that gay/bisexual, men/women are televised inaccurately. Towards the end of her essay Zimmerman asserts that "While not every show is, or should be, reality television, hundreds of channels filled to the brim with white, traditionally beautiful,
heterosexual characters is a manufactured unreality; deliberate denial of authentic diversity that could result in or contribute to self hatred and denial for anyone whose desires differ from the glorified norm"(p566).
Zimmerman brings up many valid points while making a stance for normality over gender diversity. Sticking to the ethics of human kind. Stereotyping can easily be overlooked and can sometimes be unintentional. Television Stereotypes and Affirmative Action study indicates "stereotypes are often taken for granted as common-sense, [and] viewers might not be conscious in the ways" this can affect their cliche. If the viewers were to reduce their dependency, on television networks, that depend on the use of stereotyping, and only watch support belief networks, thus censoring the use of stereotyping.
The truth is, television has always used stereotypes. According to Television Stereotypes and Affirmative Action "Visual media is a powerful source of information that help us understand ourselves and others in society." African Americans have long been portrayed as slaves, hostiles, and/or gangsters. The Latinos being perceived as greasers, lazy Mexicans and Latin lovers. Even Caucasians are stereotyped; redneck, dumb blond, wealthy white. "Television readily provides a steady stream of racial stereotypes, which actively creates or reinforces audiences' existing perceptions"(Television Stereotypes and Affirmative). Although these types of stereotypes in television are set in place so the viewer can easily understand the character's role. Television stereotyping isn't a new thing, gender diversity is. "As homosexuality has become more and more prevalent and acceptable in the national conversation, the media has responded in the only way it knows how: boiling down complex sexual identity into a recyclable, stereotypical character"(Zimmerman pg. 562). Zimmerman is correct in which the media does stereotype. Stereotypes are pretty ugly no matter the race, gender, or sexuality. The female bisexual character would have ultra sexy female role, allow men to even more sexulize women. Which Zimmerman asserts in her essay concluding “[character’s] of a bisexual woman [offer] the potential for a killer combination of girl-on-girl action paired with the possibility heterosexual redemption” (p565). “[This] concept of a bisexual or lesbian woman who needs to be ‘saved’ from her own sexuality is essentially a revamping of the classic damsel in distress narrative”(p565). Do women need any more excuse to allow men to sexualize a woman? Is there any way to elude from being another man's fantasy? These questions help appeal to our emotion,logic and ethics. How do women as a whole want to be portrayed? The underlying problem is now do we showcase this to children, putting this on television for children to watch, wonder, or learn from?
I know as a kid my role models were actresses/actors on television, and what a difference it might have had on me if my role models were bisexual outcoming. Today there is already so much for young adolescents to decipher. It's not just "I'm the poor kid", or the "jock", or the "nerd", now there's choices like do I like the opposite sex? Am I gay or straight? What gender do I identify with? And plenty more questions. I am not picking on bisexuals by any means I'm simply stating maybe applying true characters/non stereotyped as bisexual, gay or lesbian isn't what we the people want viewed over and over again making our adolescence question their very own
sexuality.
Statistics show from the Glaad.org report "Of 895 series regular characters counted on 118 primetime scripted shows on the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, and NBC), 43 characters are LGBTQ. This is an increase from 35 reported last year"(glaad.org). Sexual diversity is on the rise and mainstreaming these type of characters might be now more socially accepted, I do believe that these broadcasting networks like ABC, and FOX are family viewing channels. Stations that for a long time have been highly viewed by families of young and teenage adolescents. This could be confusing for the up and coming generation.
With social issues, gender diversity, and adolescent issues, one could only imagine how hard it is for young people to figure out which way is up, much less navigate the obstacle course of identifying issues. Women are frequently seen as experimenting when they identify as bisexual, although men have it arguably worse because they're often seen as lying to themselves and/or others about just being gay. "The depiction of bisexual characters as untrustworthy, lacking a sense of morality, and/or as duplicitous manipulators." (GLAAD - Where We Are on TV Report – 2016) Add that to already complicated adolescents. One could ask the question why would we want show boat this image as the norm?