Bisexual erasure, and trans men in lesbian spaces?

airship wreck · Jun 5, 2014

I'm about to start a new project, a mainstream-ish novel with a horror angle. Originally, my three central characters were a cisgendered lesbian, a cisgendered bisexual woman who once dated the lesbian, and a transgendered man who is now interested in the bi woman. Only the first character's gender and sexuality need to be set in stone for the plot, and after thinking about it for a while, I'm worried I'm making a misstep in the identities I've chosen for the others.

I hear a lot about how trans men are too often represented in lesbian spaces, as if they're somehow not fully male. I also hear that bisexuality in media is often disrespected by viewers -- they assume the character must prefer one gender over another. I'm starting to get nervous that readers will view my three characters as all really women, and all really lesbians, and I'm considering scrapping the third character and replacing him with a (cis or trans) woman.

Am I worrying too much, or am I running the risk of misrepresenting bisexual women or transgendered men? Any opinions are much valued, doubly so if you can chime in as a part of either one of those groups.

MynaOphelia · Jun 5, 2014

You seem to be well aware of the stereotypes surrounding bisexual women and trans men, so I wouldn't worry too much about misrepresentation (though always get a beta, just in case!). Just because the bi girl once dated a girl and is now dating the trans guy doesn't necessarily mean she prefers men, only that right now she's into this one guy. Because bi people have a preference for more than one gender, it makes sense that at one point they dated someone of one gender and now they're dating someone of another gender--it doesn't necessarily mean there's any gender preference involved. Though keep in mind that many people think bisexual girls are really just straight girls looking for attention, so avoid that stereotype.

If the READER assumes she prefers men (even if you make no hints about this at all) or that the trans guy is "actually just a lesbian" (even if you use male pronouns, make it very clear he identifies as a guy, etc) then that seems more likely to stem from their own ignorance, which is something you can't control.

Corinne Duyvis · Jun 6, 2014

I agree, people are definitely going to read things into your book that aren't there. One reader said that logic suggested my female character's attraction to a girl was the result of (plot thing). I just about fell off my chair. Personally, I always thought logic suggested her attraction to a girl was because... she's bisexual, and she likes the girl...?

While I can't speak for trans men, I'm a bisexual woman and I see no problem with how you're treating that character. First she liked a lady, now she likes a dude. And plenty of bi people do prefer one gender over another, or kind of go back and forth. (I am the most wishy-washy bi person ever, personally. Some days I'm all "LADIES LADIES LADIES, how you doin'?" and other days I'm eyeballing dudes 24/7, and other days I'm hitting "like" on Tumblr posts with androgynous and genderqueer folks so hard my computer cant even handle it.)

Anyway, it really helps to be aware of this trope. For example, if you're concerned that by having your bisexual character end up with a man will imply that she's no longer interested in women, you can have her appreciate certain women's finer qualities even as she's with her male LI. Or she can have lingering feelings for an ex. Those kinds of things. Just details to round out the character and subtly counter some expectations or implications.

airship wreck · Jun 6, 2014

MynaOphelia said:
If the READER assumes she prefers men (even if you make no hints about this at all) or that the trans guy is "actually just a lesbian" (even if you use male pronouns, make it very clear he identifies as a guy, etc) then that seems more likely to stem from their own ignorance, which is something you can't control.

Thank you! I was hoping this would be the case, and both of you seem to agree (though more opinions are always welcome). The character is always introduced and recognized as his correct gender, and the fact that he was assigned a different gender at birth is only mentioned once so far in the outline.

Corinne Duyvis said:
For example, if you're concerned that by having your bisexual character end up with a man will imply that she's no longer interested in women, you can have her appreciate certain women's finer qualities even as she's with her male LI. Or she can have lingering feelings for an ex. Those kinds of things. Just details to round out the character and subtly counter some expectations or implications.

The three of them are definitely going to talk about their past lovers, so it will be fortunately clear enough that she has dated all over the gender spectrum.

That does raise another question, though -- in my head, the woman identifies as bisexual and the man identifies as pansexual, because she's attracted mainly to masculine-presenting people of any gender identity and he's potentially attracted to just about any type of body or presentation. As far as I know, there's nothing wrong about their definitions, but I don't want to come off as trying to define what a certain sexuality should mean to everyone. So, if this sets off any alarm bells for anyone, let me know.

Reziac · Jun 6, 2014

Maybe it's just how you presented it, but I immediately saw Character #3 as a guy, not as a TG-lesbian. (I don't have a problem with him being pansexual. I have a character whose only requirements are "Does it have legs? can I catch it??") Anyway, seems to me that given the confidence of identity I hear in these brief descriptions, there shouldn't be a problem with 'em in the manuscript.

airship wreck · Jun 8, 2014

Reziac said:
Maybe it's just how you presented it, but I immediately saw Character #3 as a guy, not as a TG-lesbian. (I don't have a problem with him being pansexual. I have a character whose only requirements are "Does it have legs? can I catch it??") Anyway, seems to me that given the confidence of identity I hear in these brief descriptions, there shouldn't be a problem with 'em in the manuscript.

Thanks! I'm glad I managed to get that confidence across just through having a solid idea of the character. I'll make sure to remember what you've said if I end up having a hard time describing anyone later on.

Reziac · Jun 8, 2014

airship wreck said:
Thanks! I'm glad I managed to get that confidence across just through having a solid idea of the character.

I think that's a good way to view it. If you think of the character as a person, rather than as an isolated trait, it will show. And it does. :Thumbs:

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