How YA is reshaping the representation of bisexuals in Fiction

The re-popularisation of Young Adult (YA) books is turning the spotlight on bisexual protagonists, bringing up positive representation for this category and challenging harmful stereotypes and tropes.

It is not a secret that, amongst all book genres, there are very few novels whose main characters are bisexual. This lack of representation in literature might appear odd due to the fact that this category makes up the majority of the LBTQ+ community in the United States, representing more than 3% of this country’s entire population, as shown by a survey recently conducted by Gallup. However, thanks to new trends surfacing Young Adult (YA) as a genre, bisexuality has now become the protagonist of a new wave of positive representation in Fiction.

Bisexuality and Witchcraft

One of the current most popular tropes involves witchcraft and sapphic main characters. Novels falling under this category include These Witches Won’t Burn by Isabel Sterling (Razorbill), and Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper (Berkley). The trend challenges a common stereotype in queer literature that associates female bisexual characters with evilness. The logic behind this misconception is that since bisexuals feel attraction towards more than one gender, the fluidity and unpredictability of their sexuality affect their demeanour, making them greedy, malicious, and promiscuous, therefore completely untrustworthy, and potentially evil. It is not by chance that many villains and antagonists, as well as a great part of supernatural creatures and characters generally interested in the occult, are described as being “sexually promiscuous” with both sexes.

In Payback’s a Witch, Emmy Harlow is a young witch who returns to her hometown to arbitrate a magical tournament that will determine which member of the founding families is the fittest leader to guide the community. Eventually, as she forms an alliance with two contestants to put an end to the monopoly of her ex-boyfriend’s family on Thistle Grove, she finds herself falling in love with the charming Talia Avramov. By pairing up Emmy and Talia and turning both characters into the saviours of Thistle Grove’s magical community, Payback’s a witch subverts the “evil bisexual witch” stereotype. For this very reason, the positive representation brought up by this novel has opened the gate to stories within the Fantasy genre of LGBTQ+ YA Fiction where the bisexuality of supernatural beings is not used as a plot device to underline their evil and/or untrustworthy nature.

Image credit: Martina Currenti

He gets the boy

Another popular stereotype is the “bisexuality is just a phase”, which can be seen in many tv shows such as Sex and the City. In the episode Boy, girl, boy girl..., Carrie is worried about her new boyfriend Sean, who is bisexual. “I’m not even sure that bisexuality exists,” she says during the episode, “I think it’s just a layover on the way to Gaytown.” Carrie, a sex columnist in the show, refuses to believe that anyone can actually be bisexual. Carrie’s closed-minded remark perfectly depicts the literacy’s misconception of bisexual individuals, according to which bisexual men are just confused and gay, and bisexual women are going through an alternative of the “lesbian-till-graduation” phase and will eventually end up marrying a man.

A demystification of this stereotype in the series of graphic novels Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (Hodder). The story revolves around Nick Nelson, a teenage boy who starts to question his sexuality after he befriends the openly queer Charlie Spring. Nick spends the majority of the first two Heartstopper novels seeking to understand why, after years of liking girls, he suddenly has a crush on a member of the same sex. He eventually realises that just because he now likes Charlie, that does not mean that his previous feelings for girls were invalid; instead, he comes to the conclusion that he can feel attraction towards more than one gender and that he is, in fact, bisexual.

Image credit: Martina Currenti

Hailey R., an American woman in her 20s, agrees that Heartstopper plays a significant role in the positive representation of bisexuals. According to her, the show could potentially bring a shift in what the youth consider the norm, thus removing heterosexuality’s “default” status for good.

“Nick Nelson is a great example in literature for me because his process of researching sexuality and understanding what it means to be bisexual was so similar to my own experience,” Hailey says. “Bisexuals are not confused, attention seeking, or going through a phrase. Sexuality can be fluid and undefined, and the same goes for bisexuality. Nick Nelson gave me a window in which to view my own journey and helped to make me feel seen in media, both via the graphic novels and the Netflix series.”

Bury your weapons, not your gays

Not all stories have happy endings, but almost all queer stories end up with the death of at least one of the two lovers. This harmful trope is referred to as “bury your gays” and concerns the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, rather than just bisexual individuals. It shares the message that queer characters are not worthy of love or a happy ending; instead, they are meant to end up alone, heartbroken or, more often than not, buried six feet under the ground.

There are novels that are challenging this trope, giving their bisexual protagonists a rosy ending that balances up all previous misfortunes in Fiction. A popular example is So This is Ever After by F. T. Lukens (Margaret K. McElderry Books). In this novel inspired by the Arthurian legend, Arek must find a spouse in order to keep the throne and remain alive, a quest that eventually makes him realise his romantic feelings for his best friend and mage Matt. Lukens’ previous contribution to the positive representation of bisexuals was recognised by the LGBTQ+ community with different awards, including the Bisexual Book Award for Speculative Fiction.

Image credit: Martina Currenti

Alex M. grew up with very little exposure to queer fiction, and it was thanks to YA books that she realised she was bisexual.

“There weren’t many books around with bisexual characters, and those few stories always ended up with everyone dying,” she says. “But things are different now. We bisexuals are getting more space in fiction with books written by authors like F. T. Lukens. They’re not perfect stories, queer people still die sometimes, but not all the time. That’s progress, isn’t it?”

YA for the win

The aforementioned stereotypes and tropes are just a couple of the harmful ways in which bisexual individuals have been perceived and described in Fiction. The lacking representation that they receive is mostly negative and condones the intolerance that many individuals are subjected to in real life. However, novels like Payback’s a Witch have in fact tried to challenge biphobia by introducing characters whose bisexuality is not presented as a coming-out narrative arch and/or as a plot-twist to spice up the story and attract positive reviews, but instead as a normality where the characters are free to have relationships with both men and women without their feelings being questioned or invalidated or exploited.

By steering away from the stereotypes that feed into the negative depiction of bisexual characters, YA novels are now playing a significant role in normalising bisexuality in Fiction. Positive representation is extremely important for this stigmatised part of the LGTBQ+ community, in particular for the individuals who are questioning their sexuality or who have yet to come to terms with their feelings, as it would show them that in spite of what a part of society might want them to think, their feelings are real and, most importantly, valid.