“Is this just another bisexual chic moment or is this generation having its own bisexual revolution?” asked directors Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker in their documentary Bi the Way, which was featured at Toronto’s Inside Out Film Festival on Sunday May 17th at the Royal Ontario Museum.The director duo traveled across America, from New Orleans to Nevada to New York to Utah in order to find out if falling somewhere between gay and straight is possible or just a passing trend.
They followed the stories of five individuals while interviewing a slew of teens, adults, media professionals, sexual researchers and psychologists about whether being attracted to both sexes can be normal.
“I think they’re just half foot in the closet and half foot out,” said one woman on camera, laughing and widening her stance for emphasis.
Many interviewees agreed with this point of view, noting that popular culture practically began endorsing bisexuality with titillating same-sex moments on the programs like the O.C., and even more visibly when Britney Spears and Madonna kissed.
“MTV was holding a mirror up to their audience and giving their audience a blowjob,” said Dan Savage, The Stranger’s “Savage Love” sex columnist. Savage noted that youth who believe they are bisexual might realize otherwise in 10 years.
There are some examples in the film of youth who identify as bisexual but leave the audience unsure if they just haven’t figured out their identity.
David is one of those individuals. The 24-year-old had girlfriends in the past and now casually dates Kevin, but wants a stable relationship with him. His bisexuality is questioned by his parents, who accept him but don’t understand him.
Then there’s Pam, a former cheerleader who was expelled for getting caught kissing a female classmate and had to face the wrath of her conservative father when he discovered her bisexuality. “Girls are catty bitches and guys are pigs…Can’t get along with any of them but you can’t live without them either,” she said.
The film mentioned a study done at Northwestern University in the U.S. which tested how sexual responses to pornography factored into women’s sexual orientation. Those tested viewed both heterosexual and lesbian porn clips, interspersed with landscape scenes. A tampon-shaped probe in their vaginas measured arousal and found that regardless of the type of erotic videos, women responded similarly.
A related study was conducted the following year with men and showed that they were predominantly turned on by either straight or gay porn, but not both.
“My question is, what kind of films did they show them? Was it good porn?” asked a middle-aged, bisexual man, incredulously. “That study showed that I don’t exist.”
One thing the study may have revealed is that bisexuality, at least in the mainstream, is more common among women, said a female sex researcher at Northwestern. Or maybe they just prefer the scenery. “Watching a naked man walk on the beach is about as stimulating as watching a landscape,” she said.
Although there are those in the film who dispute it, Bi the Way showed that a new generation of young people have redrawn the map of sexuality and for many bisexuality is more than a roadside attraction.
“Why can’t I have my cake and eat it too?” asked Tahj, a bisexual 18-year-old from New York.
Dan Savage summed it up best, “Do what turns you on, because you can’t run away from yourself.”
*Published in the June issue of The Ryerson Free Press
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