{"id":420,"date":"2012-08-16T18:27:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T18:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/?guid=738579656f3468947055f45e35b774bb"},"modified":"2012-08-24T09:27:06","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T09:27:06","slug":"brittany-pierce-a-positive-portrayal-of-teen-bisexuality-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/2012\/08\/brittany-pierce-a-positive-portrayal-of-teen-bisexuality-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Brittany Pierce: a positive portrayal of teen bisexuality"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To start off with, one thing needs to be said: <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Brittany_Pierce?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >Brittany Pierce<\/a> in <a href=\"\" >Glee<\/a> is an out and proud bisexual. Not convinced? OK, let&#8217;s hear it from her:&nbsp;<\/div>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/I_Am_Unicorn?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >I Am Unicorn<\/a>, when talking to <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Kurt_Hummel?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Kurt<\/a> about her running as a candidate for class president, she says she realised she was a unicorn too (with <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Santana?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Santana<\/a>&#8216;s help!), and followed this with &#8220;maybe a bicorn&#8221;. <\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Spanish_Teacher?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >The Spanish Teacher<\/a>, she joked that she was &#8220;bilingual&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Props?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Props<\/a>, after Santana told a teacher in the teachers&#8217; lounge that they were both gay, Brittany pointed out that she was bi, but that this didn&#8217;t make a huge difference to Santana&#8217;s point.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-nLn7nOBqFwQ\/UC1g9tLlyRI\/AAAAAAAAGXU\/lzNyQCLtNnU\/s1600\/brittanysantanasexy.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"178\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-nLn7nOBqFwQ\/UC1g9tLlyRI\/AAAAAAAAGXU\/lzNyQCLtNnU\/s320\/brittanysantanasexy.jpg\" title=\"Image source: http:\/\/prettylittlegossipgleek.tumblr.com\" width=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/ul>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a name='more'><\/a>Right, on to why I think Brittany is one of the most positive portrayals of bisexuality on TV. First of all, the show acknowledges she&#8217;s bi even though she&#8217;s currently in long term a relationship with someone of the same sex (Santana). Contrast this with <a href=\"http:\/\/buffy.wikia.com\/wiki\/Willow_Rosenberg?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >Willow<\/a>, who despite having been in a serious relationship with <a href=\"http:\/\/buffy.wikia.com\/wiki\/Daniel_Osbourne?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >Oz<\/a> from season 2 until the start of season 4 of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0118276\/?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >Buffy<\/a>, was labelled as gay during and after her relationship with <a href=\"http:\/\/buffy.wikia.com\/wiki\/Tara_Maclay?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >Tara<\/a>. Also contrast this with <a href=\"http:\/\/oc.wikia.com\/wiki\/Marissa_Cooper?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >Marissa Cooper<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0362359\/?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >The OC<\/a>, who was labelled as gay when she was in a relationship with Alex, but went back to being straight when Alex left.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Second of all, she&#8217;s never had a problem with her own sexuality and she&#8217;s also been very open about it. There hasn&#8217;t been any big coming out moment for her because she didn&#8217;t hide it in the first place:<\/div>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Bad_Reputation?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Bad Reputation<\/a>, after Artie finds her in the choir room after she &#8220;forgot how to leave&#8221;, she bemoans being so low on the <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Glist?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Glist<\/a> despite the fact she&#8217;s made out with everyone, clarifying she meant with girls as well as boys.<\/li>\n<li>During Born This Way, after Santana says Brittany doesn&#8217;t love her back, Brittany retorts &#8220;I do love you, clearly you don&#8217;t love you as much as I do or you&#8217;d put this shirt on and you&#8217;d dance with me&#8221;. This indicates Brittany has no qualms about being seen to dance romantically with a girl (a girl declaring her sexuality, no less).<\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Rumours?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Rumours<\/a>, after Santana sings &#8216;Songbird&#8217; to her, Brittany offers to &#8220;go first&#8221;, by asking Santana to go to the prom with her on <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Fondue_For_Two?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Fondue For Two<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now, since I wrote a <a href=\"http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\/2012\/07\/wrong-way-to-challenge-bi-erasure.html\" >post about Santana&#8217;s sexuality<\/a> and how it makes the most sense for her to be a lesbian, I have had a few objections to my stating Britt is a good portrayal of a bisexual, I will address these in turn.<\/div>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b>Her sexuality is associated with her stupidity.<\/b> <br \/>I don&#8217;t know where this comes from because when it comes to her personal relationship with Santana Brittany has often been very smart:\n<ul>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Born_This_Way_%28Episode%29?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" >Born This Way<\/a> Brittany makes Santana a &#8216;Lebanese&#8217; T-shirt because she knew that Santana wouldn&#8217;t be strong enough to do it herself.<\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/New_York?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogpsot.co.uk\" >New York<\/a>, when Santana said to Brittany &#8220;you&#8217;re my best friend&#8221;, she replied &#8220;I do too&#8221;, indicating Brittany knew Santana actually meant &#8220;I love you&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Mash_Off?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Mash Off<\/a>, she&#8217;s able to calm down Santana when she was on the warpath by singing &#8220;stop the violence&#8221;. <\/li>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/New_York?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Saturday Night Glee-ver<\/a> when Santana says she wants be famous by any means necessary Brittany shows her exactly what that means: by releasing a sex tape and fetching her a testicle to chew on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Her character plays into the stereotype of bisexuals being sluts<\/b>. <br \/>Yes, Brittany has slept with a lot of people, but then so has Santana. It&#8217;s a phase which some teenagers go through and then get over. She hasn&#8217;t slept with anyone other than Artie or Santana since early on in season 2, so I&#8217;d say she&#8217;s grown out of it.<\/li>\n<li><b>There&#8217;s not been a big story about her sexuality.<\/b> <br \/>She&#8217;s never denied her sexuality, so that rules out a big coming out story. If anyone had offered to straighten her out like they did Santana then she&#8217;d have brushed it off. This also wouldn&#8217;t have made it a big story. So I don&#8217;t really know how they&#8217;d make a big story centred around her sexuality.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another positive thing about the portrayal of Brittany&#8217;s sexuality is that during <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Sexy?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" >Sexy<\/a>, when Brittany realised that Santana was in love with her, and therefore asking for a serious commitment, she decided she couldn&#8217;t continue seeing Artie and Santana at the same time. Because of this, she committed herself to Artie as she was already in a relationship with him, therefore belying the stereotype that bisexuals can&#8217;t commit. Since breaking up with Artie at the end of season 2, she is now in a relationship with Santana<\/p>\n<p>Now that Brittany will be retaking senior year without Santana around, I&#8217;d be interested to see how the other students interact with her. It&#8217;s possible that without Santana to scare them off, Brittany may start to get bullied, and it&#8217;d be interesting to see how she handles this, particularly if it includes jibes about her sexuality. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">   var _gaq = _gaq || [];   _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-20463356-2']);   _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);    (function() {     var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;     ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';     var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);   })();  <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div>To start off with, one thing needs to be said: <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Brittany_Pierce?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Brittany Pierce<\/a> in <a href=\"http:\/\/http\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1327801\/?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Glee<\/a> is an out and proud bisexual. Not convinced? OK, let&#8217;s hear it from her:&nbsp;<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/I_Am_Unicorn?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">I Am Unicorn<\/a>, when talking to <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Kurt_Hummel?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Kurt<\/a> about her running as a candidate for class president, she says she realised she was a unicorn too (with <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Santana?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Santana<\/a>&#8216;s help!), and followed this with &#8220;maybe a bicorn&#8221;. <\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Spanish_Teacher?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">The Spanish Teacher<\/a>, she joked that she was &#8220;bilingual&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Props?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Props<\/a>, after Santana told a teacher in the teachers&#8217; lounge that they were both gay, Brittany pointed out that she was bi, but that this didn&#8217;t make a huge difference to Santana&#8217;s point.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-nLn7nOBqFwQ\/UC1g9tLlyRI\/AAAAAAAAGXU\/lzNyQCLtNnU\/s1600\/brittanysantanasexy.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"178\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-nLn7nOBqFwQ\/UC1g9tLlyRI\/AAAAAAAAGXU\/lzNyQCLtNnU\/s320\/brittanysantanasexy.jpg\" title=\"Image source: http:\/\/prettylittlegossipgleek.tumblr.com\" width=\"320\"><\/a><\/div>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<div>\n<a name=\"more\"><\/a>Right, on to why I think Brittany is one of the most positive portrayals of bisexuality on TV. First of all, the show acknowledges she&#8217;s bi even though she&#8217;s currently in long term a relationship with someone of the same sex (Santana). Contrast this with <a href=\"http:\/\/buffy.wikia.com\/wiki\/Willow_Rosenberg?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Willow<\/a>, who despite having been in a serious relationship with <a href=\"http:\/\/buffy.wikia.com\/wiki\/Daniel_Osbourne?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Oz<\/a> from season 2 until the start of season 4 of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0118276\/?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Buffy<\/a>, was labelled as gay during and after her relationship with <a href=\"http:\/\/buffy.wikia.com\/wiki\/Tara_Maclay?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Tara<\/a>. Also contrast this with <a href=\"http:\/\/oc.wikia.com\/wiki\/Marissa_Cooper?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Marissa Cooper<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0362359\/?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">The OC<\/a>, who was labelled as gay when she was in a relationship with Alex, but went back to being straight when Alex left.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Second of all, she&#8217;s never had a problem with her own sexuality and she&#8217;s also been very open about it. There hasn&#8217;t been any big coming out moment for her because she didn&#8217;t hide it in the first place:<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Bad_Reputation?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Bad Reputation<\/a>, after Artie finds her in the choir room after she &#8220;forgot how to leave&#8221;, she bemoans being so low on the <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Glist?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Glist<\/a> despite the fact she&#8217;s made out with everyone, clarifying she meant with girls as well as boys.<\/li>\n<li>During Born This Way, after Santana says Brittany doesn&#8217;t love her back, Brittany retorts &#8220;I do love you, clearly you don&#8217;t love you as much as I do or you&#8217;d put this shirt on and you&#8217;d dance with me&#8221;. This indicates Brittany has no qualms about being seen to dance romantically with a girl (a girl declaring her sexuality, no less).<\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Rumours?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Rumours<\/a>, after Santana sings &#8216;Songbird&#8217; to her, Brittany offers to &#8220;go first&#8221;, by asking Santana to go to the prom with her on <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Fondue_For_Two?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Fondue For Two<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>Now, since I wrote a <a href=\"http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\/2012\/07\/wrong-way-to-challenge-bi-erasure.html\" target=\"_blank\">post about Santana&#8217;s sexuality<\/a> and how it makes the most sense for her to be a lesbian, I have had a few objections to my stating Britt is a good portrayal of a bisexual, I will address these in turn.<\/div>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<b>Her sexuality is associated with her stupidity.<\/b> <br \/>I don&#8217;t know where this comes from because when it comes to her personal relationship with Santana Brittany has often been very smart:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Born_This_Way_%28Episode%29?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Born This Way<\/a> Brittany makes Santana a &#8216;Lebanese&#8217; T-shirt because she knew that Santana wouldn&#8217;t be strong enough to do it herself.<\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/New_York?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogpsot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">New York<\/a>, when Santana said to Brittany &#8220;you&#8217;re my best friend&#8221;, she replied &#8220;I do too&#8221;, indicating Brittany knew Santana actually meant &#8220;I love you&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Mash_Off?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Mash Off<\/a>, she&#8217;s able to calm down Santana when she was on the warpath by singing &#8220;stop the violence&#8221;. <\/li>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/New_York?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Saturday Night Glee-ver<\/a> when Santana says she wants be famous by any means necessary Brittany shows her exactly what that means: by releasing a sex tape and fetching her a testicle to chew on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<b>Her character plays into the stereotype of bisexuals being sluts<\/b>. <br \/>Yes, Brittany has slept with a lot of people, but then so has Santana. It&#8217;s a phase which some teenagers go through and then get over. She hasn&#8217;t slept with anyone other than Artie or Santana since early on in season 2, so I&#8217;d say she&#8217;s grown out of it.<\/li>\n<li>\n<b>There&#8217;s not been a big story about her sexuality.<\/b> <br \/>She&#8217;s never denied her sexuality, so that rules out a big coming out story. If anyone had offered to straighten her out like they did Santana then she&#8217;d have brushed it off. This also wouldn&#8217;t have made it a big story. So I don&#8217;t really know how they&#8217;d make a big story centred around her sexuality.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div>Another positive thing about the portrayal of Brittany&#8217;s sexuality is that during <a href=\"http:\/\/glee.wikia.com\/wiki\/Sexy?source=http:\/\/catvix.blogspot.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Sexy<\/a>, when Brittany realised that Santana was in love with her, and therefore asking for a serious commitment, she decided she couldn&#8217;t continue seeing Artie and Santana at the same time. Because of this, she committed herself to Artie as she was already in a relationship with him, therefore belying the stereotype that bisexuals can&#8217;t commit. Since breaking up with Artie at the end of season 2, she is now in a relationship with Santana<\/p>\n<p>Now that Brittany will be retaking senior year without Santana around, I&#8217;d be interested to see how the other students interact with her. It&#8217;s possible that without Santana to scare them off, Brittany may start to get bullied, and it&#8217;d be interesting to see how she handles this, particularly if it includes jibes about her sexuality. <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,134,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bisexuality","category-glee","category-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4660,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions\/4660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}