I love Coronation Street. I love Made in Chelsea. Let me make this clear. For years, I’ve applauded Coronation Street for its progressive story lines, from the portrayal of, Hayley the trans woman; tackling domestic abuse; ableism and to a positive and heartwarming portrayal of a cross-dressing man who is shunned by the woman he loves. But I think it’s incredibly important, especially in shows you love, to know what is problematic. If you simply say, “This show is my favourite show, and so I will ignore anything contentious, anything harmful, because I will not criticise something I love,” you’re not doing the show any favours. Calling out the things we love is just as important as calling out the things we hate.
So whilst I love these two programmes, I feel it is important to tackle two recent story lines very close to my heart.
Case study 1: Coronation Street‘s Marcus Dent.
Coronation Street’s Marcus and Maria
Coronation Street is a fictional soap opera set in Manchester, England – my home town!
Marcus has been in the show for many years now and has always identified as a gay man, having several romantic relationships with men. However, recently, Marcus fell for a woman. Coronation Street is trying to tackle the stigma against gay people who then fall in love with the “opposite” gender, which is commendable, however it’s handling of this story line is troubling.
It’s not for me to say whether Marcus “really” ought to identify as gay, straight or bisexual. That’s for the character himself, so I would never presume to say that he is “really” a bisexual man. As far as Marcus ever explains, he is “a gay man who fell in love with a woman”. But what I do find problematic is that during this whole story line, the word “bisexual” has not been mentioned once. I kid you not! Not once!
The only option, as far as Corrie is concerned, is to be gay or straight. Marcus says he is gay; his girlfriend demands that he says he is straight. Never once is the B-word touched upon. Marcus may not be bisexual, but bi-erasure is not cool, especially in a story line that begs that option to be included.
See the video clip below and note how only “gay” and “straight” are offered at options. A very black and white view of sexuality, with no room for maneuver.
I can’t help but wonder if this is the writers patronising the viewer – that they couldn’t possibly conceive of one person being capable of fancying two genders simultaneously – or whether this is evident of the writers’ pure ignorance to the actual existence of bisexuality.
Whilst I think this story line is tackling some much needed issues in the LGBT*QA community – biphobia and hostility towards people seen as “going back in the closet” – it’s a case of one step forwards and two steps back. The story wasn’t told coherently and didn’t come across overall message of “labels don’t matter” – as I’d hoped it would. Rather the message I gathered was “LABELS MATTER VERY MUCH NOW PLZ PICK ONE”.
Case study 2: Made in Chelsea’s Ollie Locke
Ollie Locke
Made in Chelsea is a reality show, partially scripted, but following the lives of real people living in the wealthy London borough of Chelsea.
Ollie Locke is a long time cast member, initially identifying as straight but as the seasons went by, he came to identify as bisexual. This has been relatively smooth-sailing for him until the newest season aired this month. (Still available to watch in the UK at http://4od.co.uk)
This season, we saw Ollie enter into a relationship with Ashley (a woman), which was all very well and good… until she “found out” he was bisexual.
(NB: And quite how she apparently didn’t already know this, I am not sure, seeing as his coming out was aired on prime time television. Besides which, the season well documents the fact that Ashley was always fully aware of Ollie’s bisexuality.)
Ashley quickly became jealous and suspicious of Ollie, claiming he lied about his sexuality to trick her into a relationship with him, that he is getting a leg over his straight male mate, and that he is “really” gay. Here, sexuality becomes a black and white issue, with all of Ollie’s friends deciding he is either gay or straight, whilst he stands alone befuddled and probably pouting, exclaiming, “BUT I’M BISEXUAL.”
See the video below. In this scene, we see Ashley on a date with a new man, after having split up with Ollie. She quizzes the date on his sexuality – because this is apparently the top of her priorities now – when Ollie runs into them. An argument ensues. (Ollie is the one with long dark hair and a black jumper.)
As Ashley says, “You say that you like guys now. So that little bit gay that you were, it’s obviously not the case. What was the point in fucking lying to me?”
She can’t seem to grasp that Ollie has always liked boys and has always liked girls. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Again, this is complete bisexual erasure. Apparently, when he was with Ashley, Ollie was straight. Now that they’ve split up, he’s gay. All this despite Ollie being an out bisexual for a good few years and happily dating men and women.
The impact of bi-erasure
Bi-erasure, whether it be at the hands of the LGBT*QA community or heterosexuals, only enforces the idea that sexuality is rigid. Black/white. Gay/straight. This harms all lesbian and gay folk because it sets us in boxes, it doesn’t allow for the fact that sexuality can change with age, that there are always exceptions.
Whilst the LGBT*QA folk will preach that love is love, nothing gets their backs up more than the idea of one of their own “going back in the closet”, but this hurts just as much as homophobia, because it is a fundamental misunderstanding of someone’s sexuality. Bisexuality is just as hard to come to terms with as homosexuality, and is made all the more difficult by support groups denying compassion.
In a gay club, myself and my boyfriend were dancing together. Now, we are both bisexual, both out, both members of the LGBT*QA society. And we both have had our own struggles with our sexualities. Yet when a group of people in this nightclub saw us together, assumed we were straight, and one person hit the back of my head. I understand, to an extent, that LGBT*QA folk may get upset at the idea of their safe spaces being invaded by apparent heterosexuals – but they never stopped to ask either of our sexualities. They never considered bisexuality as an option. It was black/white for them. Sound familiar?
The presence of LGBT*QA folk on television, like Marcus, like Ollie, is very important. But it isn’t enough simply having non-hets on television. Gay friendly =/= bi friendly. There’s a wealth of sexualities and genders, but the mishandling of these characters makes me cringe because I know the impact it can have upon people who are bi, being presented with the idea that you must be gay or straight, and bisexuality is not a valid identity. It is not an identity worth mentioning. It is not a sexuality worth defending.
Well, I disagree.
Filed under: Biphobia, Britain, Gay rights, LGBTQAI Tagged: biphobia, bisexual, coronation street, gay rights, lgbt, made in chelsea, marcus dent, ollie locke, sexuality 
