Bisexuality Amy Zimmerman Analysis

Mainstreaming Bisexuality
It's one thing for an individual to be bisexual, lesbian, gay or any other sexuality they identify as, it's another thing to be portrayed as something they are not. Although people are adapting, and even accepting gender diversity stereotypes exist. Amy Zimmerman, the author of "It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV," states "Our mainstream media reinforces the notion that bisexuality is either a fun, voluntary act of experimentation or a mere myth through two tried and true tactics: misrepresenting and oversimplifying bisexual characters until they are either punchlines or wet dream fodder"(p562). She proclaims that bisexual actresses/actors are mainly stereotyped on television. By providing specific examples in video media today, allowing the reader to visualize storylines making an easy to connect with. Zimmerman makes claims that television shows don't accurately portray the characters, stating that gay/bisexual, men/women are televised inaccurately. Towards the end of her essay Zimmerman asserts that "While not every show is, or should be, reality television, hundreds of channels filled to the brim with white, traditionally beautiful,
I know as a kid my role models were actresses/actors on television, and what a difference it might have had on me if my role models were bisexual outcoming. Today there is already so much for young adolescents to decipher. It's not just "I'm the poor kid", or the "jock", or the "nerd", now there's choices like do I like the opposite sex? Am I gay or straight? What gender do I identify with? And plenty more questions. I am not picking on bisexuals by any means I'm simply stating maybe applying true characters/non stereotyped as bisexual, gay or lesbian isn't what we the people want viewed over and over again making our adolescence question their very own