Beyond the Binary: Queer (Im)possibilities of Bisexual Desires in Selected US Young Adult Novels

Abstract

There has been rapid growth in the representation of bisexual characters in US YA since 2010 in both genre fiction that has traditionally been dominated by the stories of heterosexual protagonists, and in popular YA trends, particularly the teen love triangle plot. Improvements in bisexual representation in happy, loving, meaningful queer relationships, however, still requires critical vigilance against the equation between homonormativity and queer futurities in YA, as the latter “will not be achieved by simply retelling and celebrating a single story” (Matos and Wargo 8). A particular challenge for queering conventional romance plots is the stereotyping and essentialising of bisexuals as selfish, hyper-sexual, attention-seeking or undecided, in a system of bi-erasure underpinned by monosexism. This belief that all sexualities are located at either end or at some point along the homo-heterosexual scale remains a powerful force of bi-erasure, such that tensions can arise when romance conventions and dichotomous plot structures are used to depict characters whose desires are beyond this binary. I examine four recent YA novels for their representation of bisexual characters within love triangle plots in genre fiction to highlight how these queer characters remain constrained by essentialised views of bisexuality. Despite each novel resolving the love triangle dilemma in different ways, they offer bisexual teen readers little hope for acceptance or understanding, even within relationships, and, that current political and social systems, including monosexism, are unassailable.