Bi representation is heating up this summer, with multiple film releases serving up spicy sex scenes featuring bi bros. But the girls are taking up plenty of space too, making waves across reality TV, music, and gaming. Pride season just keeps on giving — welcome to hot bi summer!
Heartstopper: An End of an Era
The last installment in our most wholesome queer high school utopia, Heartstopper Forever, is out now on Netflix and we’re gutted that it’s over! This series, based on the books by Alice Osman, has done so much to boost positive representation of bi men through Kit Connor’s character, Nick Nelson (and that infamous line, “I’m bi, actually”), as well as other LGBT identities. Check out our Unicorn Scale review of Season 2 here!
The full-length film explores how Joe Locke’s Charlie Spring and Nick navigate the prospect of a long-term relationship, with Nick about to head off for university. This time, they also share some spicier scenes, and it’s powerful to see healthy representation of queer sex, communication and consent for young adults.
It’s Getting Hotter in Here
But if you’re mourning this loss, get excited because apparently the upcoming sequel to Red, White & Royal Blue (whose character Alex Claremont-Diaz is bi) will also be getting the Heated Rivalry treatment.
According to author (and bicon) Casey McQuiston at Prime Video’s Obsessed Fest, it’s “a couple degrees spicier than the first movie. The intimacy is kind of dialed up in a way that is really beautiful and really fun to watch”. Stay tuned for a release date.
Celebrating the Ultimate Bicon
We were sad to hear that legendary bi music exec and producer Clive Davis has passed away at ninety-four. While at the helm of labels from Columbia to Sony, he signed artists including Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, and Bruce Springsteen and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He came out as bi at eighty years old in his 2013 memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life, and was married twice (to Helen Cohen and Janet Adelberg) before exploring his attraction to men in the 1980s.
“You don’t have to be only one thing or another,” Davis said in an interview on American talk show Katie in 2013. He also told Nightline, “For over 50 years I never had sex with a male… It wasn’t repressed. I had very good sexual relationships with women.”
It’s so rare to see people talking about the bi life cycle like this, and yes, we’ll still be proudly waving the flag at ninety-four and beyond!
This Barbie is… Pansexual!
This Pride month saw the launch of our very own pansexual icon, with the release of a limited edition Barbie doll celebrating singer Miley Cyrus. The top-to-toe leather biker outfit is inspired by the look from her “Golden Burning Sun” music video from her Something Beautiful album.
The Bi Gals are Looking for Love
We’re also devastated that the final series of BBC’s I Kissed A Girl has ended. But it was wonderful to see several bi women on the queer dating show, including Kayleigh McCarthy. She told Diva, “I’ve always had that voice in the back of my head saying, ‘You’re not gay enough’. I’m straight-passing, I’m pansexual, so it’s always been a thing I’ve battled with.”
Nikita Bharath also described herself as someone who falls in love with the person, not the gender, and we’re excited to report that she is still happily partnered with fellow contestant Pippa Palmer, who is non-binary.
Over on Love Island, we saw a bi woman on the recent UK edition when Martha Rothwell entered Casa Amor and spoke about how her last relationship was with a woman (and the challenges of dating men). In the US, Season 8 star Amora Cacheé also just came out as bi on TikTok, after online rumors accused her of “infiltrating” the villa as a lesbian…
Maybe just give us our own bi dating reality TV show already?!
Congrats to Brooklyn Nine-Nine Star!
Actress Stephanie Beatriz — who is best known for her iconic role as bi character Detective Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine — has been nominated for Best Voice-Over Actor at the Imagen Awards for her performance as Vaggie in Season 2 of the animated musical comedy Hazbin Hotel.
She came out as bi on X in 2016, and when Vulture asked her when she first knew she was bi, she replied: “My mom took us to see this Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Houston Museum of Art when I was, like, 11. And all I did was stare at the boobs. There were boobs everywhere.” Been there.
Bi Comedy Duo on Screen
The Wrong Girls, coming out in US theaters on August 14 and starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat – both of whom identify as bi or queer — play two codependent BFF’s who get caught up in a messy case of mistaken identity. Let the chaos begin!
Bi Baddies Get a Makeover
Online video game giant Fortnite has released new swimwear “skins” (outfits that players can buy) for three bi characters: Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn (who’ve all been depicted as attracted to more than one gender in the DC universe).
They’re calling it “Hot Bat Summer” and, while we’re absolutely here for the bi representation, it’s another reminder of the way that bi women are often hyper-sexualized by the male gaze in pop culture.
It’s Friday, Friday…
Singer Rebecca Black — who is queer and has spoken about having relationships with men and women — recently appeared as a guest judge on the second episode of Canada’s Drag Race All Stars. Her upcoming second full-length album, Age of the Exhibitionist, is also out soon.
Possessed and We’re Obsessed
Thirteen Reasons Why star Inde Navarrette is the protagonist of this summer’s hit new horror movie, Obsession, where she plays Nikki, who becomes possessed after her colleague makes a wish on a supernatural toy.
The 25-year-old actress is also bi, and a 2020 interview with Seventeen has now resurfaced and gone viral.
“As a bisexual, I understand how easy it is to keep that to yourself, because it’s a very delicate subject,” she said. “With my family being exposed to it earlier on with my cousin coming out, it wasn’t that big of a deal. But I know for a fact that I have friends who are queer or lesbian or trans that are in ethnic communities where it’s a lot harder.”
Is Supergirl Bi?
Actor Milly Alcock caused chaos in the recent press tour of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, when she told the Associated Press that because her character Kara Zor-El — who is an alien from Planet Krypton — lives outside human binary norms, she’d “probably go both ways”. The film doesn’t explicitly explore romance (and the character has previously been depicted as straight), but we’re here for this rep of bi people being more open-minded and empowered to live outside of the box.
Not everyone agrees, however, as Fox News host Jess Watters demonstrated. In response to her comments, he said, “But the whole bisexual thing… guys don’t get into that. Maybe that’s cool when you’re 18, but when a girl’s bisexual, we don’t trust her… And the ones I’ve met are super weird. So to say you’re bisexual, it’s not a turn on.” When asked by his co-host whether bi women were actually trying to turn him off, Watters said: “I hadn’t considered that,” to laughter in the studio. Ha!
More Bi Hints in New Avatar Movie
The trailer for the new animated movie, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender (out now on Paramount+) broke the bi net by sparking rumors that one of its characters, Zuko the Fire Lord, is bi.
It shows Team Avatar discovering an Airbender (someone with the power to control air) trapped in ice, and after Toph calls him “pretty attractive”, Sokka asks: “What does attractive even mean?” Zuko replies: “He’s very attractive… What? He is. It’s all in the bone structure.” Although his sexuality isn’t explicitly labeled, casual representation like this can go a long way to normalize and destigmatize bisexuality, much like The Legend of Korra did back when it first aired.
Exploring Bisexuality and Faith
Layla Taylor, star of the Hulu reality TV series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, also came out as bi on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast. She said she’d known she had feelings for women since she was little, but didn’t know how to navigate them. “I kind of laugh about it now because I would be watching shows like Pretty Little Liars and I would watch, like, Shay Mitchell kissing a girl. I was like, ‘Wait, why is that hot?’!” She converted to Mormonism as a teenager but has since left the church and divorced her husband (with whom she shares two children) and is happily dating a woman.
That about wraps up this edition of Bi Pop Goss! From steamy screens to chart-topping bops and game-changing representation, bi people are absolutely owning the summer, and we love to see it.