Catwoman's Bisexuality Confirmed by Genevieve Valentine

[Rakzo]

And I thought mine was a joke as well. A joke can be in humor and have a point too.

Eh, that didn't really seem that funny.

I know, but for some reason it often comes across as male fantasy in comics...
And why so many girls on Tumblr pushing gay/bi women these days?
(Also, not a huge fan of Korrasami thing, seemed to come out of nowhere with no build up)

I don't know, but there are a lot. I would say that more women use Tumblr than guys.

About the whole shipping thing, it has always been mostly a girl's thing (Guys usually go for the more, you know, "direct" stuff).

Tell them that.

I'm on it.

Why Jason? Out of those guys I'd have picked Tim (with Connor/Superboy) or Damian to be bi.

Mostly because Judd Winick made the groundwork for Jason to be Bi.

Damian? Maybe.

Depends which version of Ollie.

I would have never seen the old Ollie as Bi, he always was straight as a, er, arrow.

New 52 Ollie though, there's potential.

[andersonh1]

So now all female batman rogues are bisexual.
Harley quinn
Poison ivy
Catwoman
Talia al ghul

Yeah, it's become more than a bit silly and improbable.

[Pinsir]

if you are a woman in comics, the default position is that you are bisexual.

[Rakzo]

if you are a woman in comics, the default position is that you are bisexual.

Batwoman resents that remark.

[Pinsir]

I know, but for some reason it often comes across as male fantasy in comics...
And why so many girls on Tumblr pushing gay/bi women these days?
(Also, not a huge fan of Korrasami thing, seemed to come out of nowhere with no build up)

In the future there will be no such thing as sexuality or gender. We will merge into one gender, race, and culture.

Embrace the future!

[Pinsir]

Batwoman resents that remark.

Its the default position, not the only one. Unless otherwise stated, like for Batwoman, just assume a female in comics is bi. Also assume if a character says they are straight they are lying, they are actually bi.

[The Kid]

Honestly I wouldn't even be upset if they even made Batman bisexual. Let's be real, there's some pretty gay Batman silver age stories. It'd just be confirming them as fact

[M L A]

Ok but when are Dick or Jason gonna be bi

pls I want to be pandered to

[Vinsanity]

So Catwoman is bi? Ok, I don't get the difference but eh not like I know much about Catwoman anyway. Cool I guess if I read Catwoman.

[Vakanai]

Eh, that didn't really seem that funny.

Didn't say I was good at jokes.^^;

About the whole shipping thing, it has always been mostly a girl's thing (Guys usually go for the more, you know, "direct" stuff).

Really? I ship characters all the time...

Mostly because Judd Winick made the groundwork for Jason to be Bi.

How/which books?

In the future there will be no such thing as sexuality or gender. We will merge into one gender, race, and culture.

Embrace the future!

Pretty sure people will still be all kinds of different...

[Rakzo]

Really? I ship characters all the time...

I do too but I kinda said most guys.

How/which books?

All of the books written by him. He always played with the idea of Jason being unsure of his own identity, Winick also loves Gay people and he's constantly pushing for them in media and in an interview he revealed that he had plans for making Jason Bi but DC didn't allow it at the time.

These days the story might be different.

[toastedbread]

if you are a woman in comics, the default position is that you are bisexual.

Seriously? Then where are all these bisexual women?

I mean, yeah, sure, there is totally an issue in the media where it's more accepted for women to have fluid sexuality because it's seen as provocative and sexy. That is absolutely why Harley and Ivy can be written in ways that approach queerbaiting while Batman, one of the most homoerotic characters in pop culture, has writers trying to work out how to reassure the audience he isn't about to kiss a dude rather than teasing them that oh, wait, he might. (Or perhaps Wonder Woman is a better comparison there, she also has carefully controlled homosexual subtext, but it's teased more than Batman's ever has or will be. You don't see Batman in Justice League 3000 announcing he's had many lovers, both men and women.)

People on this thread (not you specifically - your comment is very short so I'm not sure of your opinions on this) are concerned that this is just being done for exploitative reasons. That it's getting ridiculous and oh my god everyone's bisexual now. But the exploitation and the commodification of female sexuality is far more prevalent in the false examples cited.

Harley and Ivy haven't ever been officially confirmed as in a relationship, no matter what Bruce Timm might say about his intentions in a 90s kids' cartoon that was censored. The closest we get is probably Gotham City Sirens which heavily implies that Ivy is in love with Harley, but it's unrequited. Still, even that is somewhat unspoken. Whether they're just really good friends or something more is always left deliberately vague. We talk about Harley and Ivy as if it's just a given that they are queer, but it's actually just...widely accepted fanon.

The Amazons have been canonically queer for a long time, but Wonder Woman herself still skirts the boundaries of firmly declaring that she is attracted to anything other than strapping men. It's implied, but it's never outright acknowledged.

Barbara Gordon and Dinah Lance, too - parts of Birds or Prey are very deliberately written to acknowledge the sexual tension between them, but it never actually develops into anything.

So if we're talking about DC's problem (well, comics' problem and also, media's problem, but I'm more familiar with DC) where they are comfortable teasing us with homoerotic content between women but refuse to do so when it comes to men, then I absolutely agree. But I think part of that exploitative problem is the fact that they're not willing to actually and honestly label what it is they're doing.

I honestly don't think that's respectful, and I think Valentine's comments make it clear that part of her reason for doing this is to counter the "implied but never acknowledged," aspects of these storylines by actually acknowledging them. This is what's going on. She is bisexual.

In being clear about it, it not only provides actual representation rather than representation via coded hints and maybes that can be denied when it's convenient, it also returns agency to the character. "Oh goodness, what a convenient excuse for Harley to kiss Ivy!" can't really be about what Harley wants, so it's painfully obvious it's about giving the reader something they want to see instead. If Harley just honestly wanted to kiss Ivy that'd be a lot less salacious and a lot less disrespectful to Harley's character and agency because we wouldn't be painfully aware of the fourth wall being broken so the writers can yell, "DO YOU FIND THIS HOT? DO YOU?"

Anyway.

What other major DC characters are bisexual, anyway? Like, I mean, actually legit in canon identified as being attracted to men and women, not just "oh come on, you totally know it's true!" teasing.

Cus seriously, I've got Catman (is he a major character?) and Constantine and I've stalled. I'm sure I'm missing some...

(Oh, and eta regarding the earlier discussions about Korra and Asami on The Legend of Korra - people talk about how that was written in reaction to fan response, but animation lead times make that impossible. The final episode of the fourth season was scripted six months before the third season even started airing and it was only in the third season that "Korrasami" became a popular fandom thing. Mainly because that was when the writers started having them actually interact with each other. Which is, in itself, proof that the writers succeeded in building it up with at least portions of the fandom. Regardless, if it doesn't work for you, that's cool and this isn't the place to get into it anyway? But production schedules offer some fairly sound proof that the ending was the legit intention of the creators.)

[FanboyStranger]

Wait she wasn't bisexual before? Hm, I didn't know that they had never confirmed it

Yeah. It was just something I had assumed. (Much like John Constantine, although there's evidence in Hellblazer.)

[Rakzo]

Pinsir is joking guys, he usually is.

[Stormcrow]

I do too but I kinda said most guys.

All of the books written by him. He always played with the idea of Jason being unsure of his own identity, Winick also loves Gay people and he's constantly pushing for them in media and in an interview he revealed that he had plans for making Jason Bi but DC didn't allow it at the time.

These days the story might be different.

I wish Winick would've been given the chance to develop Jason further in The New 52 instead of Lobdell, if Red Hood and the Outlaws is any indication I'm pretty sure he will never go there with him. And while it would have been pretty cool to see a male bisexual character for a change, Jason would fall under the ani-hero label that a lot of super hero comics queer character fall under, including DC's own Catwoman, Catman and Midnighter while at Marvel there's Loki, Mystique and Daken filling that position.

I would love to see a gay or bi character in a more heroic light, but I'm glad Catwoman is at least getting confirmation at long last.