The Bridonna Sandwich: Madonna and Britney Spears Kissing
In the early 1990s,
another wave of bisexual chic began[citation needed], again beginning in the
celebrity world. This time, however, women were at the forefront of the trend.
In Madonna's infamous music video for "Justify My Love," she passionately
kisses former Roxy Music model Amanda Cazalet (who is dressed as a man) and her
male lover. Madonna also later released her provocative book Sex, as well as
revealing her controversial "Erotica" music video that also featured
same-sex contact. Openly bisexual comedian and rumored lover of Madonna, Sandra
Bernhard, was featured as a bisexual on the popular television sitcom Roseanne
amidst the trend. To illustrate the trend, Roseanne later found herself kissed
by another woman and was "consoled" by Bernhard's character, bringing
bisexuality to Middle America. (See Also: Lesbian kiss episodes)
The controversial
1992 hit Basic Instinct featured a glamorous bisexual murderer played by Sharon
Stone. The fashion industry was the next promoter of bisexual chic, when Calvin
Klein and others began to generate homoerotic, lesbian chic, and otherwise sexually
ambiguous images as advertisements for their consumers.
Popular culture saw
a leaning towards the acceptance of gay rights, fueled by celebrities, take
effect during the 1990s. Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, Elton
John, Rupert Everett, and others who identified as homosexuals, became
enormously popular entertainers. Perhaps taking them as an example, bisexuals
or bi-curious people began to be unafraid to announce their orientation. There
was a sharp rise in coming out, both among homosexuals and bisexuals[citation
needed]. Soon, gays, lesbians and bisexuals were almost ubiquitous in the
media, especially actors and musicians (Brian Molko, e.g.) and Hollywood
officially had taken the closet door off. Even a star with a huge mainstream
following, Janet Jackson, recorded a cover version of Rod Stewart's
"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" in which she sings to a
woman with whom she is about to engage in a ménage à trois, saying, "This
is just between me... and you... and you...."
Bisexual chic in the
2000s and 2010s
In the 21st century,
films alluding to bisexuality (or manifestations thereof) such as Kissing
Jessica Stein, Y tu mamá también, Mulholland Drive, Alexander, Kinsey, and
Brokeback Mountain are being distributed and received well. In 2005, Alex Kelly
featured on The O.C., was a high-visibility bisexual character on U.S. network
television, forming relationships with two of the show's main characters.
In 2003, Britney
Spears staged a kiss with Madonna, who also kissed Christina Aguilera in the
same performance, on a 2003 MTV Video Music Awards performance that would
continue to fuel bisexual chic, and at the time many news and tabloid
outsources referred to it as "lesbian chic",[12][13] since it was
clear from her impending marriage to Kevin Federline that Spears was certainly
not a monosexual lesbian.
In 2006, actress and
model Carmen Electra (who appeared in glam rocker Joan Jett's music video,
A.C.D.C.), revealed that she had a childhood crush on Jett.[14]
In 2006, British
sci-fi series Torchwood aired, which features amongst its cast at least three
bisexual characters, with all of them described as bisexual by newspapers like
The Sun.[15] This has in turn led to more discussion of the nature of
bisexuality across interview programs in Britain, notably Friday Night with
Jonathan Ross and others.
The 2008 song
"I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry received Billboard Top 40 success,
having overtly bicurious tones.
In 2009, pop stars
Fergie, Lady Gaga, Mika (although not said directly: "I've never ever
labeled myself. But having said that; I've never limited my life, I've never
limited who I sleep with") and Duncan James came out as bisexual, as did
actress Megan Fox. In 2011, actress Evan Rachel Wood came out as bisexual. In
Lady Gaga's music video for "LoveGame", scenes of Gaga inside a booth
with a police officer featured alternating shots in which the officer switches
between a male and female actor.[16] Released in 2010, the controversial music
video for "Telephone" included scenes of Lady Gaga kissing a female
prisoner.[17]
According to surveys
by the CDC in the USA, a larger number of female college and high school
students in America are experimenting with other women than ever before and, in
a surprising twist, actually report being encouraged to do so by pop culture
for the first time. Whether or not this change in popular culture is
longstanding or, indeed, a simple trend, remains to be seen. -Wikipedia
