You know, I thought I'd end up having to sit this one out, and then I looked at my bookshelves. Hello, books I completely forgot about, how are you?
The series that is sticking out in my mind right now is the Hollows by Kim Harrison. The (arguably) most important minor character/best friend Ivy is canonically bisexual, and there's a pretty open subplot about main character Rachel dealing with this and her possibly attraction to Ivy. Rachel has spent the last three books (I think) basically either running from or dealing with this. What is bugging me most is that Ivy is a sort of vampire, and Rachel is especially susceptible to certain vampire powers to the point where she could become addicted. It gets even more uncomfortable when Ivy's Deep Dark Angsty Past (can't have a happy bisexual, of course not) reveals that she can't separate love (which means sex) and blood, and she loves Rachel. The few times Rachel gives her blood, there's angsty "no no no yes no" scenes that barely don't go into sex. So, in other words, Ivy's sexuality is intimately tied up in addicting Rachel (presented as straight, currently very confused) to her, when Rachel's attraction could just be to the vampire pheromones.
I didn't realize exactly how much that's skeeving me out until now. The only way Rachel's ever going to be able to decide for herself is if Ivy stops being a vampire. Which is... actually part of Ivy's character movement. The series is still running, so there's a chance it could end up somewhere that's not horrid, but the power dynamics (Ivy = predatory bisexual confusing love & sex/blood, Rachel = confused/straight girl trying to hold out) don't leave me much hope.
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The series that is sticking out in my mind right now is the Hollows by Kim Harrison. The (arguably) most important minor character/best friend Ivy is canonically bisexual, and there's a pretty open subplot about main character Rachel dealing with this and her possibly attraction to Ivy. Rachel has spent the last three books (I think) basically either running from or dealing with this. What is bugging me most is that Ivy is a sort of vampire, and Rachel is especially susceptible to certain vampire powers to the point where she could become addicted. It gets even more uncomfortable when Ivy's Deep Dark Angsty Past (can't have a happy bisexual, of course not) reveals that she can't separate love (which means sex) and blood, and she loves Rachel. The few times Rachel gives her blood, there's angsty "no no no yes no" scenes that barely don't go into sex. So, in other words, Ivy's sexuality is intimately tied up in addicting Rachel (presented as straight, currently very confused) to her, when Rachel's attraction could just be to the vampire pheromones.
I didn't realize exactly how much that's skeeving me out until now. The only way Rachel's ever going to be able to decide for herself is if Ivy stops being a vampire. Which is... actually part of Ivy's character movement. The series is still running, so there's a chance it could end up somewhere that's not horrid, but the power dynamics (Ivy = predatory bisexual confusing love & sex/blood, Rachel = confused/straight girl trying to hold out) don't leave me much hope.