hi hi hi ! i also was weirded out by how larry was like "o maybe piper is bisexual," and it was left at that. but at the same time, maybe it's showing that sexuality is fluid? it isn't just one thing? it isn't something that has to be validated? i have a friend who bounces from straight to bi to lesbian fairly often. people give her shit for it, but she simply is like, "it is what it is. it's fluid." maybe that's piper's case?
I totally get the fluid sexuality theory; someone else even reblogged my post and mentioned when Piper’s brother said not to label her and just let her be who she wants to be. My problem is that not one character has tried to see her as someone whose sexuality wasn’t binary—gay/straight. Larry did for a split second, followed by an unsure “maybe,” and Cal got close when he said not to label her. I suppose I understand why Piper might not be willing to label herself; she may not be wholly comfortable with the word “bisexual” and its connotations—I wasn’t for awhile—or may still be uncomfortable referring to herself as anything other than “straight” after so many years in the closet.
I would accept Piper having a fluid sexuality because I do believe in the concept and completely support those who don’t wish to identify with one definite sexuality. I think the problem, however, lies in the fact that in a show so willing to break the mold and ~~go where other shows refuse to go~~, they don’t have a bisexual character. Every character who’s had sex with a man and had sex with a woman is never addressed as bisexual. I get that many—for instance, Morello—likely have no real attraction toward women and are sleeping with women solely because they can’t sleep with men while incarcerated; however, I’m sure there has to be an interesting bisexual person at Litchfield. There are a lot of (especially in comparison to other shows currently on the air) lesbian characters and POC and a character whose transgender identity was handled far better than I ever expected. Yet bi-erasure still exists on the show. I suppose it all goes back to the how uncomfortable people are with bisexuality, how people feel threatened by it or think it’s some sort of magical myth like a unicorn.
I, personally, feel that their portrayal of Piper thus far hints toward bisexuality—something I’ve seen a lot of other viewers hypothesize as well—and it bothers me that not a single character has said she’s bisexual. I’m totally cool with her not having a label if that’s the route they choose to go, though, as long as they make that clear. I just find it ridiculous that with so many LGBT characters on the show, not one of them has said the word “bisexual” yet. Maybe I’m thinking about it in this way because it’s always nice to have more bisexual characters on television who aren’t just sleazy cheaters or nymphomaniacs, but I really do hope the word is at least uttered in certainty at some point in the show, instead of it being some mystical thing that ~maybe relates to Piper.