I'm a bi nonnie who is alert for possible bi female characters, and even I think that going "If you don't ship her in my fave canon het ship, you're biphobic" is bullshit. Do they say that people who *only* ship that het pairing without shipping any f/f for the female character in question are also biphobic? I highly doubt it.
And like. I want lots of bi women dating women in my fiction, because I'm a bi woman who primarily dates women. If "bisexual woman" in fiction came to mean "has dated a boy or two, I guess, but let's talk about all the women she's loved and her epic f/f endgame romance that we spend 8472 episodes on!" all the time, I would not complain. I want bi characters who get a LOT of f/f plot and are still bi. I want stuff where she could be attracted to the male hero and just doesn't end up with him, because hot girl. Or whatever.
So I find a lot of the "but consider: she could be bi!" stuff offputting because I'm nodding along like "Yes! Consider that this woman in my femslash ship could be bi!" and then instead of "So let's talk about how shippy she and her girlfriend are" it takes and detour into "So let's talk about how your headcanon doesn't include enough het and you should make her bang boys for great justice." Ughhh.
Like, I'm okay with reading a number of those ambiguously-bi-or-lesbian characters as bi, it's just that I still want the focus to be on the f/f.
And the idea that the only way to truly value a woman and show how feminist you are is to ship her with a dude is... .... ...really fucking stupid, and also homophobic.
Re: wank containment area
And like. I want lots of bi women dating women in my fiction, because I'm a bi woman who primarily dates women. If "bisexual woman" in fiction came to mean "has dated a boy or two, I guess, but let's talk about all the women she's loved and her epic f/f endgame romance that we spend 8472 episodes on!" all the time, I would not complain. I want bi characters who get a LOT of f/f plot and are still bi. I want stuff where she could be attracted to the male hero and just doesn't end up with him, because hot girl. Or whatever.
So I find a lot of the "but consider: she could be bi!" stuff offputting because I'm nodding along like "Yes! Consider that this woman in my femslash ship could be bi!" and then instead of "So let's talk about how shippy she and her girlfriend are" it takes and detour into "So let's talk about how your headcanon doesn't include enough het and you should make her bang boys for great justice." Ughhh.
Like, I'm okay with reading a number of those ambiguously-bi-or-lesbian characters as bi, it's just that I still want the focus to be on the f/f.
And the idea that the only way to truly value a woman and show how feminist you are is to ship her with a dude is... .... ...really fucking stupid, and also homophobic.