Late last year, Wonder Woman was confirmed to be bisexual by Wonder Woman comic writer Greg Rucka. In an interview with Comicosity, he stated that yes, Diana “has been in love and had relationships with other women,” and she also has romantic interactions with Steve Trevor.
When the news broke that Diana was finally confirmed to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, comic lovers everywhere were elated with the news — LGBTQ+ characters are not represented as often as we would like, especially not in comic books. This news meant a lot especially to bisexual people, as bisexual people are quite underrepresented in popular culture.
For this reason, many of us were looking forward to seeing Gal Gadot’s portrayal of Diana in the new Wonder Woman film, which released in theaters on June 2. June is also notoriously known as pride month, and what better way to celebrate than to watch a major motion picture about a bisexual woman superhero? However, we were met with disappointment in that this Diana is not portrayed to be bisexual — her sexuality and relationships with other women are, in fact, not mentioned at all, and the only romantic interest she is shown having is with Steve Trevor.
Obviously, her being with a man does not invalidate her identity as bisexual, but the fact that even the slightest possibility of her ever having had a canonical romantic and/or sexual relationship with another woman is never even mentioned does lead viewers to believe that Diana is straight in this portrayal.
The writers of the film specifically chose to not mention anything about her sexuality being something other than straight, though there is a scene in the film between Diana and Steve where Diana says that “men are necessary for procreation but when it comes to pleasure, unnecessary.” While surely a humorous moment in the film, this is a far cry from the bisexual representation we need and deserve. Her identity as a bisexual woman being erased, especially during the month of pride, is just another sign that many people do not consider bisexual people to be valid and continue to erase their identity.
According to GLAAD’s ‘Where We Are on TV Report’ from 2016, bisexual representation “rose to 30%, up by ten percentage points from last year. Bisexual representations also rose on streaming series, from 20% to 26%. However, cable series have dropped in bisexual representations from 35% to 32%” and many bisexual people were still portrayed as stereotypes. It is important for bisexual people, especially younger ones, to see themselves represented on television and in movies because it makes them feel more like they are normal, and representation also helps to educate other people on things they might not understand. Let’s hope that in future Wonder Woman movies Diana’s sexuality will be explored and further confirmed in the movies to be what she is: bisexual.
