ABSTRACT
Despite the vulnerabilities associated with being bisexual—including disproportionate victimization to violent crime—contemporary television, film, and documentary representations construct bisexuality as a dangerous and potential contributing factor to crime. These popular representations of bisexuality in true crime emphasize and echo decades-old media portrayals of sexual deviance that instrumentalize sexuality as a tool for assigning criminal status. Stoked by fears of HIV transmission to heterosexuals and crystallized in late 20th-century bisexual murder films, Basic Instinct and Blue Velvet, tropes linking bisexuality to death have reappeared in the rerelease of the murder account The Staircase on streaming media services. In addition to problematizing greater visibility as a measure of LGBTQ+ progress, bisexual representation presents opportunities for educators to promote critical consumption of true crime and uncover the multifaceted nature of bisexuality's role in the media and criminal justice systems.
