Final Project

Dr. Erica Hahn was the last of the lesbians in primetime series on broadcast television, and she walked out of Seattle Grace Hospital and “Grey’s Anatomy” on Nov. 9. And maybe not ironically, she had only been “out” since the previous episode a week before. With her exit, homophobic viewers were saved from having to confront the fact that lesbians really do exist, and young women struggling to accept their sexualities are left with only three bisexual females with whom to identify; three females who spend more time with men than women. The gay community has inarguably made a lot of progress in recent years, but the lack of visibility of lesbian and bisexual women on broadcast television and the mistreatment of these characters is holding back further advancements.

While the number of homosexual characters followed a decreasing trend in recent years, the number of women in that group remained constant in the less-than-three range. The most to have ever been on broadcast networks in lead or supporting roles is seven, and not only was that in the 1997-98 season, but “show and tell” for those women was almost exclusively restricted to “tell”; their sexualities were mere labels, formalities to make the shows seem diverse, or risky.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was the first real major breakthrough for female sexuality on television. In 1999, Alyson Hannigan’s character Willow began a hesitant relationship with Tara, played by Amber Benson, at the beginning of the fourth season. The couple was on-again, off-again for two and a half years, though they technically spent more time off than on. Although the pairing remained extremely chaste due to restrictions imposed by the WB, the inability to throw the characters into bed together forced the writers to develop other aspects of the relationship, thus allowing viewers the chance to see and identify with the progression of a true lesbian relationship for the first time. The show moved to UPN in the sixth season to allow for more physical interaction between the couple, who subsequently got back together and had the first television scene that portrayed two women in bed together post-sex, only to have Tara die at the end of the episode. In the seventh – and last – season, the show went even further and depicted an actual sex scene between Willow and new love interest Kennedy, another television first.

Since “Buffy” ended in 2003, however, no other show has taken up where they left off. If anything, these shows are effectively erasing any progress that was made. Four not-so-heterosexual women began the 2008-09 broadcast television season, and three remain.

On “House,” actress Olivia Wilde plays Thirteen, a bisexual only by name until this season. Following her Huntington’s disease diagnosis, Thirteen began engaging in some wild behavior this season – heavy partying, drugs…and one-night stands with women. Executive producer of the Fox show stated that “When you don’t know how many years you have left to live, you might exhibit some reckless, risk-taking behavior …Thirteen’s sexual involvement with this woman is not really about this other woman. It’s about Thirteen’s reckless behavior.” The character’s destructive, “reckless” behavior coincides directly with days when she feels particularly upset about her diagnosis, and her flirtations with men occur only at moments when she’s feeling better. By attaching the word “reckless” to Thirteen’s involvement with women, the show’s producers are negatively creating an association between same-sex relationships and irresponsible behavior.

While Angela and Roxy current relationship on “Bones” isn’t associated with self-destruction, its future is less-than-promising. Hart Hanson, creator of the Fox series, recently called Roxy “a bump in the road” for Angela because “Hodgkins is her guy.” Again, Angela’s bisexuality on the show was previously a label, until Roxy, a former girlfriend, showed up in November to stir up an old flame. Though the relationship appears promising, Hanson says that Angela is meant to be with former love interest Hodgkins; they just “have some obstacles to overcome.” Roxy is apparently one of those obstacles. “Bones” is contributing to this season’s message that female same-sex relationships don’t last, by making a relationship something that has to be overcome.

But broadcast networks really struck out this season with the portrayal of Drs. Erica Hahn and Callie Torres on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” The pair became fast friends last season after Hahn signed a contract with the hospital, but when their increasingly close friendship was misinterpreted as something more by a friend it became apparent that there was something there, and that both were freaked out about it. Callie briefly slept with co-worker Mark Sloan at every opportunity in a less-than-impressive effort to prove her heterosexuality, but Sloan eventually pushed her in the right direction and Callie and Erica culminated the season with a steamy kiss outside the hospital. This season started out promising, with some nervous but cute moments between the couple, but warning bells sounded in the fifth episode when Callie asked Mark to show her (on her) how to pleasure a woman orally, as if a Google search engine is a foreign concept to her. In the following episode, Callie and Erica begin the episode in bed together, adorned in frumpy nightgowns post-sex, but Callie freaks out when Erica announces that she’s realized she’s gay, and leaves the apartment, only to be seen in bed with Mark twice throughout the day. Though Callie goes to Erica’s office later that day and they agree to be together, it doesn’t matter, because in the next episode Erica abruptly gets mad at the hospital, picks a silly fight with Callie, and walks off into the parking lot for the last time.

Broadcast networks aren’t allowing heterosexual viewers to become comfortable with female homosexuality because they portray it as fleeting and improbable, as long as men are around anyway. Television is used as an introduction of many concepts for the American public, and with this kind of introduction, lesbian and bisexual women are destined to be misunderstood and joked about. Erica told Callie before she left that Callie can’t be “kind of a lesbian,” but really, one can’t be a lesbian at all; on broadcast television, they don’t exist.