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Netflix's 'Big Mouth' Under Fire for Clumsy Depiction of Bisexuality and Pansexuality

Ali Wong's character is being blasted for an incorrect definition of pansexuality
Netflix's 'Big Mouth' Under Fire for Clumsy Depiction of Bisexuality and Pansexuality
By Josiah Hughes
Published Oct 07, 2019
There's no denying that Netflix's Big Mouth is a massive hit. The show was recently renewed for multiple seasons, as well as had a spinoff commissioned. But while the series is often praised for its frank discussion of sexuality, the newly released Season 3 came with some questionable definitions of bisexuality and pansexuality.

In Season 3, Ali Wong plays a new student named Ali who is pansexual. When asked to explain what that means, she says, "Pansexual means I'm into boys, girls and everyone in between."

"I thought that was bisexual," Nick Kroll's character Nick says.

"No, bisexuality is so binary," Ali replies. "Being pansexual means my sexual preference isn't limited by gender identity… It's like, some of you borings like tacos, and some of you like burritos. And if you're bisexual, you like tacos and burritos. But I'm saying I like tacos and burritos, and I could be into a taco that was born a burrito, or a burrito that is transitioning into a taco, comprende? And honey, anything else on the fucking menu." 
 

The clip has been met with extreme criticism from the LGBTQ+ community online, with many calling it transphobic, biphobic and panphobic.

As GLAAD explains [via Advocate], "A common misconception about bi folks is that they seek to reinforce a rigid gender binary, but the reality is that many bi people have 'the potential to be attracted — romantically and/or sexually — to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree,' as advocate Robyn Ochs describes. The pan identity presents an additional opportunity to express attraction to multiple genders."

Read some responses to the misstep below.