Today is Celebrate Bisexuality+ Day, a day to acknowledge the challenges to and resiliency of the bi+ community––including people who identify as pansexual, queer, fluid, and more. More than half of the lesbian, gay, and bi+ population is made up of individuals who identify on the bi+ spectrum, yet our representation is seriously lacking. Across all popular media, potentially bisexual characters are often reduced to stereotypes, such as their sexual orientation being considered a phase, or as their being oversexualized, or as their being hungry for attention, or as their simply not liking labels. Preferring not to put a label on one’s sexual orientation is completely valid, but can we please have a character actually say the word “bisexual” every now and then? Our representation is getting better, but we still have a long way to go.
In honor of Celebrate Bisexuality+ Day, here are five of my favorite books featuring proudly bisexual main characters (plus four honorable mentions).
Bonus Video: If you like Jackson’s reading recommendations, don’t miss this video on pronouns (and how to use them correctly) in honor of his new book, Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place.
This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.