2014/01/01 by B.J. Epstein · 1 citation
Psychology · Arts and Humanities · Medicine · #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Themes in Literature Analysis #Reproductive Health and Technologies #Human sexuality #Lesbian #Queer #Transgender #Set (abstract data type) #Homosexuality #Gender studies #Psychology #Sociology #Computer science
paper · doi:10.1080/15299716.2014.872483
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
As it becomes more accepted and indeed even desirable to discuss different types of sexuality and different kinds of family set-ups with children, it is vital to analyze how children's books and young adult novels portray these topics. In particular, it is worth looking at how bisexuality is depicted in literature for younger readers. These texts may be read to or by children in primary and secondary schools, and they may even be read by students in tertiary education. In this article, the author briefly discusses the history of children's literature with regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer characters (LGBT), and then explores bisexuality in more depth. The analysis suggests that bisexuality is not much recognized or accepted, and if literature is relied on in educational settings as a way of teaching young people about a given topic, then children are not learning about bisexuality. If bisexuality is mentioned, it tends to be portrayed as less of an option than other types of sexuality. In short, bisexuality is either invisible or negatively portrayed in books for younger readers.