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Prof. Marilyn Brock

English 102
5 October 2016
Evaluating the article “It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV”
In her article, “It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV”, Amy Zimmerman has tried to

show that the problem of bisexuality remains ambiguous - there is still little understanding of

the concept’s nature, even though the term is familiar to modern society. As a result, mass

media, likewise, experiences difficulties in offering a multi-sided and convincing portrayal of

a bisexual character. The author has showed a good understanding of the subject providing

numerous relevant examples and ensuring a logical flow of ideas. Apart from being highly

informative, the article also implies a strong appeal to the public, and it is essential to admit

that its argumentative basis is consistent enough to make society reflect upon the problem

under discussion.
Indeed, Zimmerman has provided a strong argument set to convince the readers of the

fact that bisexuality is poorly represented in modern television. In the meantime, it should be

pointed out that the text is slightly overloaded with repetitions. Thus, one and the same idea

appears in several passages in a rephrased manner. On the whole, the presented arguments

are considered to be of merit as they feature logically structured ideas about the poor

elucidation of bisexual personalities on television and are evidenced by the relevant real-life

examples. Consequently, the evaluated article has met the major part of the criteria set for its

assessment.
The stated judgment has been carried out upon the application of several evaluation

criteria to the text analysis. Hence, the key criteria that have determined the final judgment

are text coherence and a clearly formulated thesis. Some experts also point out the

importance of good evidence that is related to the core thesis of the paper and supports the

ideas’ persuasiveness; this criterion was, similarly, included in the list (Newell, Bloome and

Hirvela, 190). Lastly, the article was evaluated in the context of its novelty value. Otherwise

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stated, it was considered that a good article should offer a fresh view on the subject that has

not been repeated and rephrased by other journalists.

The first reason why the article was evaluated positively is the innovative view that it

provides to the problem of bisexuality and its representation on TV. It would be unfair to

claim that this problem has never been elucidated in the media before. As follows, a month

later, after Zimmerman’s appeal was published, a similar article appeared in The Guardian.

However, the text did not exhibit a profundity of thought or a multi-sided approach to the

problem. Instead, it simply enumerated all the bisexual characters that could be seen on

television and drew a conclusion that the representation of the social group was improper

(Duffy par. 6). Zimmerman has used another approach to the problem analysis. Therefore, her

key aim resided in pointing out the irrelevance of the bisexuals' representation rather than the

lack of it. In other words, she strove to illustrate that in spite of the fact that the producers

have made attempts to depict bisexual characters, their poor knowledge of this community

prevented them from generating and depicting heroes and results in translating ungrounded

stereotypes and images to the audience (Zimmerman par. 8).

The novelty of Zimmerman’s idea is in the fact that the author shows the reasons and

roots of the phenomenon that she discusses. In other words, the distinguishing trait of this

article is its profound examination of the problem drivers and a complex vision of the

associated outcomes. From this perspective, the writer is a true innovator as she offers a

detailed review of bisexuals and their role in modern television.

Another reason why the articles’ argumentation is considered to be strong is a

consistent evidence base that the author provides. Thus, every argument is supported by the

real-life example, and most importantly, the examples are described in details. Therefore, for

instance, while speculating on the role of bisexuals on television and the extent of their

representation, Zimmerman was not just points out the films and shows that portray this

social group, but analyzed the way that they did it. This quality approach, opposite to the

quantitative method, helped the audience to acquire a better understanding of the problem.

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Additionally, the abundance of the relevant examples signifies the author’s complex approach

to the problem investigation. It is evident that the article’s composition was preceded by a

long process of data collection and analysis. Therefore, it is not the evidence itself that makes

the article particularly convincing, but its quality – the way the evidence is described and

divided into relevant implications.

Moreover, the provided evidence bases were very diverse. Otherwise stated, the media

sector was not the only source of Zimmerman’s examples. The author referred to life-based

stories and common prejudices to translate her message. The extent of evidence description

was, likewise, different throughout the text. Therefore, some examples were analyzed in

detail to help the readers to review the mechanism of television’s distorting the image of

bisexuals. For instance, the character of Frank Underwood from the “House of Cards” series,

as well as that of Oberyn Martell from the popular “Game of Thrones,” were elucidated

especially explicitly as they composed the major support for the advanced thesis. Other

examples, in their turn, were presented in the form of short references to clarify the argument.
The logical structure is another benefit that explains the positive evaluation of the

article. Thus, it has a multi-level structure that lets the ideas develop gradually and linearly.

Therefore, the author began by pointing out the insufficient representation of bisexuals on

television. Then, she continued to narrow down the point to the insufficient representation of

bisexual men. As long as all the relevant evidences were provided, the author passed to

another stage –she illustrated that the bisexuals’ portraying is not only insufficient but also

perverted. We can see the flow of ideas follows a particular pattern instead of random

enumeration of the associated examples. Further on, Zimmerman showed how the incomplete

and falsified images of a social group might have a negative impact on the society developing

the feelings of resistance and intolerance in the latter. The last lines of the article focus on the

social responsibility of the media that it does not fulfill. This brief description of the article

logic pattern shows the author’s skillful text structuring.

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A coherent structure is particularly important, as Zimmerman’s article is rather long so

that there is always a risk of straying from the core subject and losing the train of thought.

Meanwhile, the author managed to speak straight to the point, regardless of the subject’s

complex nature. Consequently, the readers’ vision of the problem keeps forming as they pass

from paragraph to paragraph, and this process is not finished until the very last paragraph.
On the other hand, the stated judgment might be argued, as there is currently no

consensus regarding the discussed problem in the society. Thus, for example, a year before

the article appeared, The Atlantic gave its vision of the problem of the bisexuals' presence on

television. The focus of the article was similar to that translated by Zimmerman; meanwhile,

it only emphasized the positive view on the problem. Therefore, the author mainly pointed

out the growing frequency of bisexuals’ appearance on television that, according to her,

signified the positive social change (Quinlan par. 16).

This point of view can be argued by comparing the value of qualitative and

quantitative portrayals of bisexuals on television. Hence, “It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on

TV" has illustrated this difference by providing numerous examples of producers’ exploiting

the image of a bisexual in such a manner that it translates a totally wrongful vision of this

person to the society making it adopt the ungrounded prejudices about bisexuals. Another

reason why this point of view cannot be accepted is that it neglects the key aim of ensuring an

equal representation of all social groups on television. It is proposed that the key target is to

get the people acquainted with the diversities present in the modern world and develop their

tolerance towards them. Thus, “It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV" evidences the

importance of television’s reflecting the reality as it is, rather than narrowing it down to a set

of common stereotypes.
In conclusion, Zimmerman’s article is a rational and convincing work that has a

strong social implication. The text is valuable not only from the stylistic standpoint, but from

the message it translates to the public. As a result, “It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV" can

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be evaluated positively, as it meets all the essential criteria such as strong thesis, ideas'

coherence, and relevant evidence.

Works Cited
Duffy, Owen. "Popular Culture Is Still Afraid of Bisexuality | Owen Duffy." The Guardian.

Guardian News and Media, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 04 Oct. 2016.

George Newell, David Bloome, and Alan Hirvela. Teaching and Learning Argumentative

Writing in High School English Language Arts Classrooms, London: Routledge,

2015. Print.
Quinlan, Casey. "Bisexuality on TV: It's Getting Better25." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media

Company, 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Oct. 2016.

Zimmerman, Amy. “It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV.” Everything’s an argument with

reading 7th edition. Andrea A. Lunsford, John J. Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2015. 561-566.

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