The third season of Netflix's animated puberty comedy Big Mouth recently dropped online and one particular scene has fans up in arms.
In the scene, a new student arrives in the main character's classroom and introduces herself as Ali.
She introduces herself as pansexual, and says "being pansexual means my sexual preference isn't limited by gender identity." She also adds that "bisexuality is so binary."
Following a question from one of the main characters about the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality, she later elaborates:
"Some of you 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… And honey, anything else on the f*****g menu."
People online quickly lashed out against the scene, which implied the false sentiment that bisexual people can't be attracted to transgender or non-binary people.
Others, meanwhile, felt that Big Mouth, a comedy with often fallible characters, shouldn't be taken so seriously.
At the end of the day, however, it's all about context and the setup of the scene made it seem like facts were being presented.
Mass media can make an impact on how people understand the world.
Others had different critiques of the scene in question.
Big Mouth, which prides itself on its careful depictions of sexuality, seems to have misfired in a major way with this loaded topic.
Big Mouth's first response to the criticisms was a short, understated tweet.
But then creator Andrew Goldberg responded with a mea culpa.
As a refresher, members of the LGBTQ community most often say that the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality is that people who identify as bisexual can be attracted to people of their own gender as well as one or more others (though not necessarily all genders), while pansexual people can be attracted to all people without regard to gender identity.
But really, pansexual people should just define their own identity without labeling or trying to define others.
Same goes for everyone. Let each person define their sexuality themselves, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or otherwise.
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Have you listened to the first season of George Takei's podcast, 'Oh Myyy Pod!'?
In season one we explored the racially charged videos that have taken the internet by storm.
We're hard at work on season two so be sure to subscribe here so you don't miss it when it goes live.
Here's one of our favorite episodes from season one. Enjoy!
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