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Bisexual Women Are Alien to "Torchwood""Day One" set a poor precedent for lesbian content on Torchwood, but the writers dabbled in lesbian sexuality one more time in the show's seventh episode, "Greeks Bearing Gifts," which aired Nov. 26, 2006. At the center of the episode is Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori), Torchwood's computer expert. She has a crush on co-worker Dr. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), but suspects that he and Gwen are having a secret affair. Feeling upset, Toshiko meets a woman named Mary (Daniela Denby-Ashe) at a local pub, and the two quickly become friends. Mary finds out all about Torchwood and gives Toshiko an alien necklace that gives her telepathic powers. The pendant allows Toshiko to hear Gwen and Owen's thoughts about their affair; that discovery leads Toshiko back to Mary, who is thinking about having sex with her. After some hesitation, Toshiko kisses Mary and the two wind up in bed together, beginning a brief but intense relationship. As Mary becomes more ensconced in Toshiko's life, she begins to push her away from her affiliation with Torchwood. Torn between her new lover and — as she sees it — her backstabbing co-workers, Toshiko no longer knows where her loyalties lie. Eventually, Mary uses Toshiko to get into the Torchwood Institute where Captain Jack confronts her. He reveals that she is not the poor exile she claims to be but rather is a 19th-century prostitute who was overcome by an alien and has been feeding on people for the past 200 years. Mary quickly turns on Toshiko and holds her hostage, but quick-thinking Captain Jack uses a transporter device to send Mary into the center of the sun and certain alien death. "Greeks Bearing Gifts" is not as obviously negative as "Day One," but still has plenty of faults. Toshiko, despite her crush on Owen, is bisexual, so her relationship with Mary is not out of character. Unfortunately, even though many of the characters are described as bisexual by the show's producers, even bisexual behavior does not automatically connote a positive portrayal of queer female sexuality. In both episodes, lesbian sexuality is used as a manipulative tool. In "Greeks Bearing Gifts," in particular, Mary uses her intimate relationship with Toshiko in order to win her trust and distance Toshiko from the rest of the Torchwood team. It is likely that Mary's thoughts about wanting to sleep with Toshiko were not genuine but were instead a ploy because she knew Toshiko would be reading her mind. Both lesbian-themed episodes also use queer sexuality as a throwaway tactic. In "Day One," Gwen's attraction to another woman is quickly explained away by alien pheromones, and although that is a decidedly new take on an old stereotype, it is no more positive. Gwen has since had several relationships in the show, all with men, and has never again mentioned her lesbian encounter. Similarly, Toshiko — although she is openly bisexual — still lusts after Owen following her encounter with Mary, and her character has not seemed to have an interest in women since. However, content on the Torchwood website suggests that this is the fault of the show's writing and editing more so than Toshiko's character, who under different circumstances would seem to be open to dating women. Nonetheless, if her bisexuality is still there, we don't get to see it. It is not altogether surprising for any mainstream show to have minimal lesbian content — save the occasional intoxicated kiss — but it is surprising on a show like Torchwood. Sexual tension between the male characters, particularly Captain Jack and Ianto, is standard fare, whereas the women have very few sexual interactions that aren't quickly explained away by alien circumstances. In a lot of ways, Torchwood, though not an explicitly gay show, is falling into the Queer as Folk mold. Gay and bisexual men are allowed to have fully developed social lives, while lesbian and bisexual women are added only as supporting cast members at best, and as mere afterthoughts at worst. That is somewhat expected given that Russell T. Davies is the creator of both shows, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing. For a man who openly describes Torchwood as "very bisexual," so far, it seems, he has only delivered that for his male audience. Originally conceptualized as a one-time spin-off, Torchwood was BBC Three's most-watched program last year and has already been renewed for a second season, so there is hope that the content for lesbian and bisexual women, particularly Toshiko, will be developed further when filming begins this spring. But if this truly is the BBC's campy, sci-fi answer to Queer as Folk, a real, honest portrayal of lesbian sexuality from Davies may prove to be an alien concept after all. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
Lack of decent storytelling
I find the portrayal of bisexual women more a lack of decent storytelling than anything else. The matter of sexuality is driven home with a hammer in Torchwood. And though it might have been important to do it so bluntly, I hope they will reduce the matter in the second season.
I do care for the series, but up to now, one cannot say that it is really a good one. And though I am all for bisexuality and the portrayal of bisexual characters on tv, the stories are sometimes just cringeworthy.
Umm...Hello? It's Sci-Fi...
NONE of the relationships on Torchwood survive;
Gwen cheats, then her boyfriend Reese dies.
Owen loses the love of his life - who goes back to her time period. (AS well as kissing a man at one point because it's "easier" than fighting against him for his woman)
Jack has to leave his love behind in the 1940's
Toshiko is a sex starved technophile anyway, but she gets tricked by an alien (as they all do at some point).
Suzie dies because of her lust for power.
Ianto's psycho girlfriend gets killed by a pterodactyl, for pete's sake!
The wonderful thing about Sci-Fi is that nothing good happens to anyone...I think you have focused so heavily on the female bisexuality thing that you can't see how warped all the rest of the program is.
Torchwood is a twisted view on modern life, completely devoid of any sexual or personal sterotyping - they all get a rough ride.
I think this article was written based on your own projecting of issues concerning other programs, not problems with Torchwood itself, and has a lot of spin in it to try and convey a fundamentally biased and invalid view point.
Alex in the OC? Now thats poor representation, Torchwood is just a roll in the hay...
(I do usually agree with you guy on this sort of thing - but your wrong this time)
Kate
I'd agree with both the
I'd agree with both the above commenters. Some of the the stories have been fairly silly (although not as silly as some of the Doctor Who ones), and plenty of details were left dangling or seemingly-forgotten.
Also, everyone gets a rough deal in the relationships department, both straight and queer relationships.
I was personally pleased to see a lot more bisexual male stuff. Sure, unfortunately a lot of the bi-women schtick in the media has been directed at the male gaze, but there is a lot more of it about. It's good that bi men are finally getting some representation.
I do hope that Tosh's character is developed more fully, and she pursues more relationships with women. I'm sure we won't get any Gwen/Tosh action, but one can hope...
Captain Jack
Overall I enjoyed Torchwood, but I'd find that for every genuinely good episode (and there were at least three, from memory), you'd get two absolutely crap and silly ones.
I do love the Captain Jack character, though much preferred him in Doctor Who.
Also, generally, I find it quite tedious how they think putting a random bunch of sex and violence makes something "adult".
Captain Jack
Double-Standard?
I find this article ironic considering that bi men are treated even worse and have even less representation in the fictional media than gay men, gay women, and bisexual women. There are dozens more examples of bisexual female characters in existence, just look at the difference between AfterEllens and AfterElton's bisexual content.
Furthermore, expecting gay men to be able to have insight/accurately and positively display female bisexuality or even bisexuality in general is off base. Some of the most biphobic plotlines have been produced/written by gay men. The tv show "Brothers and Sisters" which is produced and written by a gay man had a charater declare in so many words that "No one is bisexual. Have you ever met a 60 year old bisexual. Sooner or later everyone has to pick?" Sex and the City had biphobic plotlines about Carrie dumping a man for being bi, and then rubbing it in with how glad she was that her next boyfriend was "straight, straight, straight". Samantha had a fling with another woman, then decided to go back to men because she missed dick and women were too emotionally draining". Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy had not one but two psychotic bisexual slashers who were an incestuous brother and sister duo.
And no I'm not saying all gay men are biphobic, plenty are supportive but automatically expecting gay men to be understanding has no basis in the reality we've seen in the media so far.
Furthermore, hasn't the portrayal of gay men on the L Word been pretty sterotypical and marginal?
sexist much?
When QAF first came out in UK, I watched a few episodes and realised I couldn't stomach it. Because of its sexism, misogyny even. I was quite shocked by its overt sexism. The US QAF was certainly better where women/lesbians were concerned.
So not in the least bit surprised to learn that their new series marginalises lesbians and bi. Actually I'd prefer that they stick to writing about what they know, and leave the rest of us out of it. That way, none of us ( if we ever consider watching it) will keep waiting for a good storyline about lesbians/bisexual women.
Just a small positive to add
Although in general I agree with the concerns voiced in this article I would like to add that I was pleased that Tosh's actions were not explained away like Gwen's in 'Day One'. Her actions were not the result of alien technology or anything and there were definitely feelings involved. It was refreshing to hear Gwen's take on it all, even after Mary's motivation had been revealed: she says
"Don't let this put you off. The last couple of days you've had a look about you. Love suited you."
It was great to hear the word love used, rather than just suggesting it was merely attraction, and great to hear Gwen acknowledging that.
It made me smile anyway!
In defence of Torchwood
How many mainstream TV shows, that aren't explicitly concerned with queer life, have more than one (token) gay/bi character at all?
No, maybe Torchwood's representation of lesbian and female bisexual sexuality wasn't perfect, but it was there. And the homosexual relationships were as open, accepted and explicit as the heterosexual relationships. I think the series' creators deserve at least some credit for that.
Also Defending Torchwood!!
Plot line ripped off from cult movie
Everyone borrows it seems...
i just want to add....
that gwen kiss was HOT! (mainly eva moyles)....am i the only one that actually thought that was hot!....i would like to see it again but i've read the article and i dont think that will happen lol
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