Girls, bisexuality and the attention factor

By Tatiana Sanchez

In 2003, the MTV Video Music Awards made a splash in people's memories forever.

It wasn't a surprise winner or a particularly scandalous dress, but the sudden, quick and oh-so-memorable lip lock between Britney Spears and Madonna during their modern-day performance of Madonna's "Like a Virgin." It was the kiss that stunned all -- a kiss that would go down in history.

Flash forward five years and you're bobbing your head to Katy Perry's hit, "I Kissed a Girl." Perry sings about kissing a girl, liking it and hoping her boyfriend "don't mind it." Are you really surprised to hear those lyrics?

It was this unforgettable kiss and songs like Perry's that have sparked what today seems to be a growing trend -- bisexual behavior among young, straight girls.

We see it everywhere -- not only on television shows, music videos and on the Internet, but at parties, where girls who have had one too many shots of cheap vodka decide it's a good idea to publicly make out in front of people and their cameras. Why not have your picture be the highlight of everyone's Facebook news feed the next day?

As a girl who attended a single- sex private high school in San Francisco, I am all too familiar with the trend of public bisexuality, and have witnessed countless young girls quickly go from being straight one day to bisexual another.

I can't say how many times a guy has asked me if I'd ever thought of hooking up with a girl and then asked if he could watch if I ever did. Come again?

To young college students, this sort of behavior has become normal, attractive, and almost expected. We rarely stop to think twice about who does it and why.

But in retrospect, the fact that we see so many straight girls exercising bisexual behavior in public or suddenly becoming bisexual is nothing more than a loud cry for attention.

This loud cry has now become a widespread problem.

Let's think for a second: Girl-on-girl "play" has become increasingly popular among girls who consider themselves to be straight. There is now a wave of attention-seeking girls who are looking for the approval and attention of their peers. More than anything, however, this hookup scene between girls is nothing more than another way to gain attention from men, who have always considered such behavior to be "sexy."

Women have always (mistakenly) felt the need to appeal to the desires of men, and in doing so have resorted to displaying risqué behavior involving other girls in public. They are hungry for attention, and this hunger leads them to act uncharacteristically impulsive in order to obtain that attention.

Girls display what they think boys want to see, and do the desired -- what's "hot" and "sexy." And, if it seems like everybody is doing it, more and more individuals are compelled to join the crowd.

This is not to say that bisexuality is in any way an unhealthy or shameful thing. It's something that individuals should strive to learn more about and that all people should respect.

But the fact that young girls who otherwise consider themselves straight are exercising bisexual behavior as a means of winning attention, popularity and status among their peers is disappointing and frustrating. If these are the lengths girls are willing to go to grab a little bit of fame, then I ask myself, what next?

Many girls claim they would never date another girl, but when it comes down to it, these same girls would volunteer to display a little bit of public affection with their best friend for attention without thinking twice. Hell, they may even change their Myspace status to "bi." Yet very few people in our generation see this as strange, and therein lies the problem.

As college students, we are no longer surprised by anything, and many of us have become numb and often blind to the shocking behavior being displayed around us. Nobody -- including the girls themselves -- sees that these girls are screaming for attention. It is not considered to be a big deal at all.

But it is a big deal if young girls are trivializing human sexuality in order to get their three seconds of fame. It's time to think twice.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't have fun, explore or try new things. But we should stop and think about why we do certain things and what the end results of our actions are. Doing something just because it's hot, to receive some attention or because others are doing it should not justify actions we normally wouldn't engage in. Excuse me for saying so, but that is so high school.

Bisexuality is very real, but guess what: The drunk girls hooking up on camera are not.

Tatiana Sanchez is a junior English major.