This isn't to say Orange Is the New Black doesn't portray sexuality in compelling ways — it does. The situational bisexuality that occurs in the prison alone (or, as the characters call it, "gay for the stay," which is another way to avoid naming bisexuality — more on that later) is something that's rarely portrayed in a consensual way.

While OITNB does pay lip service to bisexuals (those who are attracted to more than one gender), Piper's sexuality is presented as an either/or binary that erases bi experience (as well as the experiences of other characters straddling the not-exactly-straight-but-not-gay line, like Morello and Soso). Piper’s bisexuality is ignored not just by other characters on the show, but also by herself. She describes herself in the very first episode by saying, "I used to be a lesbian. Now I'm not." Appropriately, since queer people contribute to bi denial just as often as straight people, the gay characters refer to her as a "former lesbian" and "straight," while the straight characters call her a "dyke." Cal, Piper’s brother, is the only character who comes close to actually describing the complexities of bisexuality — but not even he can say the word. In Season 1, after Larry asks, “Is she gay now?” Cal wisely tells him, "I'm going to go ahead and guess that one of the issues here is your need to say that a person is exactly anything." At the end of Season 3, when Cal’s wife Neri reveals that she lied about her crazy past bisexual experiences, neither of them mention the word. Instead audiences divulge her fake bisexual past through pauses and references to liberal arts colleges:

Cal: “You should know, I mean … You do know what a vagina smells like.” (Neri gapes at him, wide-eyed) Neri: “Please don’t think less of me!” Cal: “You went to Vassar! You lived in campus housing! … So none of your stories are true?” Neri: “I wanted you to think I was cool!”

Despite its occasional “cool” cred, bisexuality often gets a bad rap in our culture. Bisexuals are plagued by stereotypes, and their identities are often mistaken for a "phase" — a pit stop on the way to one's TRUE sexual identity. But there comes a point when refusing to utter the word becomes blatantly ridiculous.

Piper, I’d argue, is bisexual in both a sexual and romantic sense. In the first episode of Season 1, she tells Larry that her romance with Alex was a period of experimentation, but several episodes later (seven, to be exact) Piper says, "That wasn't an adventure or a romp. That was my life." Later: "You don't just turn gay. You fall somewhere on a spectrum, like a Kinsey scale." It’s possible that Piper’s flip-flopping is supposed to be read as confusion about her sexuality, but even if that’s the case, she has zero agency about it. Her sexuality is presented as a blank canvas upon which others project their own fears, wants, and insecurities, as well as something that can be switched on and off like a light. In between the name-calling and constant “straight or gay?” questions is a gaping chasm in which bisexuality is rendered invisible over and over again.