Growing up in the early 2000’s didn’t really equip me for a life of bisexuality. Queer representation showed up in my life exclusively in the form of overly flamboyant and stereotypically portrayed gay men on my television screen every now and then, and lesbians essentially did not exist. Bisexuality was reserved for women only and it was almost always fetishized for the male gaze.
But then, it was released — the pop anthem of 2008, and the year of my 13th birthday; Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” blew my teenage mind. This certainly isn’t a perfect gay anthem, but as a young girl, it felt like a permission. Kissing a girl was described in a way that made me curious and something about the song felt uniquely for the girls. Awakened in me was the desire to slather on cherry chapstick and indeed, kiss a girl. Just to try it.
And that summer, I did kiss a girl for the first time and I really did like it. Although I didn’t fully embrace my queerness until over a decade later, my experience with this song is one of those memories that I recall as a first introduction to my bisexuality.
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after. She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.