What started as a casual comment about Supergirl's identity has escalated into a super conversation about representation, perception, and, apparently, what qualifies as a 'turn-on'.
During a recent interview, Milly Alcock suggested that her take on Supergirl 'probably goes both ways', framing her on-screen persona as potentially queer. The comment was generally received as a light, speculative take on a fictional character. The actress' musing was overall harmless, not sparking any discourse, except perhaps if you ask Fox News host Jesse Watters. The TV show host's opinion has since gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
'Not a Turn-On': The Comment That Sparked Backlash
Discussing Milly Alcock's remarks, Watters weighed in with a take that quickly drew criticism online.
'To say you're bisexual is not a turn-on', he said, adding that men 'don't trust' bisexual women. He strengthened his opinion by describing the bisexual women he has met as 'super weird'.
While everyone is entitled to freedom of speech, it was the kind of statement that manages to be deeply personal and broadly generalising at the same time.
Going the extra mile, it reframed a conversation about identity into one about male perception. If he alleges that men don't trust bisexual women, one might counter: do women even trust straight men with that opinion?
From Supergirl to 'Super-Bisexual': Internet Reactions Take Flight
Generating numerous digital scoffs, multiple social media users were quick to defend females against yet another generalised male opinion.
'Women don't exist to turn you on', one user wrote bluntly, pushing back on the framing of bisexuality as something to be evaluated through a male lens. Another called the comment 'absurdly funny', questioning whether people's identities are meant to be judged based on how appealing they are to someone else.
Others highlighted the underlying assumption in the remark itself. As one Reddit user put it, the idea that bisexuality must be filtered through whether men find it attractive 'says more about him than anyone else'.
While Watters' comment sparked criticism, most people managed to transform the moment into lighthearted humour, with a fair amount of the collective eye-rolling so hard they probably caught a glimpse of the past.
Some responses played into satire, with Reddit users joking about 'super-bisexual' upgrades and reimagining superhero identities altogether. Others used the moment to emphasise more widespread frustrations around how bisexuality is often misunderstood, stereotyped, or reduced to something for show.
Milly Alcock's comment framed Supergirl as a character whose story does not revolve around romance. Watters' response, however, brought the conversation straight back to it, specifically through the eyes of desirability and trust. For many people who have encountered the viral commentary, this is where the principle problem sits extremely uncomfortably.
In essence, in this situation, most fans might not care whether men are turned on by a woman's gender identity or not. Because if a superhero can fly, survive in space, and save the world, the most controversial part of the conversation probably should not be who she might date.
