In The Hunting Wives, we follow Sophie (Brittany Snow) as she moves to rural Texas with her husband, experiencing full-on culture shock along the way. Before long, she’s drawn into the tight-knit — and fiercely secretive — world of the local hunting wives, where gossip runs rampant, alliances shift on a daily basis, and someone ends up accused of… murder.
There’s a lot to unpack here: the series dives into Texas gun laws, abortion hypocrisy, and the twisted social codes of small-town life. But what’s really caught my attention is how media coverage and viewers keep labelling the show as a “lesbian” series, despite the fact that the characters themselves never identify that way.
Once again, we’re faced with a big, glaring slice of bisexual erasure — and this bisexual writer is so over it.
Steve Dietl/Netflix
The hunting wives never said they were lesbian
In all the chatter around The Hunting Wives, everyone keeps calling it a “lesbian show” or talking about the “lesbian characters.” Even PinkNews described it as “a show about MAGA-coded lesbians.”
But here’s the thing: yes, we see Margo (Malin Akerman) and Sophie getting it on in multiple steamy scenes. Margo and Callie (Jaime Ray Newman) also share kisses and a clear sexual history. Those are lesbian – or, more accurately, sapphic – sex scenes.
But we also see Margo with her husband, Jed (Dermot Mulroney), and enjoying herself. She even continues an affair with a teenage guy (not excusing it, of course). Likewise, Sophie is married to a man while also exploring her sexuality. Margo isn’t choosing between men or women; she’s clearly attracted to both.
Similarly, some viewers treat a scene with Callie and her husband, Sheriff Jonny (Branton Box), as proof of a lavender marriage. She pegs him, and yes, they seem to love it. But pegging doesn’t make a straight man gay, nor does it define a woman’s sexuality. Straight, bi, queer – people enjoy what they enjoy.
There’s no evidence that anyone in The Hunting Wives is only attracted to one gender, so why are we throwing around the word “lesbian” or insisting the Sheriff must be gay for liking a dildo in his arse? Don’t say it’s easier – “bisexual” is only two letters longer. Or, if you want to save even more time, let’s call it queer. Because honestly? I’ll take a good queer show any day.