Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman

A Love Letter to Dr. Callie Torres on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Against a backdrop of a television landscape lacking in queer representation (especially queer women of color) emerged Callie Torres’ anxious and exciting adventure of self-discovery. … Callie Torres is a fully fleshed out resilient, sensitive, complex, and unapologetic bisexual Latina woman. … Callie’s journey was an iconic one that helped to not only change television, but to cement the oft forgotten notion that bisexuality is very real.

This guest post written by Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman appears as part of our theme week on Bisexual Representation.

It’s no secret that bisexual characters are lacking on television. Even as queerness becomes more prevalent on-screen, the roles are sparse and often times showcase harmful generalizations and stereotypes. Shonda Rhimes’ television empire Shondaland is a powerful part of the changing landscape of entertainment. Her portrayal of people of color, women, and queer characters is nuanced and intricate. She doesn’t discriminate when it comes to drama and thrills; everyone is subject to the emotional roller coaster that is TGIT, no matter who they are.

Her portrayal of LGBTQ characters has been heralded by GLAAD, the most recent accolades coming from the inclusion of How to Get Away with Murder’s protagonist Annalise Keating’s bisexuality. And while the revelation resonated on social media in the weeks afterward, becoming yet another notch in the lineup’s belt of diversity, the best bisexual character lives in another corner of Shondaland.

The groundbreaking story of Dr. Calliope “Callie” Torres on Grey’s Anatomy has been one of the greatest journeys on television. Callie (Sara Ramirez) made her way into the OR in late season 2 in 2006 as a love interest for George O’Malley (T. R. Knight). One tumultuous relationship rocked by typical Grey’s Anatomy drama and an elopement later, the couple broke up. Later in season 4, Callie began realizing she was attracted to cardio surgeon Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith).

In 2008, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was still in effect. Washington expanded its domestic partnership legislation and the California Supreme Court struck down the same-sex marriage ban, but states like Arizona and Florida passed amendments prohibiting it. On television, depictions of LGBTQ characters were incredibly sparse. Will & Grace was over, with The L Word soon to follow, and shows like Glee and Modern Family were more than a year away from premiering. GLAAD reported LGBT representation on scripted broadcast television that year at a measly 1.1%. Against a backdrop of a television landscape lacking in queer representation (especially queer women of color) emerged Callie Torres’ anxious and exciting adventure of self-discovery.

The trepidation Callie had about her budding feelings for her friend were clear, and oh so relatable to anyone discovering their own sexuality. She skirted around asking for advice on dating women from her friends and peers. She reverted to sleeping with her friend-with-benefits Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), in an effort to convince herself she was straight. And after having sex with Erica, she became even more confused because she couldn’t decide if she preferred sex with men or women better, ultimately coming to the conclusion that she likes both. Being dumped by her first girlfriend hurt her just as much as divorcing her first husband. The added sting of Erica telling her she “can’t kind of be a lesbian” tapped into the very real biphobia that bisexual people face from inside the LGBTQ community. Between the drama of stealing organs and patients dying of the hiccups, moments crafted around Callie’s sexuality often encapsulated incredibly genuine experiences.

Callie’s subsequent relationship with Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) quickly made them one of the most popular power couples in the show. Their drama ranged from silly to heartbreaking, just like the straight couples. They were given growth and hardship equitable to everyone else. The only way the relationship differed from the rest on the show were the storylines dealing explicitly with their sexuality. Arizona was sometimes insecure of Callie’s bisexuality, even going so far as to use it against her in the more heated moments of fights. Callie coming out to her father and being exiled by her family was an all too real display of the experiences many queer people have and fear. Her refusal to back down against her father, her iconic “you can’t pray away the gay” speech strengthened the resolve Callie had inside of her sexuality and affirmed to the audience that it was very real. Her emotional breakdown after the falling out with her family painted her as such a tangible, authentic character. Not only did the TV series depict the tough ortho surgeon as resolute and confident in her bisexuality, it showed her devastation when the people she loved didn’t approve of her.

The season 7 storyline regarding Callie getting pregnant by Mark after she and Arizona break up only to reconcile, and the ensuing decision to co-parent the child was criticized when it aired. Some felt the storyline stereotyped bisexuality and watered down the importance of Callie and Arizona’s relationship. Arizona even somewhat lampshaded the situation in an argument, saying it’s “some kind of bi dream come true… you get the woman that you love and the guy best friend who’s also a great lay,” in season 7, episode 16. It was hardly writer negligence, however. Mark had already been established as a thorn in Arizona’s side and an unwanted addition in her relationship; an annoying best friend to those he befriended. Callie sleeping with Mark after the break-up was a common situation we see in TV: characters hooking up with someone else to escape the pain of being dumped. It further served to show that Callie’s relationship with a woman didn’t negate her bisexuality or attraction to men. While convoluted and ridiculous, the The Kids Are Alright-esque plotline didn’t stray from the generally ridiculous Shondaland stories we’ve come to know and love (or hate).

Callie’s bisexuality is important because it never became stigmatized. She isn’t painted as a cheater or overtly sexual or greedy — common harmful tropes about bisexual people. She had the acceptance of her peers and the support of her friends and coworkers. While it took some time for her father to come around to acceptance, and the series made it clear that her mother never would, there existed a dichotomy of how sexuality is perceived, even within the same immediate family. Callie faced “normal” problems in her personal and professional life. Her relationships contained exciting highs and depressing lows. She was allowed to be vulnerable, even though she broke bones for a living. Callie Torres is a fully fleshed out resilient, sensitive, complex, and unapologetic bisexual Latina woman.

Callie’s story and the showcasing of her ability to enter into emotionally deep and complex relationships with both men and women is commendable. Her discovery that she’s attracted to women as an adult gives representation to people who also had latent realizations about their sexuality. Her relationship drama was just as heartbreaking and intense as the other couples on the show. Grey’s Anatomy and actor Sara Ramirez did an outstanding job at telling this story over the course of a decade.

In real life, Sara Ramirez is a prominent advocate for the LGBTQ community; she’s on the board of True Colors Fund, a nonprofit that aims to eradicate LGBTQ youth homelessness. In 2015, the Human Rights Campaign honored her with the Ally for Equity award. Just check out her Twitter feed and you’ll see how serious Ramirez is about supporting queer communities. Witnessing this real-life advocacy juxtaposed with how fantastic her Grey’s Anatomy character is written and portrayed is just the cherry on top.

Although Dr. Callie Torres may not be scrubbing into Grey Sloan Memorial anymore, the legacy she left at the hospital, and on television as a whole, is insurmountable. Her story was groundbreaking at its inception and continued breaking barriers as the years went on. She wasn’t afraid to own her bisexuality, reminding us that the B in LGBTQ didn’t just stand for “badass.” She managed to incite real change both on and off-screen. After Callie came out, more than 200 other lesbian and bisexual characters were introduced on TV. Callie’s journey was an iconic one that helped to not only change television, but to cement the oft forgotten notion that bisexuality is very real.

Update on 10/20/16: Ramirez’s connection to the orthopedic surgeon she played is bone deep; the actress publicly came out as bisexual on October 8th at the True Colors Fund’s 40 to None Summit. In a speech on ending LGBT youth homelessness, she stressed the importance of recognizing intersectionality and mentioned her own intersections, including bisexual and queer, as reasons why she is invested in the cause.

See also at Bitch Flicks:

Interracial Relationships on Grey’s Anatomy
Being in the Sun — Women and Power in Grey’s Anatomy Season 11

Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman is a freelance entertainment writer and digital content manager who is obsessed with an absurd amount of television shows. She is an advocate for accessible entertainment and sometimes develops websites. You can find her at @heycheyennehey on Twitter or cheyennecheyenne.com.

Black Sisterhood in TV Sitcoms

While many Black sitcoms revolve around a family, it’s rare that specific interactions between sisters are depicted. While “sisterhood” here often refers to the strong bond between friends, biological sisterhood is sometimes forgotten. Sisters with strong relationships on television display some of the deepest and truest kinds of family love out there.

This guest post written by Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman appears as part of our theme week on Sisterhood.

Black sisterhood is an important staple in the lives of many Black women. From birthdays to breakups, it’s vital to have your girls with you in times of happiness and struggle. This relatable dynamic has been prevalent in pop culture for decades. From Living Single to Girlfriends, that deep, unshakable connection and trust between besties has been a common component in countless sitcoms. While many Black sitcoms revolve around a family, it’s rare that specific interactions between sisters are depicted. While “sisterhood” here often refers to the strong bond between friends, biological sisterhood is sometimes forgotten. Sisters with strong relationships on television display some of the deepest and truest kinds of family love out there.

Television shows that focus on a family can easily delve into the intricacies of how that family works; they may be at each other’s throats one episode and playing nice the next. The themes of family are made more complex when the relationship centers around siblings, and even more so between sisters. Between sharing secrets and stealing clothes, there’s just a special bond. Although they remain scarce, the examples of sisterhood in Black television are strong. Whether the sisters are distant or close-knit, the range in the relationships is broad.

In the pilot episode of Sister, Sister, when Tia (Tia Mowry) and Tamera (Tamera Mowry) first meet, both girls are dressed in the exact same clothes by happenstance; there was a sale at the mall and the twins unbeknownst to — and about — the other, grabs the same sweater and hat. When they first get to know each other, asking questions about the other, they discover they’re both in the 9th grade and that they both love The Twilight Zone, particularly the one with the monster on the airplane wing, and compare their situation to the show. Tamera asks if Tia also hates algebra too, but her twin says the opposite; she loves algebra and history.

Already we see the dichotomy of the twins here; although separated for 14 years, they still share distinct similarities, like the same taste in fashion and television series, but their differences are mainly academic, Tia being the “smart” twin while Tamera is the “fun” twin, a common TV trope regarding twins. They both love rollerblading and Beavis and Butthead (and have an affinity for saying the same thing at the same time). Tia has trouble talking to boys, while Tamera can’t seem to stop talking to them. They decide they’re probably not as alike as they first thought, then proceed to cross their legs at the same time and take a bite out of the lemon in their tea. The theme song says it clearly: they look alike, but they’re different.

While the first few seasons mainly focus on how two girls with the same face can be so different and so alike at the same time, the show always includes how much love they have for each other and their willingness to go to bat for the other. The season 1 episode, “The Pimple,” contains the classic twin switcharoo situation; Tia gets a pimple the day she has a date with a boy, so Tamera goes on the date instead, floundering through the entire thing since she and Tia don’t have many common interests. Earlier in the season, the girls make a pact not to go to the school dance if they both don’t have dates. When Tamera gets a date, she offers to make good on the pact since Tia will just be staying home.

If these examples seem juvenile, it’s because they are. Tia and Tamera were 14 years old at the beginning the series and their hijinks and adventures often include things typical of a young high school girl. Regardless of how silly their antics were, they showed each other a special kind of love that carried from their high school dating days to their more grown-up college days. TV shows that feature a family and don’t necessarily focus on sisters don’t often have many moments of strong sisterly bonding. The love is spread throughout the family, not centered around one particular relationship. However, when moments do spotlight the specific sisterly bond, it highlights a few key differences in how sisters interact with each other versus their other relatives.

In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, sisters Hilary (Karyn Parsons) and Ashley Banks (Tatyana Ali) couldn’t be less alike. They are each other’s antithesis; Hilary is the spoiled, selfish, materialistic, oldest sister while Ashley is the more responsible, slightly rebellious, younger sister. They don’t have very many scenes or plots that revolve around the two of them specifically, but their relationship is still shown to be positive. They’re not the closest of siblings, but they still care deeply for one another and look out for each other.

However, in season 6 episode 7, “Not with My Cousin You Don’t,” Ashley is in need of some womanly advice about her boyfriend Derek and with her mother gone on a trip, she looks to Hilary. These sisters rarely ever have serious moments, but Hilary jokes about her “big sister radar” and the two sit to chat. Ashley tells Hilary she thinks she’s in love. While Hilary is happy for her sister, she tells her that she doesn’t think long-distance relationships always work out. The conversation continues onto Ashley’s hesitations about having sex. She says that she’s scared, and Hilary says that it’s normal, everyone feels that way. Her most important piece of advice to her little sister is that “only you know when you’re ready or not.” Hilary tells Ashley that she’s independent, responsible, and smart, and while she doesn’t delve into the details of sex, she lets her sister know that regardless of her decision, she will always be there for her.

The scene includes several of Hilary’s typical humorous air-headed comments, but is ultimately played seriously; this is clearly a big deal to Ashley and her sister understands and gives sound advice. It’s a rare moment for Hilary, to have a serious scene. Other more serious tones are shown for sadder events: when she drops out of school or she reminisces about her deceased fiance. So it’s important that one of Hilary’s fleeting insightful moments is a tender one where she plays the wise older sister.

Ashley is consistently shown to have a strong bond with Will (Will Smith), so it’s telling that she comes to her sister instead of her cousin in this instance. Will even points this out after he accidentally overhears Ashley discussing it with her friends. It’s significant that even though Will is clearly Ashley’s confidante in the family, she felt more comfortable expressing her concerns about sex to her flighty sister Hillary, even though she doesn’t share that same kind of relationship with her. While they may not be as close, the topic of sex was easier to discuss with her sister and ultimately led to a healthy and positive discussion.

In the finale of the show, Ashley and Hilary are both moving to New York City for school and work respectively and the two decide to live together, and they’re both excited about the prospect. Although they were never shown to be incredibly close, it’s definitely an extension of the kind of relationship they’ve always had, and could be an insight into the possibility of them growing closer as they embark on this new stage in life together.

The Cosby Show is often heralded as one of the best Black sitcoms ever. (Although it now has a “tainted legacy”.) With four sisters in the Cosby household, there were many different representations of sisterhood. Since Sondra, Denise, Vanessa, and Rudy varied so much in age, it also presented a distinctive look into how sisters of different ages act with each other.

The personalities of the girls also tied into how they reacted to each other. Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), the eldest and most distinguished of the Cosby children; Denise (Lisa Bonet), the free-spirited and carefree teenager; Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), the nosy and oft rebellious sister; and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), the precocious and adorable youngest sibling. From shoving shoulders over stolen sweaters to completely wrecking the kitchen ceiling, their fights varied as much as they did. The girls were all very different from each other and while their personalities sometimes clashed, at the end of the day, the Cosby siblings were all on the same side.

Despite their constant bickering and clear evidence that they were nothing alike, Denise and Vanessa always had each other’s back. In fact, they were even likened to child versions of Cosby matriarch Clair (Phylicia Rashad) and her younger sister. In the episode “Clair’s Sister,” Sara comes to visit, announcing to Clair that she’s engaged. Denise and Vanessa talk about how they want their weddings to be. Vanessa wants hers to be old-fashioned and incredibly fancy, dressed in lace from head to toe with 12 bridesmaids carrying her 20-foot-long train. Denise, ever the feminist, believes traditional weddings are a bit sexist, what with the father “giving” the bride away and the bride’s family having to pay. In stark opposition to Vanessa’s exuberant dream wedding, she says hers will be a small, intimate gathering in the living room where she’ll wear a regular dress and they’ll invite only their closest family and friends and serve sandwiches after the ceremony. Denise and Vanessa tease each other about their dreams a bit before Denise drives Vanessa to a friend’s house. Sara remarks how similar the girls are to her and Clair, and Clair says she remembers it well, not wanting to cart her little sister around town because she was too cool.

Both elder sisters are seen as the cooler ones with more laid-back ideas of the world while the younger sisters are more outgoing and energetic, excited about extravagant things like fancy weddings. It’s a cute comparison that alludes to that idea of sisters with completely divergent personalities being close and supportive of one another despite their differences.

Black sisters aren’t exactly a huge demographic in television. But the shows and episodes that explore that kind of sisterly bond are powerful and exhibits Black sisterhood in myriad ways. These relationships are hugely positive displays of the love within a family. They can be silly or serious, complicated or simple, and a million other things to describe the vast mosaic of different kinds of sisterly love that exist. Regardless of what adjective is attached to them, they’re always marvelous to see.

Women in Science in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Female scientists are few and far between in the Marvel world. Of the 65 MCU scientists in a live action movie or television show, 18 are women. And of those 18, 2 are women of color… While those numbers may seem a bit low, MCU’s female scientists statistics are pretty much right on target with the national average. Women are greatly underrepresented in the STEM fields in the U.S.

This guest post written by Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman appears as part of our theme week on Women Scientists.

When you think of superheroes, you probably don’t immediately think of science. Superheroes are all about incredible power and defeating the bad guys; test tubes and the periodic table aren’t nearly as cool as a good city-destroying battle. Yet, nearly all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe superheroes are vastly influenced by science, some even donning the proverbial white lab coat themselves.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, is a franchise of feature films, short films, and television shows featuring crossover characters and plots from Marvel comics. For the past eight years, the MCU has made billions off of this immersive, action-packed world.

Starting with Iron Man in 2008, science has always been a huge component of the MCU. From the super serum that turned scrawny Steve Rogers into the super soldier we know and love, to Bruce Banner’s questionable method of trying his experiments on himself, there is more often than not a super brain operating behind our heroes’ super powers. And if the hero in question isn’t directly given their superhuman-ness from science, they are heavily assisted by scientists without whom they wouldn’t be able to succeed.

Yes, yes, all of this science is good (well, save for the evil scientists). But the MCU can make a couple improvements regarding their female scientists.

Female scientists are few and far between in the Marvel world. Of the 65 MCU scientists in a live action movie or television show, 18 are women. And of those 18, 2 are women of color — Dr. Helen Cho, who is South Korean, from Avengers: Age of Ultron and Agent Anne Weaver, who is Black, from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. While those numbers may seem a bit low, MCU’s female scientists statistics are pretty much right on target with the national average. Women are greatly underrepresented in the STEM (science, technology engineering, and mathematics) fields in the U.S. Although they are 48% of the workforce, they make up less than a quarter of STEM fields at 24% of STEM occupations, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration. The MCU’s 18 female scientists puts them at about 27%.

Although there are three times as many male scientists, the MCU’s female scientists aren’t there just for show. From astrophysicists to cellular biologists, these women often act as catalysts to the plot, if not the ones to ignite it in the first place. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Dr. Cho (the one Asian female scientist in the MCU) creates the Cradle and, under the force of Ultron, also co-creates Vision. Without her creation of the Cradle, Tony Stark’s massive failure in Ultron would have had to use some other super genius’ creation in its attempts to take over humankind. And without Dr. Cho, Vision wouldn’t be around to help stop Stark’s peacekeeping-turned-genocidal scientific abomination.

This wasn’t the only time an MCU film’s plot was initiated by the creation of a female scientist. In Iron Man 3, Maya Hansen begins research for a way to regenerate damaged human tissue and comes up with the extremely volatile Extremis, which is then bastardized by Aldrich Killian for a terror plot, prompting Stark to save the world yet again.

In both of these examples, key motivators to Tony Stark’s badassery are prompted by a woman scientist who either (spoiler alert) dies or is never heard from again. Iron Man is the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist with accolades up to his ears, but more than one of the film plots which culminate in him saving the day begin with the scientific genius of women.

Still, Marvel does a tremendous job of making its female scientists vital and smart. In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., biochemist Agent Jemma Simmons is Fitz’s equal; they are both nerdy scientists who say big words. In Thor, Jane Foster is shown to have massive respect in her field, even being considered for a Nobel Prize. In Agent Carter, Whitney Frost proves Red Skull isn’t the only scientist who can use their super brain for evil. So, it isn’t like Marvel does a terrible job writing lady scientists. But as important and smart as these women are, they are overwhelmingly white.

But again, the MCU is realistically on point with their representation of female scientists of color. Women of color make up less than 10% of employed scientists and engineers. Black women make up a whopping 2% of the STEM field. This would mean out of the 65 scientists in the MCU, there should be at least 1 Black women scientist, therein lies our one Black female scientist, Anne Weaver. Around 5.3% of employed STEM workers are Asian women, so there should be at least 3 Asian female MCU scientists. If you include Dr. Wu Jiaqi from the Chinese version of Iron Man 3, this gives us a total of two Asian women scientists (though Dr. Jiaqi is not credited as an MCU scientist). It’s not quite 3, but with numbers these small, it’s something. Latinx women are around 2% of the STEM field, so staying on track with the realistic numbers, there should also be 1 Latina female scientist in the MCU and none exist, although Claire Temple from Daredevil isn’t listed as an MCU scientist, she is a nurse and could possibly be worked in as representation there.

I know what you’re gonna say. “The MCU is doing pretty much everything right, right? Their numbers match up with real life numbers. Are you telling me I spent the last few minutes reading all those stats and percentages for nothing? What’s the problem here?!”

Yes, Marvel is doing its job keeping in line with the national averages and statistics for women and women of color who are scientists. And that’s awesome! But the MCU also has a giant green monster who smashes things and a guy frozen like a popsicle for 70 years who really loves America. Things in the MCU don’t really tend to reflect the outside world. In fact, they usually exceed it. It’s important for media representation to go above and beyond, because life really does imitate art.

Last October, Sarah Richardson, a Black postdoctoral fellow in synthetic biology, told US News that people tell her she “[doesn’t] look like a scientist” and that her “career was suffering because [her] colleagues also thought [she] didn’t look like a scientist.” Despite excelling in her field, she isn’t taken seriously because people don’t associate Black women with professions in science.

Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to go into space, got her inspiration to be an astronaut from watching Lt. Uhura on Star Trek. Seeing a woman that looked like her be so successful on television translated into her real life and motivated her to shoot for the stars, literally. Representation is important because it lets people see themselves be strong or brave or smart, and it can have a huge impact on self-esteem and self-worth. Representation in the media leads to real world change.

You might be wondering: What all does this have to do with the MCU? Marvel is a colossal game changer in entertainment media and they are a powerhouse of cultural impact. With DC Comics and Warner Brothers hopping at the chance to follow in the footsteps of the wildly successful empire, Marvel certainly has the influence to spark change. They have the means to change media as we know it, and they’re doing it as we speak. With Roxane Gay as the first Black woman to write for a Marvel title and upcoming movies like Black Panther and Captain Marvel on the horizon, they’re certainly upping the ante when it comes to inclusion.

Wanting more than just realistic numbers of female scientists in Marvel isn’t a totally unreasonable request from the web-slinging, Hulk-smashing universe when progress is already going full steam ahead. And knowing how important and impactful it is for young women and girls of color to have strong representation of themselves on-screen seems like a pretty good motivator to bust out some safety goggles and get a few more ladies kicking ass in the chemistry lab.

Image of Captain America and Iron Man cosplayers | Photo by Greyloch via Flickr and the Creative Commons License.

Interracial Relationships on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

While ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ has a very large multiracial cast that leads to some impressive representation, its reluctance to discuss race doesn’t give it the opportunity to further explore intricacies of interracial relationships.

This guest post by Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman appears as part of our theme week on Interracial Relationships.

It’s been more than a decade and Grey’s Anatomy still thrills us with harrowing medical mysteries, last minute life-saving surgeries and, of course, surgeons hooking up in on-call rooms and falling in love from across the OR table. The TV series has always been as much about its surgeons’ personal lives as it has been about the medicine. With an ever-growing cast of colorful characters, it’s no wonder why the show still pulls great ratings week after week. The show has been praised numerous times for its diversity, heralding Shonda Rhimes for her use of colorblind casting, not assigning a specific race to the characters she writes, which created a racially diverse fictional world. While colorblind casting promotes a greater variety of races on screen and normalizes diversity, erasing a character’s color can lead to other issues; issues made all the more noticeable in the heart of Grey’s Anatomy’s most prominent narrative: relationships.

From I Love Lucy‘s Lucy and Ricky to Boy Meets World‘s Angela and Shawn, interracial relationships aren’t new to television and have been on the rise in recent years. From 30-minute comedies to hour long dramas, interracial relationships are becoming more common to see on TV. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mindy Project, The Walking Dead, and The Fosters to name a few all feature interracial couples that are fundamental to their shows. However, Grey’s leads the pack by miles on the amount of interracial pairings featured in comparison to shows that can boast only one or two. Granted, it’s easier for Grey’s Anatomy to contain a multitude of interracial relationships because of its famed colorblind casting. The cast has been racially diverse since its inception in 2005 and a cornerstone of the show is the tumultuous relationships the surgeons have with each other, so it only makes sense that the two would overlap. While Grey’s Anatomy has a very large multiracial cast that leads to some impressive representation, its reluctance to discuss race doesn’t give it the opportunity to further explore intricacies of interracial relationships.

Out of the 39 major, plot-related relationships that have been featured on Grey’s since season one, 14 of them have been interracial, putting them just over 35%. Comparatively, according to the Pew Research Center, in 2013 interracial marriages were at a record high of 13%. Not every interracial pairing is or has been married, but the percentage of interracial couples on Grey’s is pretty substantial in comparison to both real-life statistics and other television shows.

Despite the diversity of the cast, the majority of the characters are white and the majority of the relationships have one white person in them. According to Vulture, it would seem that “interracial pairings in popular culture still tend to necessitate one white person.” There have only been two interracial relationships on the show that weren’t half white; Cristina’s tumultuous broken engagement to Burke and her on-call room hook ups with her intern Shane Ross in season 10. Callie, the only Latinx character on the show, has also only ever slept with, dated, and married white people, while Cristina, the only Asian American main character on the show, has dated, hooked up with, and married men of different races.

Just like every relationship in Grey-Sloan, every interracial relationship is laced with explosive drama; Grey’s Anatomy has never shied away from important and sometimes uncomfortable topics. Cristina and Owen’s relationship is full of disagreements and tense arguments over their different stances on having kids and her subsequent abortion. Callie and Erica catalyzed Callie discovering her sexuality. Callie and Arizona share similar problems to Cristina and Owen: both couples disagree (at least initially) over children, and both couples deal with a partner’s infidelity. Jackson and April argue about how to raise their children and deal with her enlisting in the army, leaving him to deal with his grief over the death of their son by himself. Jo and Jason break up after Jo kicks his ass, with a brief dialogue about male victims of domestic violence. Strangely enough, although Richard faces some subtle racism in “The Time Warp,” when an attending tells him that “ten years ago, [he] wouldn’t have even been allowed in this program” after arguing about whether or not to treat a patient with AIDS, race isn’t a factor when it comes to his relationship with Ellis Grey. Their relationship also leads to myriad other problems, including Richard’s alcoholism, the tension over the two each cheating on their respective spouses, and eventually, more relevant to the present time in the show, how Ellis’s cheating and her relationship effects Meredith’s own life.

From Cristina and Owen’s explosive argument over her abortion to Arizona’s occasional annoyance with Callie’s bisexuality, these couples deal with a wide spectrum of issues. It isn’t like serious and sometimes touchy subjects are off-limits inside of these relationships. So why is race never discussed?

The show doesn’t usually avoid difficult or complex situations (in fact, it more often than not capitalizes on them), which is why it’s so bizarre that after 12 years, the instances race has come up in an episode can be counted on one hand. A recent season 12 episode, “Something Against You” had a subplot where Maggie tells Amelia to check her white privilege. It was certainly progressive, but not necessarily a bold move considering the caliber of handling racism and race relations and discussions elsewhere on television. With other instances being a patient bearing a swastika tattoo in season 4 and Bailey teaching Derek about Zola’s kitchen in season 8, dialogue on race hardly ever enters the personal lives of the surgeons. After a decade of skirting around the subject when brought up, and for the most part ignoring it completely, I wouldn’t be surprised if Maggie’s speech remains the last and only in-depth discussion regarding race we see at Grey-Sloan Memorial.

The avoidance of discussing race on Grey’s Anatomy makes the representation of interracial relationships on the show incomplete and unfinished.

Interracial couples comprise over a third of the romantic relationships that have appeared on the show, but never does the nature of the relationship come up. Mentions of race are already few and far between and these rare conversations never occur between or about an interracial pairing. Interracial relationships happen so frequently and race is already treated as such a low-key subject on the show that the relationships are characterized by the personalities of the couples and their subsequent personal (and medical) drama rather than racial and cultural differences or misunderstandings. The roles these characters play are essentially racially neutral on purpose, so racially specific conversations and problems aren’t created.

Because the show doesn’t address race, the positive and negative aspects intrinsically attached to interracial relationships are missing. Characters don’t learn about their partner’s differing culture and aren’t shown a new perspective through the lens of their significant other. Ethnocentrism goes unconquered because these characters’ ethnicities are erased inside of their narrative. There are no story lines of a characters’ parents and families being resistant or dismissive of the relationship because of their race. There’s no subtle racism in the snide, judgmental comments of friends. There are no instances of one’s race being used against them by their partner, like other identities have been bitterly brought up in arguments, like Arizona inferring Callie’s bisexuality makes her untrustworthy and Jackson calling April’s Christianity unintelligent. These interracial relationships don’t exist to push a commentary about themselves onto the audience.

Even Sandra Oh, who played Dr. Cristina Yang for 10 seasons, said she wished race was brought up on the show more. She told KoreAm Journal, “It bummed me out because I feel like, this could be a great story idea, or even like a joke. But [Grey’s Anatomy’s producers] would not go for it, because it was a show choice.”

For such a large dynamic on a show as diverse as Grey’s Anatomy, it is a bit odd that the ever-present relationship drama never revolves around race.

This is neither good or bad. The argument can be made that it’s commendable that interracial and same race relationships are made to be equal, none are shown to be more superior or inferior in quality than the other based on race. Sex and love are treated just as importantly as the medical drama these surgeons deal with everyday and is explored just as intricately. Because of the series’ reluctance to bring up race, no problems inside of interracial relationships differ from same race relationships. Every couple faces the same incredibly dramatic roller coaster (or carousel, if you will), race notwithstanding; butting heads over surgeries, living together, jealousy, cheating, and everything in between.

Grey’s Anatomy definitely displays interracial relationships more frequently than other shows. While it’s not up to one show to single-handedly address or fix every single iteration of racial issues, it does bear a responsibility to retain a modicum of believability within the parameters it set for itself.

One aspect I can appreciate is that Grey’s Anatomy approaches what could be perceived as polarizing social issues non-politically. Queer relationships, interracial relationships, multiethnic families, and co-parenting, all different types of romantic and familial relationships, are normalized and substantially accepted by both the characters on the show and the audience. So why stop pushing the envelope at examining race, especially when interracial relationships already act as the perfect vehicle to carry out the discussion?

Grey’s Anatomy certainly isn’t known for its realism; no hospital witnesses as many life-altering disasters and miracle cases as Grey-Sloan Memorial, so it may not be the best place to go looking for an accurate portrayal of…anything, really. But there’s something to be said that the large ensemble of characters have tread around the issue for so long. Grey’s Anatomy is racially diverse in physical representation only, with narrative and storyline inclusion regarding race nearly non-existent.

Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman is a freelance entertainment writer who is obsessed with an absurd amount of television shows. She is an advocate for accessible entertainment and sometimes develops websites. You can find her at @heycheyennehey on Twitter or cheyennecheyenne.com.