Bette Porter
Bette Porter is a fictional character on the Showtime television network series The L Word and its sequel The L Word: Generation Q, played by Jennifer Beals.
Though Beals's performance was met with wide acclaim, Bette's characterization, as well as her relationship with her partner, Tina Kennard, received a more mixed response, with both fans and critics debating whether Bette reinforces positive lesbian relationships or glorifies narcissistic personality disorder, and questioning if Bette's behavioral traits would have been considered acceptable or politically correct had it been a heterosexual man in her place.
Fictional character biography
Before ''The L Word''
Bette is introduced as an affluent, Ivy League-educated lesbian of African-American and Caucasian heritage. She grew up in Philadelphia and was an art history major at Yale, where she began having sex with her boyfriend, Coleman. They both realized they were gay shortly after, with Bette developing a crush on her art history professor, Danica Palmer. Eventually, she came out as a lesbian, and fell for her bisexual friend, Kelly. After Kelly rejected her advances, Bette grew depressed to the brink of suicide.After graduation, Bette moved on, and dated Alice Pieszecki briefly. Bette once fingered Alice while they were at the opera Lakmé. Though their relationship ended when Bette cheated on Alice, the two remained close friends afterwards.
Bette met her future partner, Tina, while Tina was on a date at the Bette Porter Gallery with her then-boyfriend Eric. An instant attraction formed between the two of them. Bette noticed Tina's right earring had fallen off, and Tina supposedly put it back on. Later that night, Tina returned to the gallery to retrieve the lost earring. Bette had kept it for her. While Tina was picking it from her hand, Bette kissed her.
''The L Word''
Season one
Though Bette and Tina's relationship appears to their friends as very strong, it is revealed that they are having problems and visiting a therapist, mostly due to Bette's career at the California Arts Center, her domineering attitude and her tendency to become verbally abusive when things do not go her way. At Bette's urging, Tina gives up her own career in order to have a child, leaving Bette as the sole breadwinner. Things are complicated by Bette's homophobic father Melvin flatly refusing to acknowledge Tina's baby as his grandchild, and Bette's difficult but improving relationship with her older half-sister Kit, a recovering alcoholic who has often let her down.Tina, however, suffers a miscarriage, which takes a heavy toll on Bette, and when Tina decides to become involved in a charitable organization, Bette finds that their careers make it almost impossible for them to spend any time together. At the same time, Bette finds herself drawn to Candace Jewell, a carpenter temporarily working at the CAC who makes a pass at her despite knowing of her relationship with Tina. Bette subsequently begins an affair with Candace to fulfil her sexual desires. When Tina discovers the affair, she flies into a rage and, in the ensuing physical fight, Bette forces herself sexually on Tina, who eventually submits. Tina still leaves Bette and moves out of their house.
Season two
In the second season, Bette resumes her affair with Candace, but soon becomes desperate to make amends for her betrayal, and finds that her break-up with Tina is disrupting all the other elements of her life. Her job becomes an increasing pressure, especially when Tina's new lover, Helena Peabody, is added to the Board of Directors, and her boss hires another curator who threatens Bette's elevated position. Tina refuses to forgive Bette, insinuating that she is only trying to mend their relationship because Candace is not sexually fulfilling enough for her.At first, Bette feels isolated from Alice and the others, who she feels have mainly taken Tina's side in their argument rather than remain neutral. Although Shane and Jenny are both supportive of her, it takes a while for Bette to feel on good terms with Alice again. After Tina begins to see Helena, however, the group appear to rally around Bette, who is now aware that Tina is pregnant again. Learning that Tina got herself inseminated before their breakup, Bette demands to be part of the baby's life, but Tina refuses.
Matters are further complicated when it is revealed that Bette's father Melvin is dying from advanced prostate cancer, and is refusing treatment. A distraught Bette brings him home to die, so that he will not be trapped in a hospital, but this difficult experience leads her to reach out to Tina. Tina, who by now feels trapped by her relationship with Helena, grows closer to Bette again, and although Melvin never really blesses his daughter's homosexual relationship, he does once refer to Tina as 'Tina' rather than 'Miss Kennard' before he dies. His death is a great blow to Bette, who receives news of the loss of her job at Melvin's funeral.
Though upset and furious, Bette continues to derive comfort from her improved relationship with Tina. Bette's relationship with Kit is also vastly improved during this season, with Kit being her main source of comfort at the beginning of the season. She helps Kit to take over The Planet cafe, and begins actively involving herself in Kit's life. Eventually Tina chooses Bette over Helena, and the end of the season shows Tina asking to move back in with Bette. Tina's labor is surprisingly difficult, but their daughter Angelica is eventually born, and the end of the season shows Bette as calm and happy in her new family.
Season three
Six months later, Bette and Tina are feeling the stress of raising Angelica, Bette's unemployment and Tina going back to work for Helena at her film studio. Their relationship experiences difficulties yet again when Tina claims to have a renewed interest in men. Angry and hurt with her belief that Tina was merely experimenting with her for eight years, Bette has her move out. Bette briefly becomes a Buddhist and goes on a silent retreat, but leaves it. In the meantime, Tina begins a relationship with a divorced father, Henry Young. When Henry's son Mikey innocently asks Bette to take a "family picture" of himself and Henry with Tina and Angelica, and Tina tells Bette to her face that she no longer wants Bette to adopt Angelica and that she and Henry are going to start a family with the implication that Henry will adopt Angelica, Bette comes to the realization that Tina is only using Henry and Mikey so that she will get full custody of Angelica when she and Bette separate, as she is Angelica's biological mother and deliberately ingratiating herself in what Bette calls the "safety of a white heterosexual family", after which she will leave Henry. Desperate not to lose Angelica, Bette hires Joyce Wishnea, a gay civil rights lawyer, in order to file for sole custody, and warns Tina to stop her farce with Henry. This time, most of their friends rally behind Bette, seeing Tina as a traitor to the LGBTQ community for using her sexuality and the country's homophobic legal system against Bette. Tina, however, stands her ground and considers the possibility of losing all of her friends as the "bravest thing she has ever done".At Shane and Carmen's wedding, Bette begins to have second thoughts about this, but when Tina gets Joyce's letter and begins to take action to separate Bette from Angelica forever, Bette kidnaps Angelica and runs away.
Season four
After being implored by her friends, Bette returns with Angelica. Tina does not press charges and Joyce does not report Bette's actions to the police. Joyce persuades Bette and Tina to reach an agreement themselves on the basis that the court will most likely put Angelica up for adoption or into a heterosexual foster family instead of granting either of them custody. Soon after, Bette becomes the dean of art at a university. Her sexually frustrated boss, Phyllis Kroll, confesses to her that she is a lesbian, despite having a husband, Leonard. Later on, Bette introduces Phyllis to her group of friends, aware that she will end up having sex with one of them; Phyllis meets and has an affair with Alice, but despite being old enough to be her mother, she falls madly in love with her, which makes Bette feel uncomfortable, particularly when Alice refuses to commit to Phyllis and Bette gets caught in the middle. In desperation, Bette puts Phyllis in contact with Joyce to help her divorce Leonard, aware of Joyce's reputation for sleeping with her clients. Her plan works and Phyllis and Joyce begin a relationship, though Joyce is forced to recuse herself from representing Phyllis when it becomes more serious.While working at the California University School of the Arts as a dean, Bette has an affair with one of her graduate students, Nadia, but soon breaks off the relationship because she realizes it is inappropriate. Then, she begins a sexual relationship with Jodi Lerner, a sculptor who has begun lecturing at the university. Tina and Bette's relationship initially goes through some rough patches, but they gradually become friendlier with each other. Tina confesses to Bette that she still loves her and that she misses her life as a lesbian; when she meets Jodi, Tina realizes how much she wants Bette back and begins to regret ending her relationship with Bette.
Tina learns of an affair between Angus and Tina's nanny, Hazel, and she informs Bette. This causes major stress to their relationship, as Bette wants to keep this information from her sister and Tina disagrees. Things become even more complicated after a disastrous dinner party, thrown by Bette for Jodi, where she learns Kit—a recovering alcoholic—is drinking again to deal with Angus's infidelity. Because of Bette's reaction to her sister's drinking, Bette and Jodi get into a heated argument. As a result of the argument, Jodi realizes that Bette's controlling ways are too much for her and takes a job offer in New York City. In the season finale, Bette, with some encouragement from Tina and help from Alice and Shane, steals a "17 Reasons Why" sign from an old building in hopes of getting Jodi back, as Jodi had once told her that she believed it would make a great art piece. She shows it to Jodi, who is touched enough that she decides to remain in Los Angeles with Bette, who is unaware that Tina is secretly planning to sabotage their relationship in hopes of getting her back.