Bisexual erasure
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with North America and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (April 2022) |
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Bisexual erasure (or bi erasure), also called bisexual invisibility, is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of
In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can include the belief that bisexuality itself does not exist.
Bisexual erasure is often a manifestation of biphobia,[1][2][3] although it does not necessarily involve overt antagonism. Erasure frequently results in bisexual-identifying individuals experiencing a variety of adverse social encounters, as they not only have to struggle with finding acceptance within general society but also within the LGBT community.[7] Bisexual erasure is a form of stigma and leads to adverse mental health consequences for people who identify as bisexual, or similar, such as pansexual.[8][9]
There is increasing inclusion and visibility of bisexuals, particularly in the LGBT community.
Motivations
General
According to scholar
In a 2010 article written for the 10th anniversary of Yoshino's piece, Heron Greenesmith argues bisexuality is inherently invisible in the law, even beyond the reach of deliberate erasure. Firstly, she says it is because bisexuality is legally irrelevant to plaintiffs who are presumed to be heterosexual or homosexual unless outed, and secondly when bisexuality is legally relevant, it is erased within the legal culture because it complicates legal arguments that depend on a gender binary nature of sexuality.[16]
American psychologist Beth Firestone writes that since she wrote her first book on bisexuality, in 1996, "bisexuality has gained visibility, although progress is uneven and awareness of bisexuality is still minimal or absent in many of the more remote regions of our country and internationally".[17]
Male motivations
Writing for
Bisexual author and activist
Gay male activist Carl Wittman, writing in his "Refugees from Amerika: A Gay Manifesto", argued gay men should identify as "gay" rather than as "bisexual", even if they sleep with women. Stating gay men should only become bisexual once society accepts homosexuality, he wrote that:
Bisexuality is good; it is the capacity to love people of either sex. The reason so few of us are bisexual is because society made such a big stink about homosexuality that we got forced into seeing ourselves as either straight or non-straight. Also, many gays go turned off to the ways men are supposed to act with women and vice-versa, which is pretty fucked-up. Gays will begin to turn on to women when 1) it's something that we do because we want to, and not because we should, and 2) when women's liberation changes the nature of heterosexual relationships. We continue to call ourselves homosexual, not bisexual, even if we do make it with the opposite sex also, because saying "Oh, I'm Bi" is a copout for a gay. We get told it's OK to sleep with guys as long as we sleep with women, too, and that's still putting homosexuality down. We'll be gay until everyone has forgotten that it's an issue. Then we'll begin to be complete.
— Refugees from Amerika: A Gay Manifesto I.3[21]
In heterosexual and LGBT communities
Heterosexual and gay people who engage in bisexual erasure may claim that bisexuals are either exclusively homosexual (gay/lesbian) or exclusively heterosexual,[1] closeted gay or lesbian people who wish to appear heterosexual,[22] or are heterosexuals who are experimenting with their sexuality.[1][15][23] A common manifestation of bisexual erasure is a tendency for bisexuals to be referred to as heterosexual when they are intimately involved with people of the opposite sex and to be labeled as homosexual when they are involved with people of the same sex.[24][25]
Bisexual erasure may stem from a belief that the bisexual community does not deserve equal status or inclusion within gay and lesbian communities.[26] This can take the form of omitting the word bisexual in the name of an organization or event that serves the whole LGBT community, including it as "bi-sexual", implying there are only two authentic sexual orientations,[27] or treating the subject of bisexuality in a derogatory way.[28]
Historically, bisexual women have had their sexuality labeled by lesbian feminist circles as an "apolitical cop-out".[6] Bisexual women have been seen as "not radical enough" because of their attraction to cisgender men.[6] Rodriguez asserts bisexuality was regarded as anti-feminist by many lesbians because of the implied "desires for penetration, sexual dominance, and submission", and similar lines of thinking about bisexual women continue to result in exclusion and erasure in the present day.[6]
In 2013, a study published in the Journal of Bisexuality surveyed thirty people who identified as part of the lesbian, gay, queer or bisexual communities and their individual experiences with coming out. Ten of these people reported they claimed the label of bisexuality first, and later came out again as lesbian, gay, or queer. The theory that emerged in this study introduced the concept of the "queer apologetic", in which one attempts to reconcile their same-gender attraction with the social norm of heterosexuality.[29]
Bisexuals have been overlooked in the same-sex marriage debate: Where same-sex marriage is illegal, those campaigning for it have failed to highlight the inconsistencies of marriage laws concerning bisexuals, whose right to marry depends solely on the gender of their partner. Secondly, when same-sex marriage is available, a bisexual partner will generally be referred to as lesbian or gay. For example, one of the first people to take part in a same-sex marriage in the United States, Robyn Ochs, was widely referred to in the media as a lesbian, despite identifying herself in interviews as bisexual.[30]
For many years, the
Historical examples of erasure
Modern biographers of
Helena Molony, an Irish feminist and a participant in the 1916 Easter Uprising, is considered to have been bisexual.[36] Although she had relationships with men throughout her life, from the 1930s until her death in 1967, she was in a relationship with a woman named Evelyn O'Brien.[37][36] Marie Mulholland, author of the book The Politics and Relationships of Kathleen Lynn, said that after O'Brien died, "her family ensured that all [of] her personal papers were destroyed, which is always an indication that something is being hidden."[36]
In academia
Theoretical frameworks
Alternative approaches to the concept of bisexuality have been developed that expand the definition of sexual identity outward from a "this or that" mentality to a "this and that" mentality. Jenée Wilde presents the idea of what she calls "dimensional sexuality" in an article for Sexual and Relationship Therapy, a theoretical framework in which gender is not the primary factor in sexual attraction, rather it is one of many axes. These other axes of attraction can include the desire for either monogamy or polyamory, and the fluidity of desire for the various gender(s) in a partner over time.[38] Wilde uses her framework to broaden the scale of sexual identity from a simple binary spectrum from "mono-sexual" to "bisexual", and to establish relationships between these identities; these relationships would not alienate individuals without a single "fixed object" of attraction.
Viewpoints like Wilde's have been applied by scholars such as Laura Erickson-Schroth and Jennifer Mitchell[39] to pieces of pop-culture and literature; Steven Angelides also produced a book on the place of bisexuality in research and societal awareness throughout history, using a similar framework.[40] Both pieces aim to achieve more inclusive readings of sexuality and allow for the re-designation of literary figures and real people as bisexual, rather than continuing with the assumption that any same-gender activity, explicit or implied, is homosexual, and any opposite-gender activity heterosexual.[39][40]
An example of a viewpoint similar to Wilde's is D.S. Neff's reading of Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, which finds the poem is ambiguous in its mentioning of "concubines and carnal companie" as well as later parts of the work; Neff finds these ambiguities to be implications that both male and female lovers were had by the protagonist. This bisexual portrayal is supported through Byron's real-world interactions with lovers of multiple genders, and the culture of his literary affiliates at Cambridge condoning those interactions in the midst of the 19th century's moral panic around same-gender desires.[41]
Erickson-Schroth and Mitchell's 2009 article in the Journal of Bisexuality performs a similar analysis of
There are also interpretations of literature that focus on the symbolic expressions of bisexuality rather than its explicit mention. Linda K. Hughes' analysis of Alexander Smith's A Life-Drama contends the atypical nature of the heterosexual courtship in the poem stands in place of the romance between the main character's "intimate friendship" with another man.[42] Other analyses use the subtextual practices and common allusions of the Victorian period/19th century that referenced bisexuality or homosexuality[43] to show the presence of bisexual themes in Bram Stoker's Dracula[44] and Henry James' The Turn of the Screw.[45]
In academic literature
Bisexual individuals have largely been overlooked in academic literature. Hemmings posits that bisexual erasure is essential in queer studies to keep lesbians and gay men as the main subjects of study.[46] Bisexuals are often included under the umbrella of LGBT+ in academic studies. However, data specific to bisexuals is lacking.[5][6] Historically, academics began to study bisexuals in relation to HIV and AIDS.[5][6] These studies contributed to the mythology that bisexuals have a higher chance of transmitting HIV and AIDS.[5][6]
In schools
More schools teach about heterosexuality and homosexuality, not solely heterosexuality. Support for gay and lesbian people has come to public schools in the form of the gay–straight alliances (GSAs).[47] According to John Elia, this can cause harm to students who do not identify with either of those sexualities.[47] However, some schools have adapted this acronym to include other LGBTQ+ groups. For instance, West Ranch High School has the "gender-sexuality association" on their club list for the 2020–2021 school year.[48][49] Melissa Smith and Elizabethe Payne state there are several instances where faculty have been silent when it comes to bullying of LGBTQ students.[50]
Media depictions
General
Some media outlets have portrayed bisexual behaviors in ancient and non-Western cultures, such as
In both the gay and mainstream media, individuals who have kept their sexual identity unknown have been portrayed as either gay (if male) or straight (if women) when they engaged in romantic or sexual relationships with both men and women.
The media in both communities also often refers to the "gay and lesbian" community, ignoring bisexual and/or transgender people.[60] There have also been examples of media outlets referring to "lesbian, gay and transgender" issues while still excluding or ignoring bisexuals.[61]
Bisexual women specifically are subject to both hyper-visibility and erasure.
In 2013, British Olympian diver Tom Daley came out as bisexual. Several media sources supported his decision to tell the world about his sexuality, but they labeled him as "gay" instead of bisexual.[62]
On August 5, 2020,
Television
On December 30, 2009,
In Game of Thrones, Oberyn Martell is a character who is presented as bisexual. However, the character's bisexuality is not a facet of his identity. Rather, it is used as a way of characterizing him as someone who is greedy. Pedro Pascal, who plays Oberyn, claims that his character "does not discriminate in his pleasures...to limit yourself in terms of experience doesn't make any sense to him."[74] Thus, his bisexuality is erased and replaced with the stereotype that bisexual people are overly promiscuous.
Frank Underwood from
In law
United States
Individuals identifying as bisexual have been absent from conversations surrounding LGBT-rights and litigation. Examples include the early use of the term "gay marriage" as opposed to "same-sex marriage" or "marriage equality", as well as the lack of recognition of bisexuality in briefs or opinions handed down by the courts.[75] A survey of relevant terminology in LGBT-rights cases found, excluding a brief period in U.S. Supreme Court history when bisexuals were mentioned alongside gays and lesbians,[76] bisexuality has not been mentioned in Supreme Court opinions or briefs in major LGBT rights cases, which often describe gays and lesbians as being exclusively affected by sexual orientation discrimination.[75]
While courts have begun to increasingly use the term same-sex in litigation involving sexual minority groups, this term is still used interchangeably with gay, lesbian, and homosexual, therefore erasing the bisexual contingent.[75][77] Nancy Marcus uses the monumental Obergefell v. Hodges case that grants same-sex marriage rights as an example of nearly complete bisexuality erasure despite efforts, including an amicus brief to the Supreme Court and outreach to the plaintiffs' legal team, by legal organizations such as BiLaw.[75] This is important in the U.S. legal system when the law is developed through case law, since failing to mention bisexual identities in legal decisions implies a "secondary" status of bisexuals within the LGBT community, with the judiciary appearing to give the imprimatur to the relegation of bisexuality to a lesser, or completely ignored, status.
Marcus states that misunderstanding and erasure of bisexuality within the US legal system results in tangible harm to bisexual litigants, including the increased likelihood of losing parental rights and the probability of being denied asylum from anti-LGBT countries. Custody issues arise due to the belief that bisexual people are too unstable to be parents, while bisexuals seeking asylum from countries hostile to LGBT individuals are viewed with suspicion, including not being "gay enough". This is due to a common assumption within the legal community a person can only be legitimately attracted to one gender; therefore, a bisexual asylum-seeker is more likely to be considered a fraud.[75]
Canada
In legal protection documents, such as the Canadian Human Rights Act, bisexual people are equally protected from discrimination as gay, lesbian, and transgender people are, but the term "bisexual" is not mentioned explicitly.[78] A study of the labor market conducted in Canada in 2019 found that bisexual men and women do not fare as well as their peers in the workplace. Sean Waite, John Ecker, and Lori E. Ross discovered that "bisexual men earned less than both heterosexual and gay men," and "bisexual women were at the bottom of the gender and sexual orientation wage hierarchy." In the article it is also admitted that research on bisexual individuals is limited because of erasure in the census. The census does not allow an option for bisexuals, and thus they are reduced to heterosexual or homosexual depending on the sex of their partner.[79]
Mental health and imposter syndrome
Imposter syndrome
As of 2021, bisexual individuals make up 56.8% of the LGBTQ+ community.
Within the bisexual community, it is found that bisexual women are more likely to and feel safer to come out as bisexual than men, 33% vs. 12%.[81] Across the LBGTQ+ population, it is perceived that bisexual women and lesbians are more accepted by society than gay men, bisexual men or transgender people. Within the bisexual community, perceived acceptance is 33% for women, about 8% for men and 3% for those who are transgender and non-binary.[82] Additionally, queer imposter syndrome can be largely influenced by the media and community. Research suggests that bisexual individuals have more mental health challenges than cisgender, heterosexual, lesbian, and gay individuals.[medical citation needed]
It has been suggested that there are four ways to help reduce and eventually eliminate the imposter syndrome: 1) skepticism 2) humility 3) grounding 4) self-compassion.[82]
See also
References
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- ^ "BIPHOBIA: IT GOES MORE THAN TWO WAYS". robynochs.com. 2015-03-11. Retrieved 2017-10-22.
- ^ Wittman, Carl (1969). Refugees from Amerika: A Gay Manifesto. San Francisco: San Francisco Free Press.
- ^ Michael Musto, April 7, 2009. Ever Meet a Real Bisexual? Archived 2010-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, The Village Voice
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Further reading
Articles
- Aaron, Michael (May 8, 2017). "Beyond Binary: How Bisexuality Shifts Orientation Science". Psychology Today.
- Barkved, Kayti (November 3, 2014). "Bisexuality and pansexuality are two different identities". The Phoenix. University of British Columbia Okanagan. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
- Carey, Benedict (July 5, 2005). "Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited". The New York Times. (article primarily about bisexuality in males)
- Currie, Amy (September 26, 2016). "What even IS bisexuality?". The McGill Daily. McGill University.
- Davis, Amy (September 30, 2016). "Bi Erasure in Film and TV: The Difficulty of Representing Bisexual People On-Screen". Bitch Flicks. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
- Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (March 20, 2014). "The Scientific Quest to Prove Bisexuality Exists". The New York Times Magazine.
- Gender and Sexuality Center (March 2016). "Bisexuality, Pansexuality, Fluid Sexuality: Non-Monosexual Terms & Concepts" (PDF). The University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
- Gerdes, Stefanie (17 March 2017). "Grey's Anatomy star calls out Dustin Lance Black over bi erasure in When We Rise". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
- O'Riordan, Aoife (September 26, 2014). "Boundaries, thresholds and love: why it's time to take back 'bi'". The Orbit.
- Parker, Kim (February 20, 2015). "Among LGBT Americans, bisexuals stand out when it comes to identity, acceptance". Pew Research Center.
- Rankin, Sam; Morton, James; Bell, Matthew (May 2015). "Complicated? Bisexual people's experiences of and ideas for improving services" (PDF). Equality Network.
- Simpson, Mark (April 26, 2006). "Curiouser and Curiouser: the Strange 'Disappearance' of Male Bisexuality". marksimpson.com.
- Zane, Zachary (June 29, 2018). "What's the Real Difference between Bi- and Pansexual?". Rolling Stone.
Books
- Fraser, Mariam (1999). Identity Without Selfhood: Simone de Beauvoir and Bisexuality (1st ed.). Cambridge and New York: ISBN 978-0521623575.
- Ka'ahumanu, Lani; Hutchins, Loraine, eds. (2015). Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out (2nd ed.). New York: ISBN 978-1626011991.
External links
- Bisexual Literature at glbtq.com (2002)
- Bisexuality at Human Rights Campaign