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I’ve never heard the word biphobia before so when I was reading the book, it was the first thing that caught me attention. Even the squiggly red line appeared below this word just after I finished typing it. Biphobia is the fear towards the other and fear of the space between categories. We live in a binary world. Either you are a man or woman, or you like men or women, but never think of someone who may like both sexes. Just as Marcia and Robyn point out in their article, bisexualism has a lot of stereotypes that make other people neglected it or simply ignore it. One of the stereotypes of a bisexual is that people say that they are confused and haven’t really decided yet. Or they are “just experimenting”. And also that just because they are bisexual, they can like anyone, men, women, friends, etc, because people think they are willing to have relationships with anyone.
All these ignorant comments create a stigma that has built thanks to the heterosexual society in which we live in. These problems are closely related with the gay and lesbian community but because they don’t belong in a specific group, so bisexuals are also rejected by some people of that community. But there are people who are still fighting for equal rights for everyone. And in order for bisexuals to be respected, they have to create their own lives, music, art, and express to everyone that they can be a great ally in society to prosper.
I have recently come out as being bisexual. When reading your blog post, I cannot help but relate to the majority of what has been said to me. My so called friends tell me I am just "confused." A number of people seem to believe that it means that I am willing to have sex with anyone who wants to have sex with me as if being bisexual makes me the king whore of the whores. The binary is something that will probably never end in this country because people are afraid of things that they cannot categorize. I love your comment about bisexuals having to make their own music, art, etc. because I have been working on a folktronica album that is all about that identity crisis that I faced.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it is important to reiterate that bisexual people face discrimination both from straight people and gay/lesbian communities who see them as "fence-sitters." The binary oppositions of sex, gender and sexuality need to be expanded beyond dichotomous notions of male/female, man/woman and gay/straight. I think intersex, bisexual and transgender people play an important role in reconceptualizing these categories to be more complex and inclusive of sexual fluidity.
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