Last week, Pleinelune discussed the scientific position on bisexuality. Today, she shall exposit on the troubles bisexuals face.

So, one fine day, Pleinelune logged on to her computer, and immoralfear alerted her to a Fridae article, named The Bisexual Boogie Man. After one read through it, Pleinelune had to take a walk around the house to calm myself down. It is one thing to be reading homophobic trash at some anti-gay website, but entirely another to be reading a biphobic article on Asia’s largest gay portal.

Then Pleinelune came back to face my second heart attack: the comments on the article. Surely, Pleinelune thought, people would be bashing the author for such idiotic trash. Instead, Pleinelune found her Sapphic sisters bashing bisexuals. Among the expletives and insults thrown were ‘bisexuals cannot be trusted’, ‘get out’, ‘greedy’ and ‘liars’.

[Slightly out of point, but tangentially relevant: this author’s personal favourite comment is ‘pure passive lesbians r different, they're born 2 detest men & they r e 1s who really stays...’ Everytime she looks at this, she doesn’t know whether to laugh, cry or pound her head against the wall]

Alright, stepping back from that article for a moment, let’s review what bisexuals have been charged with, in the court of Homopolis.

Bisexuals…

1. are just ‘pretending’ to be gay or straight for reasons unknown, or in denial
2. cannot make up their minds between men and women
3. will leave their lesbian lovers for a man eventually
4. …are just in transition to being gay
5. are promiscuous
6. [insert your favourite misconception about bisexuals]

This is the first part of a three-part series on bisexuality. This article explores bisexuality from a scientific viewpoint.

Image taken from biflag.com

Not gay, not straight. The never-never land between heterosexual and homosexual: the B word.

What does it mean, specifically? The dictionary defines it as a person who is attracted to both males and females. To what degree, it has never specified. The Kinsey scale hypothesises everyone as innately bisexual, except for a minority on the extreme ends of the scale.

Image taken from iss.co.za

While the Kinsey studies have their own opponents, it has proven to be a fair approximation of the ground situation. The distribution would not look like a normal one, where intermediate values are most common, but (according to this author's untested hypothesis) more like this.

Bisexuality, along with homosexuality is a well-documented phenomenon in the animal kingdom. [Click here for an exhaustive scientific paper on this] It is common, in fact, for most animals to engage in bisexual behaviour than exclusively homosexual or heterosexual. The bonobo chimpanzees, in fact, are 100% bisexual, as stated in the paper.

But how is it possible that one is attracted to both sexes at the same time, some might ask.

This picture of a girly one, an androgynous one and a squirrel got me laughing. The squirrel seems to hold a wistful or puzzled look. And the couple appears to be asking the furry animal, “Is it wrong for us to be so happy?” You got to know a bit of my history to know why i had barrels of laughter upon seeing this… When i was with my ex-boyfriend, i called him “Squirrel”.

In the aftermath of the break-up, there are many friends, male and female alike, who told me not to “lose hope”… because some boy will come along someday and whisk me off my feet… and he would be Mr. Right… and that I don’t have to “off-guys” just because i had bad experiences. That was their first response when i told them the next person that i am dating is a girl. I was amused by their reactions. Deeply rooted in their unconsciousness: a girl involved with a boy will not fall for another girl, unless she received deeply etched scars from some male bastard. And deeper than this is the notion that: Lesbian relationships are of second class order.

(It is my fault partially. I never quite explained why i gave up the four year plus relationship I had with Squirrel. Let’s just say that when discontent comes, it is multi-layered and multi-faceted… and using someone’s weak points to break-up is merely a reason in disguise. After all, who’s perfect?)

And then there are close friends (and my mother) who exclaimed in bewilderment, “But you have always been straight!” Straight = physically with someone with the opposite sex? What about the mental aspect? I had my first crush on an androgynous-looking girl when i was 14. Why didn’t i tell anyone? Oh well, blame it on homophobic behavior… since i was not involved with any girl at that time, i didn’t see the benefits of taking the risk.

 

Are you seeking to “repair” yourself?

Check out the profile of potential reparative therapy seekers… They look like a bunch of self-hating, guilt-striken and confused lot- is that you?

PROFILE:

A. Intrinsic religious orientation

Your religion is the centre of your life and your religion condemns homosexuality.

Major reasons surrounding religion for seeking reparative therapy includes:
1. Religious guilt *thanks to preachers who are prigs*
2. Rejection by the church community *You don’t need people who don’t love you as you are.*
3. Fear of eternal condemnation *roll eyes*

B. Lack of quest orientation

“Quest” is the search for ‘truth’. People with this quality keep seeking answers to contradictions raised by what they see. They are open to uncertainty and doubt. So, if you accept the interpretations that your organization as the ultimate truth… and you do not like to bother about resolving contradictions… chances are you will seek “repair”.

C. Low levels of identity development

This consists of both self-identity formation and group-membership identity formation. Self-identity formation is “coming out to yourself” as we know it. And group membership formation is feeling a sense of belonging to the gay community- people who label themselves “lesbian” and “gay”.

This consists of both self-identity formation and group-membership identity formation. Self-identity formation is “coming out to yourself” as we know it. And group membership formation is feeling a sense of belonging to the gay community- people who label themselves “lesbian” and “gay”.Those who are in the early stages of identity developement may experience intense feelings, such as confusion, anger and guilt, which arose from a homophobic society. They are most likely to seek reparative therapy whereas gay people who are in the later stages of identity development do not seek reparative therapy.

D. Internalized homonegativity

Higher levels of internalized homonegativity is correlated with lower levels of identity development. Such gay people tend to view gay culture negatively i.e. believing homophobic media messages. In fact, internalized homonegativity is the main reason why homosexuals seek reparative/conversion therapy.

Higher levels of internalized homonegativity is correlated with lower levels of identity development. Such gay people tend to view gay culture negatively i.e. believing homophobic media messages. In fact, internalized homonegativity is the main reason why homosexuals seek reparative/conversion therapy.

And here is the most interesting bit: Those who are homophobic (straight people who discriminate against homosexuals) have the exact SAME profile on the above characteristics. They are also low on identity development. For someone who has a mature development, he/she would be respectful of orientation-differences. Coz it entails not just acceptance, but understanding.