Bi The Way

There’s a lot of nonsense written about bisexuals and the media often portray an unfair stereotype, so here’s a list of 5 myths about bisexuals that we shall debunk right here and now.

Myth #1 Bisexuality doesn’t exist.

This is based on the simplistic notion that people are either straight or gay. Well sorry to mess-up your black and white view of the world, but there are many shades of grey in between. Studies from as far back as the 1940′s identified the prevalence of bisexuality, (See Kinsey reports). And there are far too many people who identify was bisexual and genuinely do find themselves attracted to men and women, for the existence of bisexuality to be seriously called into question.

Myth #2 Its just a phase.

“IT’S NOT A PHASE!” – There are so many bisexuals set to scream this from the roof-tops because they are so sick of been told that their sexual orientation is some kind of teenage experimentation or mid-life crisis and that its something they’ll grow out of. Trust me it isn’t! It persists. This stereotype is often assumed by parents of teenagers, hoping to god their child will be “normal” and by Gay and Lesbians who had straight experiences before realising their homosexual preference.

Myth #3 Bisexual are always unfaithful and can’t be trusted.

We get this a lot, sadly, but whilst there are promiscuous bisexuals just as there are promiscuous gay and straight people, there are many bisexuals who are perfectly capable of entering into and maintaining a committed monogamous relationship. You see bisexuality doesn’t so much mean that we want to sleep with men *and* women, more commonly it means that we are happy to sleep with men *or* women. Or as my friend Sean put it, “I’m attracted to the person, not the genitalia.”

Myth #4 Bisexuals spread HIV.

This stems from the argument that HIV originated in the Gay community and was spread to the straight community by people who slept with both men and women (bisexuals). This argument is weak at best when you consider that HIV actually originated in non-human primates and “jumped” to humans via mutation. HIV is of course not spread by bisexuals, but instead by unsafe sexual practices, this applies whether you are straight, gay or bisexual. In fact the rate of HIV transmission between heterosexuals now exceeds the rate of the infection between homosexual partners. After the devastation caused by HIV in the 80′s the gay community is now much more conscious of the risks whereas the straight community is increasingly ambivalent to the dangers of STD’s.

Myth #5 Bisexuals are gay people who want to avoid the social-political consequences of been gay.

This is a myth circulated by the Gay and Lesbian Community who feel that by identifying as bisexual rather than homosexual we weaken their position as a political movement. The gay lobby group “Stonewall” is notorious for ignoring bisexuals and bisexuality. Even though it claims to be an organisation for the LGBT community.

The notion that as bisexuals we avoid the discrimination faced by the gay community because we “keep one foot in the straight circle”, is instantly rubbished by the existence of this myth and the bi-phobia we face from elements of the gay community. So far from avoiding discrimination, we get it in stereo, from the straight community one on side and from the gay community on the other. Its a tough beat to tread.

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