Bisexuality has almost always been a term with a history of contention from the era in which it was coined to the phobic response is garners from heterosexual and homosexuals alike. In todays culture and understanding of sexuality as fluid and non-binary, the term is still misunderstood and new myths about it are formed rather quickly. Here are the top 5 myths we’ve busted about bisexuality!
Most commonly this is followed by “they’re just going through a phase or confused”. While some people do go through a transitional period of bisexuality, there are plenty of people where this remains their long-term sexual orientation.
To flip the script, there are even bisexuals who had a transitional phase of homosexuality before discovering their bisexuality. The idea the people are sitting on the fence with their sexuality is just simply not true.
For starters, no one says this about any other sexuality. A transgender woman is a woman and a transgender male is a male, this doesn’t impact other peoples sexuality. This rhetoric is the result of ignorant people with biphobia and transphobia.
Bisexuals have actually been known allies for the transgender and nonbinary community for decades. It is completely normal for a bisexual person to have attraction for another regardless of their transgender origin.
If we take a step back into history, when the term bisexual was coined, it was to describe how a person may be attracted to all of the genders, which at the time there were only 2 gendres identified.
The bi in bisexual has evolved and doesn’t only refer to two genders. Rather, bi refers to people similar to your own gender and people different from yours. But a bisexual can be attracted to genders beyond the binary and should not be kept in a binary bubble.
This myth comes from a place of conflating sexuality with promiscuity and pleasure. Just because a person is attracted to more than one gender, doesn’t make them pre-disposed to a fascination or obsession with gaining sex and pleasure. It doesn’t define whether someone is monogamous (1 parter) or polyamorous (multiple partners) either.
There’s a lot to unpack here. Bisexuals, historically, have been allies to the homosexual communities for a long time and does not negate the years of hard work done by the LBGTQ+ community. Is it possible a bisexual may pass as heterosexual, yes. Is it the standard or norm, hardly.
We also have to address here that bisexuals are ridiculed and persecuted by both heterosexual and homosexual communities. Political bisexuals are aware of their heterosexual privilege and are committed to the LGBTQ+ communities, regardless of their current sexual partner(s).
It’s important we also refine some quick definitions of various sexual orientations to clear up the confusion surrounding them.
- Bisexuality - Sexual attraction to more than one gender.
- Pansexual - Sexual attraction regardless of gender. Someones gender doesn’t factor much, if at all in your decision to pursue sexual relations.
- Asexuality - When you don’t feel sexual attraction to anyone, but you might feel romantic or emotional attraction to someone.
In this day and age, it’s far time to let the outdated definitions and myths about bisexuality expire and embrace people the way they need you to embrace them.