Many people think that if a person is not heterosexual or homosexual, in fact, sexual orientation is not divided according to binary viewpoints. In addition to the above two, there are bisexuality and asexuality.
I have to say that bisexuals suffer from many misunderstandings in life, which makes some bisexuals dare not even say that they are bi, only dare to say that they are heterosexual or homosexual.
Bisexual Flag/Wikipedia
According to the definition of relevant United Nations organizations, bisexuality refers to being attracted to more than one gender in emotional, romantic and sexual terms. For some of these bisexuals, the degree and manner in which they are attracted to people of different genders may change throughout their lives. Some people who are attracted to more than one gender use other terms such as pansexual, polysexual, fluid, or queer.
An obvious question, what percentage of humanity is bisexual?
U.S. studies show that 2%-3.1% of respondents identify as bisexual, and these studies also show that as many as 13% of women and nearly 6% of men are attracted to more than one gender, but it is not clear Self-identified as bisexual.
According to a British study, about half of young people say their sexual orientation falls between fully heterosexual and fully homosexual. Yet bisexuality is often ignored by the media and health care research.
Different studies in different countries in the world show that the proportion of bisexuals is different, but a fact recognized by the academic community is that the number of bisexuals is far greater than that of homosexuals. But no matter for heterosexuals or within the LGBT community, people always ignore the existence of bisexual groups consciously or unintentionally.
There are various misconceptions about the bisexual community, some common misconceptions in society are as follows.
Myth 1: Bisexuality does not exist.
When a person says that he is bisexual, people often think that he is actually gay and that he is defending his homosexuality. Others see bisexuality as a transition from heterosexuality to homosexuality. In fact, bisexuality is a common sexual orientation, and bisexuals are attracted to more than one gender.
Myth 2: Bisexuals are threesome and promiscuous lovers.
When it comes to bisexuality, the most common folk saying is “men and women kill each other”. It means that bisexuals can handle both men and women. They can have relationships with people of different genders. In the stereotype, they think that bisexuals can have threesomes and promiscuity. This is a big misunderstanding of bisexuality, threesomes and promiscuity can exist in any group, it’s not synonymous with bisexuality.
Myth 3: Bisexuality is homosexuality.
Since some bisexuals choose to be in a relationship with someone of the same gender, this can make some people think they are gay. For example, if a men’s doubles is in a relationship with a man, and after the breakup, the men’s doubles and women get married, and people will feel that men’s doubles are using the guise of being bisexual to reduce the pressure of their marriage. In fact, people who consider themselves bisexual do not necessarily think that both genders have the same sexual attraction, especially many bisexual people think that a certain gender is relatively more sexually attractive. Simply put, a doubles guy thinks that men are sexually attractive to him at a 9 and women are a 5, but that doesn’t mean he’s not bisexual.
For bisexuals, it is their personal freedom to choose what gender they are in love with. They can fall in love with homosexuals for a certain period of time, or they can fall in love with the opposite sex for a certain period of time, as long as they do not deceive and hurt others.
But in life, in addition to “homophobia”, there are also “biphobia” behaviors. This refers to the fear, discrimination and hatred of bisexuality, manifested in denial of the existence of bisexuality, biphobia, rejection of bisexuality, stereotypes of bisexuality, bisexuality Say something insulting.
Because people’s misunderstanding of bisexuality has always existed, this not only exposes the bisexual group to discrimination from the heterosexual group, but also exposes them to prejudice and discrimination within the LGBT group. For example, many gays and lesbians find bisexuals disgusting and messy, unacceptable to be in a relationship with bisexuals, and even refuse to maintain normal relationships with them.
Bisexual Organizations/Networks in America
And many research studies have also shown that bisexuals have higher anxiety levels, more severe mental health problems, etc. than heterosexuals, gays and lesbians. Nearly one in two bisexual women in the U.S. has been raped, three times more than heterosexual women and lesbians, and 75 percent of bisexual women have experienced other forms of sexual violence. Nearly half of bisexual men surveyed had experienced some form of sexual violence, twice the rate of heterosexual men.
Learning about bisexuality and dispelling misunderstandings can allow us to change stereotypes about the bisexual community. If you have bisexual friends around you, try talking to them face-to-face to understand their thoughts and listen to their voices. If we encounter discrimination against bisexual groups, we can speak out against it.
In addition, when we talk to others, we should not arbitrarily guess the sexual orientation of others, and we should respect the self-identity of others.