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Biphobia or monosexism is aversion toward bisexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being bisexual. Similarly to homophobia, it refers to hatred and prejudice specifically against those identified or perceived as being in the bisexual community. It can take the form of denial that bisexuality is a genuine sexual orientation, or of negative LGBT stereotypes about people who are bisexual (such as the beliefs that they are promiscuous or dishonest). Other forms of biphobia include bisexual erasure. Biphobia may also avert towards other sexualities attracted to multiple genders such as pansexuality or polysexuality, as the idea of being attracted to multiple genders is generally the cause of stigma towards bisexuality.
The hatred of bisexual women and , being a form of prejudice at the intersection of biphobia and misogyny, is referred to as bimisogyny or less commonly bisexism. This is a gendered form of biphobia that accounts for intersectionality in discussions on bigotry.
The term biphobia was first introduced in 1992 by researcher Kathleen Bennett to mean "prejudice against bisexuality" and "the denigration of bisexuality as a life-choice." It has subsequently been defined as "any portrayal or discourse denigrating or criticizing men or women on the sole ground of their belonging to this bisexual socio-sexual identity, or refusing them the right to claim it."
Biphobia need not be a phobia as defined in clinical psychology (i.e., an anxiety disorder). Its meaning and use typically parallel those of xenophobia.
Another form of denial stems from Binary thinking views of sexuality: that people are assumed Monosexuality, i.e. homosexual (gay men/lesbian) or heterosexual (Heterosexuality). Throughout the 1980s, modern research on sexuality was dominated by the idea that heterosexuality and homosexuality were the only legitimate orientations, dismissing bisexuality as "secondary homosexuality". In that model, bisexuals are presumed to be either The closet lesbian/gay people wishing to appear heterosexual,Michael Musto, April 7, 2009. Ever Meet a Real Bisexual? , The Village Voice or individuals (of "either" orientation) experimenting with sexuality outside of their "normal" interest. Aphorism such as "people are either gay, straight, or lying" embody this dichotomous view of sexual orientation.
Some people accept the theoretical existence of bisexuality but define it narrowly, as being only the equal sexual attraction towards both men and women. Thus the many bisexual individuals with unequal attractions are instead categorized as either homosexual or heterosexual. Others acknowledge the existence of bisexuality in women, but deny that men can be bisexual.
Some denial asserts that bisexual behavior or identity is merely a social trend – as exemplified by "bisexual chic" or gender bending – and not an intrinsic personality trait. Same-gender sexual activity is dismissed as merely a substitute for sex with members of the opposite sex, or as a more accessible source of sexual gratification. Situational homosexuality in Sex segregation environments is presented as an example of this behavior.
Biphobia is common from the heterosexual community, but is frequently exhibited by gay and lesbian people as well, usually with the notion that bisexuals are able to escape oppression from heterosexuals by conforming to social expectations of opposite-gender sex and romance. This leaves some that identify as bisexual to be perceived as "not enough of either" or "not real". An Australian study conducted by Roffee and Waling in 2016 established that bisexual people faced microaggressions, bullying, and other anti-social behaviors from people within the lesbian and gay community.
Bisexual erasure (also referred to as bisexual invisibility) is a phenomenon that tends to omit, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the news media, and other , Word Of The Gay: BisexualErasure May 16, 2008 "Queers United" The B Word Suresha, Ron. "The B Word," Options (Rhode Island), November 2004 sometimes to the point of denying that bisexuality exists.
Kenji Yoshino (2000) writes that there are three concepts that cause invisibility within bisexuality: "The three invisibilities can be seen as nested within each other; the first affects straights, gays, and bisexuals; the second affects only gays and bisexuals; and the third affects only bisexuals." Forms of social standards and expectations, religion, and integrating the same-sex attraction aspect of bisexuality with homosexuality contribute to invisibility.
In the book Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution, Shiri Eisner (2013) mentions Miguel Obradors-Campos' argument that bisexual individuals endure stigma by heterosexuals as well as gay and lesbian individuals. Eisner (2013) also writes, "some forms of biphobic stigma frequently observed in gay and lesbian communities: that bisexuals are privileged, that bisexuals will ultimately choose heterosexual relationships and lifestyles, that bisexual women are reinforcing patriarchy, that bisexuality is not a political identity, that bisexual women carry HIV to lesbian communities, and so on."
The association of bisexuality with promiscuity stems from a variety of negative stereotypes targeting bisexuals as mentally or socially unstable people for whom sexual relations only with men, only with women, or only with one person at a time is not enough. These stereotypes may result from cultural assumptions that "men and women are so different that desire for one is an entirely different beast from desire for the other" ("a defining feature of heterosexism"), and that "verbalizing a sexual desire inevitably leads to attempts to satisfy that desire." "Bisexuals and the Slut Myth" , presented at the 9th International Conference on Bisexuality
As a result, bisexuals may bear a social stigma from accusations of cheating on or betraying their partners, leading a double life, being "on the down-low", and spreading sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. This presumed behavior is further generalized as dishonesty, secrecy, and deception. Bisexuals can be characterized as being "slutty", "easy", indiscriminate, and Hypersexuality. Furthermore, they are strongly associated with polyamory, swinging, and polygamy, the last being an established heterosexual tradition sanctioned by some religions and legal in several countries. This is despite the fact that bisexual people are as capable of monogamy or serial monogamy as homosexuals or heterosexuals.
A 2017 study published in the Journal of Bisexuality found that when bisexuals and pansexuals described gender and defined bisexuality, "there were no differences in how pansexual and bisexual people ... discussed sex or gender", and that the findings "do not support the stereotype that bisexual people endorse a binary view of gender while pansexual people do not."
While doing research on women at high risk of HIV infection, one study, from the Journal of Bisexuality, concluded that bisexual women in the high-risk cohort studied were more likely to engage in various high-risk behaviors and were at a higher risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. These behaviors have been attributed to the unlikeliness of bisexuals discussing their sexuality and proper protection with health professionals for fear of judgement or discrimination, causing them to become undereducated on the issue(s). In the book, Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution, Shiri Eisner (2013) discusses the suicidality statistics amongst bisexual identifying individuals as compared to heterosexuals, gays, and lesbians. Eisner (2013) referred to a Canadian study that found bisexual women had higher rates of suicidality as compared to heterosexual and lesbian women; the study also found that bisexual men also had increased rates of suicidality as compared to heterosexual and gay men.
Bisexual-identified people may face disparities in harsher degrees than their gay and lesbian peers. In the U.S. in particular, for example, they may face:
A bisexual woman filed a lawsuit against the lesbian feminist magazine Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, alleging discrimination against bisexuals when her submission was not published.
A widely studied example of lesbian-bisexual conflict within feminism was the Northampton Pride March during the years between 1989 and 1993, where many feminists involved debated over whether bisexuals should be included and whether or not bisexuality was compatible with feminism. Common lesbian-feminist critiques leveled at bisexuality were that bisexuality was Antifeminism, that bisexuality was a form of false consciousness, and that bisexual women who pursue relationships with men were "deluded and desperate". However, tensions between bisexual feminists and lesbian feminists have eased since the 1990s, as bisexual women have become more accepted within the feminist community.
Nevertheless, some lesbian feminists such as Julie Bindel are still critical of bisexuality. Bindel has described female bisexuality as a "fashionable trend" being promoted due to "sexual hedonism" and broached the question of whether bisexuality even exists. She has also made tongue-in-cheek comparisons of bisexuals to Animal fancy and Satanism.
Lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys writes in The Lesbian Heresy (1993) that while many feminists are comfortable working alongside gay men, they are uncomfortable interacting with bisexual men. Jeffreys states that while gay men are unlikely to sexually harass women, bisexual men are just as likely to be bothersome to women as heterosexual men.
Donna Haraway was the inspiration and genesis for cyberfeminism with her 1985 essay "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century" which was reprinted in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (1991). Haraway's essay states that the cyborg "has no truck with bisexuality, pre-oedipal symbiosis, unalienated labor, or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriation of all powers of the parts into a higher unity."
flag was introduced in 2010 by Natalie McCray; this is a version with the kiss symbol changed.]] The lipstick lesbian flag was introduced in 2010 by Natalie McCray, but has not been widely adopted; some lesbians are against it because McCray's blog had biphobic (and racist and transphobia) comments, and because it does not include butch lesbians.
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