Bisexual erasure
Encyclopedia
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, the news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
, and other primary source
Primary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
s. In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can include denying that bisexuality exists.
However, there is also increasing support, inclusion, and visibility in both bisexual and non-bisexual communities, especially in the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community.
Common displays of bisexual erasure
Both gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and straight people who engage in bisexual erasure may claim that bisexuals are actually closeted
The Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
homosexual people who wish to appear heterosexual, or conversely that bisexuals are heterosexuals who are experimenting with their sexuality.
A common manifestation of bisexual erasure is a tendency for bisexuals to be referred to as heterosexual when they are intimately involved with people of the opposite sex, and to be labeled as homosexual when they are involved with people of the same sex.
In the LGBT community
Bisexual erasure may stem from a belief that the bisexual communityBisexual community
Bisexual community is a term used to describe members of the LGBT community who identify as bisexual, pansexual, "fluid", and queer-identified, as well as their allies...
does not deserve equal status or inclusion within gay and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
communities. This can take the form of omitting the word "bisexual" in the name of an organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
or event that serves the whole LGBT community, including it as "bi-sexual", treating the subject of bisexuality in a derogatory way,.
There is some feeling in the bisexual community of being overlooked in the same-sex marriage debate and in the Don't ask, don't tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
debate.
In the media
It has been observed that some media outlets have portrayed bisexual and gender-blurring behaviors in ancient and non-Western cultures, such as ancient Greek pederastyPederasty
Pederasty or paederasty is an intimate relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek "love of boys", a compound derived from "child, boy" and "lover".Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and...
or Native American Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit People , is an English term that emerged in 1990 out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nations gay/lesbian American conference in Winnipeg. It describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native...
s (defined in 1990), as proof that homosexuality has been widely accepted in other times and cultures, even though it can also be seen as proof of the existence and acceptance of bisexuality, or the past acceptance of sexual expression.
In both the gay and straight media, individuals who have kept their identity
Sexual orientation identity
Sexual orientation identity describes how persons identify their own sexuality. In addition, they may choose not to identify their sexual orientation, or dis-identify with a sexual orientation.This may or may not relate to their actual sexual orientation...
unknown have been portrayed as either gay or straight even though they have a bisexual behavior
Behavior
Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...
and lifestyle. This can be seen as an inclination to label others as gay or straight even if the individual's behavior points towards a bisexual or pansexual identity. Those who have specifically identified as bisexual or have a clear history of significant experience with both same and opposite-sex partners are sometimes labeled as homosexual or heterosexual as well. A clear example of this is Robyn Ochs
Robyn Ochs
Robyn Ochs is an American bisexual and LGBT rights activist who helped found the Boston Bisexual Network in 1983, and the Bisexual Resource Center in 1985....
, a bisexual activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
who was publicly misidentified as a lesbian on the day of her wedding, or Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
sometimes being labelled either homosexual or heterosexual by the media even though she has publicly identified as bisexual.
Other times, the media in both communities will refer to the "gay and lesbian" community and completely leave out bisexual or transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
people.
MTV's The Real World
On December 30, 2009, MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
premiered their 23rd season of the show The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
. The series took place in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and featured two bisexual participants, Emily Schromm, and Mike Manning. Manning's sexuality appears to have generated some controversy, with both bloggers and many comments on blogs saying that he is really gay, although he himself identifies as bisexual, and has dated both sexes. A behind the scenes MTV Aftershow and subsequent interview also revealed that both Manning and Schromm had encounters with both men and women while on the show, but when the show was edited, both were made to appear as if they had been with only men on the show.
See also
- BialogueBialogueBialogue, a portmanteau of the words bisexual and dialogue, is an American activist/political group that started in New York City, working on issues of local, national & international interest to the bisexual, fluid, pansexual, queer-identified communities and their allies...
- BiphobiaBiphobiaBiphobia is a term used to describe aversion felt toward bisexuality and bisexuals as a social group or as individuals. People of any sexual orientation can experience such feelings of aversion...
- HeteronormativityHeteronormativityHeteronormativity is a term invented in 1991 to describe any of a set of lifestyle norms that hold that people fall into distinct and complementary genders with natural roles in life. It also holds that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation, and states that sexual and marital relations...
- HeterosexismHeterosexismHeterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the only norm and therefore superior...
- HomophobiaHomophobiaHomophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
Further reading
- Fraser, M., Identity Without Selfhood: Simone de Beauvoir and Bisexuality, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 1999. p. 124-140.
External links
- Bisexual Literature at glbtq.comGlbtq.comglbtq.com is an online encyclopedia that presents detailed biographies of notable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It was named one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" in 2005 by the American Library Association....
- Curiouser And Curiouser: The Strange ‘disappearance’ Of Male Bisexuality by Mark SimpsonMark Simpson (journalist)Mark Simpson is an English journalist, writer, and broadcaster specialising in pop culture, media, and masculinity. He has been described by one critic as "the skinhead Oscar Wilde" Simpson is a frequent commentator on British television shows....
- Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited New York Times, July 5, 2005
- The Binary & Bisexual Erasure: A Hatred of Bisexual People in Gay Communities?
- The Bisexual Curmudgeon: Dear Fellow Non-existent Beings