In tough times, when queer people were fighting for their lives and for basic legal protections, some gay rights groups strategically rejected bisexual people. Bisexuality introduces nuance, which has always made it easier to discard than accommodate it. There have long been toxic misconceptions of bisexual people as promiscuous and unfaithful, in a confused state of sexual transition or experimentation, lying about their attractions for attention or to attract men (particularly bi women), or simply adhering to some sort of trend (particularly young people).īeing bi could also get you kicked out of your local queer space.

Historically, there have been a number of reasons for this, including wanting to avoid discrimination and stigma. One reason why we might “forget” bisexuals is because those who are attracted to people of multiple genders rarely call themselves bi. Which term people use is almost entirely down to preference, although sometimes the choice is driven by an ahistorical misconception that the bi in bisexual reinforces a gender binary and excludes trans and nonbinary people. Nestled within the term bisexual are other labels, including pansexual, omnisexual, and polysexual.

Bisexuality is the sexual and/or romantic attraction to multiple genders. That is, until we see that bi people have been there all along, they’ve just been mislabeled or left out of the narrative. Collective amnesia makes us feel as if there are no bi people in history.

Bi the hidden culture