Bi Erasure - Tumblr Posts - Page 2
my mom’s work held a seminar about lgbt issues and there was a part where they talked about the high rates of suicide, drug use, and abuse that bi people face and my mom told me that everyone there was so shocked that the rates were higher than gay men and lesbians. including the gay man who was sitting next to my mom who said he had no idea and now he felt guilty for how he talked to and thought about bi people in the past. everyone there (including my mother, by her own admission) thought that things would be easier for bisexuals because we can “fit in with either group.” that really shows you how much people ignore the specific issues that bisexuals have to go through and how the fact that people think we have “straight-passing privilege” just makes people turn their backs on us.
So I learned that popular long time bisexual comic book character John Constantines' bisexuality (John has been bi in DC Comics since 1992) has been erased by biphobic writer 'Si Spurrier'. His so called explaination for this erasure said he believed "bisexuality to not be inclusive of trans or nonbinary people", which is 100% FALSE. This biphobic and transphobic erasure is exactly why bisexual visibility month exists.
In response to this outright biphobia a Change petition was create. Please feel free to click the link and sign it and let bisexual voices be heard!
Lani Kaʻahumanu being interviewed by Mason Funk (The OUTWORDS Archive) in Cazadero, CA, USA (July 25, 2016)
I read Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw and I was shocked at how much more severe the issue of biphobia and bimisogyny is than most people, even within the bisexual community, even realize. I’ve posted links to the relevant quotes from this book and organized them under these broad points:
bi men are targeted by both homophobia and biphobia; biphobia bi men experience is a materially distinct oppression than homophobia;
bi women are targeted by both lesbophobia and biphobia; bimisogyny, the intersection of misogyny and biphobia, is a materially distinct oppression from lesbophobia;
bisexuals of color, disabled bisexuals, and trans/nb bisexuals experience profound erasure from bi representation and scholarship, and access to necessary resources;
bi people experience "double discrimination"/biphobia from the straight and gay communities; bi ppl are at risk of discrimination for bisexuality specifically;
This biphobic discrimination in the gay community goes back decades;
the terminology used to describe gay rights is often exclusive of us to a damaging degree. this means in addition to specific biphobic struggles, bisexuals often must face generalized homophobia without the "buffer" of acceptance in the larger LGBT+ community and with some enhanced difficulties acquiring LGBT+ resources; and finally,
positive aspects of bisexuality and bi identity/nuance corner.
The most important information I found is that bi+ people have a higher rate of mental health issues, suicidal and self-harm issues, addiction, isolation, rape, IPV, stalking, abuse, and are less likely to be out as bisexual or to have strong connections to the larger LGBT+ community to act as a buffer against discrimination, as opposed to lesbians and gay men. They are also erased and denied access to LGBT+ spaces, resources, and legal protections. As opposed to gay men and lesbians, the particularities of the bisexual experience includes 1) experiencing double discrimination, 2) less likely to be out, resulting in mental health issues 3) bisexuals are more isolated on average than LG people, and 4) bisexuals struggle with internalized biphobia. I've broken down these arguments and sourced further information on the material affects of biphobia here on my Wordpress blog, since Tumblr won't let me post the full quote all at once, but you can find the quotes with the specific research and studies I'm basing these claims on in my tag for this book or under my general book quotes link, #education multiplies power
some of you lot will say ANYTHING to avoid admitting that youre just bisexual fr huh
Butch is a term for lesbians only. Please let lesbians have just one thing. Just one
no
Say that to Danganronpa Fandom who is a really Bi erasure.
Calling a canon bisexual woman a lesbian becuase she has a female love interest or is in a wlw relationship is bisexual erasure and biphobic!!!!
Edit:
And ra/df/ems :)
Hate that when Homelander found out Queen Maeve’s ex was a woman he outted her as a lesbian on TV, and when she told the PR people she was bi they were like oh that’s confusing tho so no you’re lesbian actually and also can one of u be more masculine?
A true bi erasure experience ✨
But I do love that when her relationship with her gf fell apart she was like… ya know what? That’s it, I’m gonna go find some dude dick.
fandoms stop erasing canon bisexual women challenge (impossible)
Bold emphasis mine.
“I want to push back on this. I’m assuming we’re only talking about the case where a bi person knows themself to be bi, and doesn’t assume they have to be gay/lesbian because they sure aren’t straight. There are many reasons why, as a bi person experiencing biphobia from both straight and queer communities, to call yourself gay/lesbian. I’m bi. It is most important to me to be understood to be a member of the LGBT+ community - this might sometimes mean calling myself a lesbian to, for example, to a gay man who only accepts my company because I have never dated a man and he can pretend I’m a lesbian, of identifying as lesbian to someone who doesn’t know what bisexuality is and is resistant to learning it. Calling myself lesbian is not a bonus or appropriation, it is a silencing of myself. I can decry bi erasure and still be forced to perpetuate it on myself.”
Um, yes you can but we call that hypocrisy. Because no one is forcing you. You make the choice to call yourself something you know you are not. I know this because you call yourself lesbian. Literally the only time that’s guaranteed to make you safer then calling yourself straight is if you are In lesbian spaces or using it with men to appeal to a fetish. That’s it.
“don’t complain about bi erasure if you’re bi and call yourself gay/lesbian” because if you do you are a hypocrite knowingly doing damage to others to be in spaces you were not invited or to appeal to male sexual fantasy which leads to actual harm to the women you are stereotyping. I will 100% support complaining about bi erasure if you’re bi and call yourself straight because that comes from a place of genuine self protection.
don’t complain about bi erasure if you’re bi and call yourself gay/lesbian
Just remembering how I was told "you aren't bisexual, you are just a whore" when I was 12 after I came out of the closet :]
Mind you, I'm an 18 year old virgin who gave her first kiss last year
Calling a canon bisexual woman a lesbian becuase she has a female love interest or is in a wlw relationship is bisexual erasure and biphobic!!!!
Edit:
And ra/df/ems :)