Happy Bisexual Day!!

What Is Bisexuality?

This is a question that many people ask or have misconceptions about.
Here is one definition:
Bisexuality is the potential to feel attracted to and to engage in sexual and/or romantic relationships with people of any sex or gender. A bisexual person may not be equally attracted to men and women. The degree of attraction to any sex can be fluid and may change over time.
Bisexuals, like all people, have a wide variety of relationships. Sexual involvement with both a man and a woman at the same time is not necessary for all bisexuals. Just like anyone else, bisexuals may be single, have one partner or have more than one partner.
Self-perception is the key to a bisexual identity. Many people engage in sexual activity with partners of more than one sex over the course of their lives but do not identify as bisexual. People who have had sex with only one gender, or who have not had sex at all, may identify as bisexual because of their attractions, fantasies or openness to a sexual or romantic relationship with someone of any sex.

Celebrate Bisexuality Day

Celebrate Bisexuality Day takes place each year on September 23rd. Started by bi activists in 1999, Celebrate Bisexuality Day puts bisexuality on the map with its call to promote bi visibility and celebrate the wonderful diversity of bisexual lives. Events are held all over the world on and around this date to raise the profile of bisexuality and bring people's attention to the uniqueness of our lives.

Bisexual Symbols

Bisexual Flag

The pink color represents sexual attraction to the same sex only (gay and lesbian), the blue represents sexual attraction to the opposite sex only (straight) and the resultant overlap color purple represents sexual attraction to both sexes (bi). The key to understanding the symbolism in the Bi Pride Flag is to know that the purple pixels of color blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue, just as in the 'real world' where most bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities. (Michael Page, creator of the Bi Pride Flag)
The following link contains information on the history of the bi pride flag.http://www.biflag.com/Activism.asp?tag=EN000000000000

Double Triangle

The double triangle is a well known bisexuality symbol and is full of meaning. The colour symbolism is the same as in the Bi Pride Flag. The significance of the triangles comes from WWII, where homosexual prisoners were forced to wear a triangle in Nazi camps; black for lesbians and pink for gay men. Triangle symbols in these two colours have been reclaimed by gay, lesbian and bisexual communities, with the bisexual community adding a second triangle and colours from the Bi Pride Flag to represent itself specifically.

Biphobia - The lost "B" in LGBTQ

The “B” has often been left out of LGBT research; studies that lump together LGBT people when comparing them to heterosexual people often overlook the unique experiences of each population, particularly the “B” (and the “T ”). Research that does explore the health of bisexual people indicates that bisexual people often have poorer health outcomes compared to both lesbian and gay populations and heterosexual populations (1). This is particularly the case for bisexual women (2). The poor health outcomes of bisexual people may be attributed to biphobia and the impact of myths and stereotypes about bisexual people (i.e., that bisexuality is a phase or a transition; that bisexual people can’t make up their minds; that bisexuality isn’t a legitimate sexual identity; that bisexual people must have a 50/50 attraction to men and women; that bisexual people are dishonest, promiscuous, or cheat on their partners).

Our definition of bisexual includes people attracted to more than one sex and/or gender. This may include those who self-identify as bisexual, queer, pansexual, omnisexual, two-spirited, fluid, or who choose another non-heterosexual identity label.

Understanding the context of bisexual mental health

We conducted a qualitative study with 55 bisexual people from across Ontario to learn more about their experiences of mental health services and care (3-5). From our pilot study, Understanding the context of bisexual mental health, we learned that bisexuality was dismissed, made invisible, and at times, degraded based on assumptions and stereotypes: “The stereotype is that bisexuals are confused, because they don’t know who they are, and what I’ve actually realized is that society is confused, because they don’t know who we are.” Participants of our pilot study described how their family members and friends similarly expressed these assumptions about bisexuality, resulting in challenges maintaining supportive relationships: “My sister said to me . . . I would prefer it if you were just my gay brother, and not this slutty person who just sleeps with everyone.” While many participants noted the benefit of supportive friends and the value of access to a community of other bisexual people, some reported experiences of biphobia associated with involvement in predominantly gay and lesbian communities: “I remember being at a party…a bunch of people started talking about someone who wasn’t at the party, and why wasn’t she there. And she had ‘turned straight’ and was dating a man.” Finally, some participants discussed how they too internalized common beliefs about bisexual people, as they worked to understand and accept their bisexuality. Participants described self-acceptance as essential to their mental health: “I’ve found that my biggest struggle over the years was accepting myself. And then once I did that, I felt a lot less weight on my shoulders.” In short, our pilot study revealed that bisexual people perceive experiences of discrimination as important determinants of mental health problems.

With regard to bisexual people’s mental health service use, the participants of our pilot study reported negative experiences with providers who they perceived as being uneducated around bisexuality; who made judgments about their clients’ sexual identity or practices; who pathologized bisexuality; or who focused exclusively on the client’s identity to the exclusion of other issues considered relevant by the client. The experiences of the participants in this study are consistent with previous findings that, while most providers no longer view same-sex behaviour as inherently pathological, some still express attitudes and beliefs toward gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients that may decrease the likelihood of a positive outcome from therapy. These negative experiences with mental health providers reflect many of the common social beliefs about bisexuality that have been described as prevalent in the society at large. It appears that some mental health providers have internalized the same beliefs and ideas about bisexuality that have been reported to be problematic for bisexuals in the context of other social relationships (i.e., with family members, friends, partners and potential partners). The resulting negative encounters sometimes led bisexual people to terminate their relationships with providers, which could contribute to the elevated likelihood of bisexual people having unmet health and mental health care needs relative to people of other sexual orientations.

Pilot Study Project Team
Principal Investigators: Lori Ross and Anna TraversCo-Investigator: Cheryl Dobinson
Funded by the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health
Community Research Capacity Enhancement Program
We are now conducting a larger community-based study to learn more about the mental health of bisexual people across Ontario. We aim to survey 800 bisexual people in Ontario. Please visit our Projects page to learn more about this study and our other active studies listed below:
Risk and Resilience among Bisexual People in Ontario: A Community-Based Study of Bisexual Mental Health
Pathways to Effective Depression Treatment
Creating our families: A pilot study of the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people accessing assisted human reproduction services in Ontario
Access to primary care for people with serious mental health and/or substance use issues: A qualitative study
Resources
Please visit our Resources page for more resources about bisexual health and parenting.
Notes:
1. Dobinson, C. (2010). Top Ten Bisexual Health Issues: What Current Research Tells Us. Rainbow Health Ontario Conference.
2. Steele, L.S., Ross, L.E., Dobinson, C., Veldhuizen, S., & Tinmouth, J. (2009). Women’s Sexual Orientation and Health: Results from a Canadian Population-Based Survey. Women & Health, 49(5), 353-367.
3. Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario. (2010). “Study explores bisexual people’s experiences with mental health services in Ontario”.
4. Ross, L.E., Dobinson, C., & Eady, A. (2010). Perceived determinants of mental health for bisexual people: A qualitative examination. American Journal of Public Health, 100(3), 496-502, doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.156307.
5. Eady, A., Dobinson C., & Ross, L.E. (2010). Bisexual peoples’ experiences with mental health services: A qualitative investigation. Community Mental Health Journal, doi: 10.1007/s10597-010-9329-x.

It's OK to use the word "bisexual".

Lately a favourite pet peeve of mine has resurfaced and I thought it high time that I posted my query online, perhaps in the off chance I might get an answer that makes a lick of sense to me.

Here it is: Why is there such hesitation and distaste for the utterance of the word "bisexual" to describe some one's sexual leanings? Especially in non-mainstream television and movies? The gay and lesbian community in particular and the attitudes often expressed makes me cynical to their supposed "open mindedness". The extent of biphobia I have encountered from the "Queer" community has been staggering, surprising and excluding. If I want to pretend to be Les, that's fine and I am welcomed with open arms into the stereotypical male bashing, u-haul trekking "sisterhood". But try and stand outside of that misapplied label, and the looks, oye!!

So, what is it? What scares those that are obviously scared of the word, bisexual? What projected fear is at the core of this scorn? The again stereotypical comments and remarks are also ones for serious eye rolling. It's not a phase, anymore than being gay or straight is. It's not an experiment and it's not an inability to commit or decide.

Bisexual people are simply evolved beyond the need to discriminate in their sexual partners based on their genitalia. It's about what between people's ears that is the base attraction for most of us. Yes, I said "us", as I include myself in the bisexual category (for those that haven't been reading my blogs, everyone is well clued in by now).

Sure, who doesn't appreciate a nice set of tits, or a tight little ass or whatever, but bisexual people tend to need something beyond that. And it's not a threat to anyone. Anymore than a straight person is to the opposite gender, it's about the person.

Is it because perhaps we blend it too well, and you'd like us to be more "visible"? Well, again, we don't often fit into molds and stereotypes.

If you have an answer or perhaps even a theory that you think "holds water", please feel free to post it.