Bi-sexual
Personal accounts
“I am told that I am neither “gay enough” nor “straight enough”. I am often told to just pick one gender. It is also assumed that you are unfaithful. ”
“That realm often overlooked and forgotten between straight and gay! Being bisexual means having to navigate through both straight and queer culture (and often not being taken seriously by either). ”
“I identify as bisexual and one of the biggest struggles that I faced when coming to terms with my sexuality was with the intrinsic biphobia views that society has. A lot of people view being bi as a stopover to being gay or a lesbian, and this is incredibly dangerous for a young queer person - the fear of being told it’s a phase, or being told you’re not ‘straight’ or ‘gay’ enough to fit into either category it incredibly stressful and not something that one needs to face. For me, accepting my attraction to men was harder than accepting my attraction to women - as a cis woman this is probably a bit strange and I still don’t understand why. Maybe I felt like if I came out as bi people wouldn’t believe me, or do the classic ‘oh so you’re a lesbian?’ - and when I did come out as bi people still misunderstood and thought I wasn’t being serious. I’m more comfortable with myself now and have spoken up for myself and told those people that no, I’m not a lesbian, but I do like women. And back to societies intrinsic biphobia - I feel as though it is rarely spoken about or even recognised - usually biphobia is subtle which makes it all the more dangerous and tricky to change, so I hope that we can work to break down these harmful views and ensure that future generations don’t have to face them.”
