I am glad that this longitudinal study was conducted and published. As with most institutions, academia and scientific research comes from a long history of conservative heteronormative hegemony, therefore, many topics have not yet been explored in the field of human sexuality. The theories regarding bisexuality or sexual fluidity has also followed in the tradition of "either/ or" and "black and white" categorizations. Sexual fluidity is a fairly recent discussion. The closest model we have to this is the Kinsey scale and the idea that people's sexuality is a spectrum rather than a set straight-gay model. In this article, one of the ideas that is introduced is that, bisexual/unlabeled/fluid women change their "sexual identities and sexual behavior" but their sexual "attraction" remain stable. I think this is perfectly reasonable, considering the fact that sexual behavior is a preference but attraction to the same sex or the opposite sex is one's orientation.
In my opinion, one's "identity" or the labels we attach to ourselves are based on the communities we associate with and the terminologies that community uses. Words such as butch, femme, queer, lipstick lesbian are labels found in the GLBTQ community and in the straight community a woman is often labeled other things. A bisexual woman might embrace the term femme in her youth, but feel that she is more than that as she gets older and decide that she no longer wants to be labeled. If I am in a heterosexual relationship and have predominantly heterosexual friends, or if I get married to a man, I am more likely to identify myself as "unlabeled" rather than "bisexual." This does not mean that my attraction to women has disappeared or that I could never see myself in a relationship with a woman again. On the other hand, if I happen to be very involved in the queer community and be in a domestic partnership with a woman, I am more likely to consider myself queer or bisexual, even though I would not rule out the idea of a man in my life. Another myth that this study rebukes is the ridiculous idea that bisexuals are incapable of commitment. This research points out the fact that bisexual/ fluid women are just as capable of being in long-term committed relationships as other sexual orientations and in fact they often do choose to be in stable monogomous relationships. Although there are some polyamourous bisexuals women, the majority desire a monogamous traditional household. In the Queer community there is a great deal of biphobia and in fact many lesbian women will not date bisexuals and exclusively state this. In the straight community bisexual women are either called confused or seen as promiscous women looking for casual sex with both sexes. Media depiction of bisexuality has not been helpful. Tila Tequila is not exactly a good model of a bisexual woman.
Not fitting the societal norm is very difficult, but it is also difficult when the counter-culture or the "other" community (e.g. the gay community) also ostracizes some members of the society and creates yet another "other."
I am glad that this longitudinal study was conducted and published. As with most institutions, academia and scientific research comes from a long history of conservative heteronormative hegemony, therefore, many topics have not yet been explored in the field of human sexuality.
ReplyDeleteThe theories regarding bisexuality or sexual fluidity has also followed in the tradition of "either/ or" and "black and white" categorizations. Sexual fluidity is a fairly recent discussion. The closest model we have to this is the Kinsey scale and the idea that people's sexuality is a spectrum rather than a set straight-gay model.
In this article, one of the ideas that is introduced is that, bisexual/unlabeled/fluid women change their "sexual identities and sexual behavior" but their sexual "attraction" remain stable.
I think this is perfectly reasonable, considering the fact that sexual behavior is a preference but attraction to the same sex or the opposite sex is one's orientation.
In my opinion, one's "identity" or the labels we attach to ourselves are based on the communities we associate with and the terminologies that community uses. Words such as butch, femme, queer, lipstick lesbian are labels found in the GLBTQ community and in the straight community a woman is often labeled other things. A bisexual woman might embrace the term femme in her youth, but feel that she is more than that as she gets older and decide that she no longer wants to be labeled.
If I am in a heterosexual relationship and have predominantly heterosexual friends, or if I get married to a man, I am more likely to identify myself as "unlabeled" rather than "bisexual." This does not mean that my attraction to women has disappeared or that I could never see myself in a relationship with a woman again.
On the other hand, if I happen to be very involved in the queer community and be in a domestic partnership with a woman, I am more likely to consider myself queer or bisexual, even though I would not rule out the idea of a man in my life.
Another myth that this study rebukes is the ridiculous idea that bisexuals are incapable of commitment. This research points out the fact that bisexual/ fluid women are just as capable of being in long-term committed relationships as other sexual orientations and in fact they often do choose to be in stable monogomous relationships.
Although there are some polyamourous bisexuals women, the majority desire a monogamous traditional household.
In the Queer community there is a great deal of biphobia and in fact many lesbian women will not date bisexuals and exclusively state this. In the straight community bisexual women are either called confused or seen as promiscous women looking for casual sex with both sexes. Media depiction of bisexuality has not been helpful. Tila Tequila is not exactly a good model of a bisexual woman.
Not fitting the societal norm is very difficult, but it is also difficult when the counter-culture or the "other" community (e.g. the gay community) also ostracizes some members of the society and creates yet another "other."