Bi+ Visibility: Characteristics of Those Who Attempt to Make Their Bisexual+ Identity Visible and the Strategies They Use

Jabbour, Jeremy; Dyar, Christina; Feinstein, Brian A.

doi:10.1007/s10508-018-1284-6

Cited by 38 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In fact, one fifth of them (20.2%) made bi+ visibility attempts on more than 10 days. These findings not only support the notion that many bi+ individuals want to make their sexual orientation visible (Davila et al, 2019), they also suggest that a sizable proportion of bi+ individuals engage in frequent attempts to be visible.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…These assumptions, combined with binary views of sexual orientation (i.e., views that a person can only be lesbian/gay or heterosexual), render bi+ identities invisible. That said, emerging evidence suggests that many bi+ individuals want to make their identities visible (Davila et al, 2019). Visibility has the potential to connect bi+ individuals to other community members and supportive allies, but it can also expose them to discrimination and have a negative influence on health and well-being (Dewaele et al, 2014; Feinstein et al, 2019; Feinstein et al, 2017).…”

Section: Theoretical Models Of Disclosure and Visibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bisexual+ visibility attempts: Associations with minority stress, affect, and substance use in a daily diary study.

Dyar¹,

Feinstein²,

Bettin³

2022

Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

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The efforts of bisexualϩ people to make their sexual orientation visible are associated with positive and negative outcomes, but little is known about the temporality or directionality of these associations. Using data from a 28-day diary study with 208 biϩ individuals, we found that biϩ visibility attempts were concurrently associated with more positive affect, higher identity affirmation, less depressed/anxious affect, as well as more antibisexual experiences and rejection sensitivity. Prospectively, the likelihood of consuming alcohol (but not marijuana) was higher the day after making a visibility attempt, and positive affect was higher the day before making an attempt. Making visibility attempts in contexts that may have been more supportive (e.g., with friends, partners, and lesbian/gay individuals) was associated with more positive outcomes (e.g., more positive affect), while making attempts in contexts that may have been less supportive (e.g., with family, strangers, people who are unaccepting of biϩ identities, and heterosexual people) was associated with more negative outcomes (e.g., higher rejection sensitivity and more discrimination). These findings suggest that the contexts in which visibility attempts are made may play an important role in the impact that biϩ visibility attempts have on stigma-related stress and well-being. Public Significance StatementOn days when biϩ individuals made their identities visible, they experienced more positive affect and identity affirmation as well as more discrimination and concerns about rejection. The fact that visibility attempts were associated with both positive and negative outcomes appears to be related to the range of supportive and unsupportive contexts in which biϩ individuals attempted to make their identities visible to others. This highlights the roles of others' responses to biϩ visibility attempts in affecting the subsequent consequences of these attempts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Theoretical Models Of Disclosure and Visibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bisexual+ visibility attempts: Associations with minority stress, affect, and substance use in a daily diary study.

Dyar¹,

Feinstein²,

Bettin³

2022

Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

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“…As such, examining biϩ individuals' attempts to make their identities visible can inform potential strategies to increase biϩ visibility at the societal level and to reduce the stigma that biϩ people face. That said, despite the potential advantages of visibility, disclosure of a concealable stigmatized identity can have both positive and negative consequences (Chaudoir & Fisher, 2010;Pachankis, 2007), and multiple studies have demonstrated that being more open about one's sexual orientation is associated with negative health outcomes among bisexual people (Feinstein, Dyar, & London, 2017;Feinstein et al, 2019). As such, the stakes may be particularly high for biϩ individuals attempting to be visible, making it all the more important to better understand biϩ visibility.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

How, when, and why do bisexual+ individuals attempt to make their identity visible?

Feinstein¹,

Dyar²,

Jabbour³

2021

Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

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There is ample evidence of and concern about the invisibility of bisexualϩ individuals, which results from the tendency to deny or ignore their identities. Recent research has begun to examine whether and how bisexualϩ individuals (an umbrella term that includes all individuals who are attracted to more than one gender, regardless of the specific identity label they use) attempt to make their identity visible to others. This study builds on prior research by exploring novel questions regarding how, when, and why bisexualϩ individuals attempt to make their identity visible, using data from an Internet survey of 715 individuals who reported attractions to more than one gender. Results indicated that participants were most likely to use biϩ visibility attempt strategies involving indirect forms of communication (e.g., sharing things related to their identity on social media) and direct forms of communication (e.g., telling others in person), though they perceived indirect communication as less successful at communicating their identity to others than direct communication. They were most likely to make biϩ visibility attempts in situations with other bisexualϩ individuals or in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender contexts, as well as with partners or when single, and they did so for reasons related to a sense of activism or pride. Future directions for research and barriers to biϩ visibility are discussed. Public Significance StatementThis study suggests that many bisexualϩ individuals want to be visible and are actively engaging in strategies to make their identity visible to others. However, they are doing so in relatively "safe" situations, suggesting that more work is needed to foster an environment in which it is safer for bisexualϩ individuals to be visible.

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“…Such findings would suggest that pansexual- and queer-identifying teenagers, if anything, could be grouped with gay-identified teenagers regarding reaching disclosure milestones (when such groupings are required). While it may be convenient to group pansexual, queer, and bisexual individuals into a group for research purposes (commonly known as a “bi+” group; Davila et al, 2019; Rahman et al, 2019), our study suggests that to be a mistake, given they report rates of disclosures closer to gay individuals. Nonmonosexual identities other than bisexual are being readily adopted by teenagers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Demographic and social factors impacting coming out as a sexual minority among Generation-Z teenage boys.

Moskowitz¹,

Rendina²,

Avila³

et al. 2022

Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

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Teenagers have shown a 60% increase in identifying as gay, bisexual, queer/questioning, and pansexual (GBQP) since 2005. Although studies in the early 2000s have measured the prevalence of GBQP identities across adult populations and over time, the correlates of “coming out” as GBQP are less understood among Generation-Z teenagers (i.e., those born after 1997). We sampled 1,194 GBQP male (assigned-at-birth) teenagers aged 13–18 as part of an online HIV prevention study. Demographic (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, location, sexual identity) and social factors (e.g., school-based HIV education; religiousness; internalized stigma; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender victimization) were surveyed and entered into logistic regression models predicting outness to a female and/or male parental figure, as well as general others. Nearly two thirds were out to a female parental figure; nearly half were out to a male parental figure. We created three multivariable models predicting outness to general others, outness to a female parental figure, and outness to a male parental figure. Statistically significant correlates consistent across the models predicted greater outness for GBQP White teenagers relative to Black and Asian teenagers, gay-identified teenagers relative to bisexual and questioning/unsure teenagers, and GBQP teenagers reporting more experiences of victimization relative to less. Correlates that predicted reduced outness include identifying as religious, attending religious services, and reporting higher internalized sexual minority stigma. We concluded that outness among Generation-Z teenagers varied by sociocultural factors, prompting some teens to move across coming-out milestones more quickly. Most important for mental health, the findings substantiate that victimization toward out-teenagers has not relented and remains an area of concern.

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Bi+ Visibility: Characteristics of Those Who Attempt to Make Their Bisexual+ Identity Visible and the Strategies They Use

Cited by 38 publications

References 39 publications

Bisexual+ visibility attempts: Associations with minority stress, affect, and substance use in a daily diary study.

Bisexual+ visibility attempts: Associations with minority stress, affect, and substance use in a daily diary study.

How, when, and why do bisexual+ individuals attempt to make their identity visible?

Demographic and social factors impacting coming out as a sexual minority among Generation-Z teenage boys.

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