Inside, Outside, Nowhere: Bisexual Men and Women in the Gay and Lesbian Community

Abstract

This article examines the impact of antibisexual attitudes on 60 selfidentified Australian bisexual men and women, in terms of their perceptions of, and participation in, the gay and lesbian community-the broad network of groups and events held by and for gay men and lesbians. The author examines the range of antibisexual attitudes that exist within the gay and lesbian community and then examines how these are understood by bisexuals, and the impacts these have on their participation in the gay and lesbian community. It was discovered that though some participants were active within the Australian gay and lesbian community, many were not, due to the belief that they would be rejected or discriminated against as bisexual. Furthermore, those who did participate in the gay and lesbian community tended to keep their bisexuality hidden, for fear of being made unwelcome. The findings of this research suggest that bisexual men and women have an ambivalent and complex relationship with the gay and lesbian community in Australia. This raises a number of issues about the maintenance of a bisexual identity, including the impact of secrecy and staying closeted on self-esteem and mental health.

Information-Seeking Practices during the Sexual Development of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming Out in a Mediated Environment

“…Bisexuals face unique obstacles to social development, as they are seen as out-group members to heterosexuals, lesbians, and gay men (Paul 1984). Given the ambivalent and complex relationship bisexuals have with their lesbian and gay peers (McLean 2008) and the absence of bisexual characters in the media landscape (Raley and Lucas 2006), future research should continue to explore the influence of media on the maintenance of a bisexual identity.…”

Born this Way?: U.S. College Students Make Sense of the Biosocial Underpinnings of Race and Other Identities

“…In the case of multiracial individuals, such fluidity in changing identity across time or different situations can be a source of prejudice and discrimination (Museus, Lambe, & Hawamata-Ryan, 2015). Similar prejudices are often applied to bisexual people as well (McLean, 2008).…”

‘A Real Lesbian Wouldn't Touch a Bisexual With a Bargepole'

“…The links they forge between the constructed lesbian and heterosexual worlds allow bisexuals to 'infiltrate the lesbian and gay community, use its facilities for their own gratification, and then retreat into the sanctuary of heterosexual normalcy' (Humphrey, 1999, p. 233). It is in this light that we can understand McLean's (2008) participants' decision to preserve the assumption of homosexuality in ostensibly queer spaces. Bisexuals have been denigrated as neither committed to gay politics nor oppressed enough to be 'our' concern (Evans, 1993;Ochs, 1988).…”

“…In the mid-1990s, Ault (1994Ault ( , 1996 and Rust (1992Rust ( , 1993) encountered negative attitudes towards bisexuals among US lesbian interviewees, and more recently such attitudes were found still to be at work in lesbian contexts in both the USA (e.g. Hartman, 2006;McLean, 2008;Thorne, 2013;Yost & Thomas, 2012) and Europe (e.g. Baker, 2008;Welzer-Lang, 2008), as well as online (e.g.…”

“…Bisexuality in these terms is thus derogated as an illegitimate sexuality (McLean, 2008) and is imagined as an alternation between two separate worlds, for which promiscuity is a necessary condition (even in positive appraisals of bisexuality, Welzer-Lang's, 2008, participants largely describe a sexual identity premised on multiple relationships; see also Klesse, 2005). Both like and unlike 'us', the bisexual woman is able to move in either realm, an 'amphibian' (Babcock-Abrahams, 1975) whose transgression between categories threatens boundaries and the identities constructed and maintained within -an 'awkward reminder' (Baker, 2008, p. 145) of internal difference and potential inter-group similarities where (the illusion of) the opposite offers comfort and validation (Taylor, 1998).…”