Sensitive sexualities: dichotomised discourse in the erasure of bisexuality

Abstract

A combination of Q methodology and a Think Aloud task explored how cultural knowledge about bisexuality is constructed and maintained. Q methodology revealed positive interpretations of bisexuality. Critical Discourse Analysis of the Think Aloud task however, exposed the maintenance of dualistic categories of sex, gender and sexuality acting as 'operating systems' and strategically guiding the social representation of bisexuality as 'nonexistent', 'deviant', 'abnormal' and/or 'promiscuous'. The findings of this study suggest that overt heterosexism is not becoming extinct; instead it has found rather subtle ways of incorporating itself into 'liberal' discourses.

The discursive construction of low-risk to sexually transmitted diseases between women who are sexually active with women

“…Those health care practitioners who participated in the study also 'tailored' women's sexual behaviour in ways which resisted directly addressing relevance of women's object choices and rendering WSW invisible whilst highlighting the need for specificity in working with men. Several authors have noted that normative thinking divides (and limits) sexuality into a binary classificatory system, erasing the existence of any sexuality falling within the polarised 'homo-hetero' spectrum (Pereira, Becker and Gardiner 2016). However, such associations are problematic since they lead to erroneous assumptions about the relationship between sexual identity and sexual behaviours.…”

Research Perspectives on Bisexuality

“…Emerging bisexuality research started from bisexuality's dual position: on the one hand as an invisible identity, and on the other hand as a potentially transformative concept in the societal order, which relies on binary categorizations of sex, gender and desire (Bertilsdotter, 2003;Firestein, 1996;Gustavson, 2001;Haasjoki, 2005;Hemmings, 2002;Kangasvuo, 2001). Bisexuality calls into question the exclusive categories of homo-and heterosexuality, and the normative framework in which the gendered body is assumed to be a defining characteristic of sexual object choice (Firestein, 1996;Gustavson, 2009;Münder, 2004;Souto Pereira et al, 2017).…”

Bisexual desires for more than one gender as a challenge to normative relationship ideals

“…Bisexual people's relationship choices are often read through 'negative' cultural associations of bisexuality (Hayfield, Clarke, & Halliwell, 2014;Klesse, 2011). The first set of associations support the notion of bisexuality as a shifting and trendy identity, implying that heterosexuality and homosexuality are the proper sexual identities (Hayfield et al, 2014;Kangasvuo, 2014;Klesse, 2011;Souto Pereira, Becker, & Gardiner, 2017). Furthermore, women's bisexuality is often imbued with an air of inauthenticity not only in porn but also in mainstream media (see Gill, 2008), with the sole aim of enticing and exciting (presumed male) audiences (Kangasvuo, 2014).…”