Bi the Bi: Do Bisexuals Always See Beyond Gender?

[Shana A]

Lauren Michelle Kinsey and A.J. Walkley

Bi the Bi: Do Bisexuals Always See Beyond Gender?
Posted: 01/29/2013 5:28 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-michelle-kinsey/bi-the-bi-do-bisexuals-always-see-beyond-gender_b_2517394.html

Question: "Is bisexuality about being attracted to more meaningful aspects of a person than what gender they are?" (Submitted by Rachel Gold, author of Being Emily, a novel for young adults about the life of a transgender teen)

Lauren:

    [Some bisexuals] are attracted to masculinity and/or femininity, regardless of a person's sex. Some of us who identify as bisexual are in fact "gender-blind." For others -- in fact for me -- it's androgyny or the blending of genders that compels. (Robyn Ochs)

I'm in the first category that Robyn mentioned. I'm attracted to masculinity regardless of a person's sex. I selected my fiancée based on meaningful characteristics, such as her honesty, kindness and intelligence. However, my experience of her gender expression was also an important factor.

[...]

A.J.:

I actually think you put it extremely well by saying that "what a person finds attractive is not controlled by the conscious mind." We are attracted to who we are attracted to because of a whole slew of factors, many of which are intangible and subconscious.

Now, by saying that bisexual individuals are attracted to "more meaningful aspects" of a person than gender is to say that straight, gay and lesbian individuals are attracted to opposite-sex or same-sex people, respectively, for less meaningful aspects, which I do not agree with whatsoever. I think attraction for most people includes many meaningful aspects, in which gender and gender expression may or may not play a role. For me, I wholeheartedly relate to the second part of Robyn's quotation: I am completely gender-blind in my attractions. I don't think that means that when I become attracted to a person, the aspects of that individual that attract me are any more or less meaningful than the aspects that attract any straight, gay, lesbian or [insert sexuality here] person, though.