Why Are People So Afraid of Bisexuals?

[NicholeW.]

Why Are People So Afraid of Bisexuals?
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet. Posted August 5, 2009.

http://www.alternet.org/sex/141770/why_are_people_so_afraid_of_bisexuals/

I don't like the term bisexual; I prefer to think of myself as a person of no fixed sexual orientation. It better suits the amorphous world I inhabit.

"How do you identify?"

"Oh, I'm a PoNFSO."

There's not much percentage in being an "out" bisexual. Many gay men and lesbians question the legitimacy of that identity, and many straight people either feel profoundly threatened by it, or take too prurient an interest in it. The truth is, bisexuals, by the fact of our existence, screw with everybody's perception of how sexuality works.

[Constance]

I don't know if I was born this way, and I really don't care. It's who I am; what more do you need?

Amen.

Straight people, in my experience, tend to regard bisexuals as sexually insatiable wife- and/or husband-stealers, people who need at least one from Column A and one from Column B just to make through the day. However titillating a thought that might be, it just doesn't work that way.

My experience has been that people in general seem to believe this, whether they're straight or not.

Sometimes you fall in love, rendering monogamy the likely outcome -- just like regular folks.

This also rings true with me.

[tekla]

But they are not enforcing the binary, they are crossing the line and we've invested so much in that binary and spared no expense creating that line - oh they just going to mess up everything.

[Constance]

But they are not enforcing the binary, they are crossing the line and we've invested so much in that binary and spared no expense creating that line - oh they just going to mess up everything.

And that, my dear Kat, is probably the core of the issue.

[Miniar]

half the people I've met in my life that claim bisexual status, do so as a means to better their chances with the opposite sex.
Girls that go to a bar together, and use the "idea" of the potential threesome to try and make the chance of getting a man for the night,.. better
Or girls that tell their new boyfriend that they're "bi you know" and so suggest the potential threesome (again) for the sake of making him more interested...

[Constance]

half the people I've met in my life that claim bisexual status, do so as a means to better their

I guess that makes me in the other half, then.

[finewine]

I guess that makes me in the other half, then.

Ditto   Although I wouldn't "claim status" per se, I'm just me.