Internalized Binegativity, LGBQ + Community Involvement, and Definitions of Bisexuality

Abstract

Bisexual people can internalize stigma from both heterosexual and gay/lesbian communities, which often occurs in the form of monosexism, the belief that people should only be attracted to one gender. Although community involvement is protective for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer+ (LGBQ+) people, bisexual people may benefit more from bisexual-specific communities than LGBQ + communities because of monosexism. Further, how bisexual people define their identity may be related to internalized binegativity, especially given the historical invisibility of bisexuality in mainstream media and recent debates about the definition of bisexuality within LGBQ + communities. We examined LGBQ + and bisexual-specific community involvement, definitions of bisexuality, and internalized binegativity among an online sample of 816 bisexual adults. Multivariate regression analyses showed that those with spectrum definitions, which acknowledged a nuanced understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality, reported lower internalized binegativity than those with binary definitions, which described sexuality as consistent with mainstream norms. Involvement in LGBQ + communities, but not bisexual communities, was associated with lower internalized binegativity. There was no interaction between type of definition and type of community involvement. Our results suggest that broad community involvement may be protective for internalized binegativity, but findings should be considered in light of a lack of well-funded, local bisexual communities. The current study adds to a growing literature on sexual minority stressors among bisexual people, a population that continues to be understudied.

Keywords:

• Bisexuality
• sexual and gender minorities
• community participation
• minority stress
• sexual identity

Acknowledgments

This research was supported, in part, by grants P2CHD042849 and T32HD007081 awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Amanda M. Pollitt also acknowledges support from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grant F32AA025814). Research reported in this publication was also supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under award number U54MD012388. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amanda M. Pollitt

Dr. Amanda M. Pollitt conducts research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer mental and physical health. She aims to understand how gender, sexuality, and family provide contexts for stigma in the lives of LGBTQ people and how this stigma influences health. She received her PhD in family studies and human development from the University of Arizona before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Tangela S. Roberts

Dr. Tangela S. Roberts received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She completed her doctoral internship at the University of Maryland’s Counseling Center. She earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies at St. John’s University, and holds a master’s degree in Community Counseling from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Dr. Roberts has clinical experience with adolescents and young adults at both college counseling centers and community mental health clinics. Dr. Roberts’s primary line of research focuses on predictors of mental health outcomes for Black LGBTQ + individuals. Specifically, she focuses on the impact of community supports and microaggressions. Additionally, she analyzes the ways in which queer people of color participate within their communities, activism, and receive other forms of social support.