The Black Sheep of the Pink Flock: Labels, Stigma, and Bisexual Identity

Abstract

Drawing on 17 months of participant observation in Lexington, Kentucky, this article details how bisexuality is conceptualized by Lexingtonians, as well as the impact of these conceptualizations. Bisexuals are understood to be dangerous and hypersexual, and bisexuality to be illegitimate and limiting. These cultural constructions then create a stigmatized, ‘dirty’ identity that affects the entire structure of sexuality by (1) keeping people from identifying as bisexual and (2) keeping people from accepting bisexual identities in others. Ironically, it therefore seems that bisexual identity serves in many ways to strengthen the sexual binary through its very existence.

KEYWORDS:

• identity
• bisexuality
• biphobia

Acknowledgments

This article was written with the support of a Bilsland Fellowship from Purdue University. The author would like to thank Evie Blackwood, Myrdene Anderson, Alicia Decker, Ellen Gruenbaum, Erma Scarlette, and Steven McGuire for their readings and insights.