Bisexuality and Identity: The Double-Edged Sword: Stonewall Research into Bisexual Experience

Abstract

This article presents the findings of several recent Stonewall reports that have cumulatively built up a wide-ranging picture of bisexual experience in Britain today. Nearly all of these findings highlight the relative invisibility of bisexuality in contemporary society. This invisibility is fuelled by high levels of biphobia, yet it may also reflect the ambivalence some bisexual people feel toward bisexuality as an identity. Ultimately, these findings suggest that many bisexual people are faced with a difficult choice between the social marginalization that results from invisibility, and subscription to a crude system of sexual categorization that they would rather reject.

KEYWORDS:

• bisexuality
• identity
• identification
• Stonewall
• biphobia
• homophobia
• policy
• asylum
• hate crime
• media
• workplace
• employment
• health
• education
• invisibility
• marginalization
• erasure
• normalization
• gender
• gender neutral
• sexual orientation
• sexual categorization

Acknowledgments

Helena See has worked as a researcher on a number of Stonewall projects including the Education for All campaign since graduating from the University of Oxford with the joint top First in History in 2010.

Ruth Hunt is Director of Public Affairs at Stonewall and has led Stonewall's research and policy function since 2005 including the publication of Prescription for Change—Lesbian and bisexual women's health check 2008 and Bisexual People in the Workplace.