Inactionable/Unspeakable: Bisexuality in the Workplace

ABSTRACT

In this article I argue that inclusion of bisexual employees in workplace contexts is hindered by the interaction of two key factors. On the one hand, bisexuality is frequently “invisible” diversity based predominantly around identity, whereas workplaces are action-oriented environments. On the other hand, where bisexuality becomes “actionable” in a workplace context (e.g., in its intersections with polyamory), it is insufficiently conformist or respectable for most employers to be able to account for and be inclusive of it in their institutional structures. The author bases her findings on interviews conducted for an activist book on bisexuality in the United Kingdom as well as autoethnographic reflection of her decade-long employment in the private sector, which included roles in LGBT diversity and inclusion in a multinational corporation.

KEYWORDS:

• bisexuality
• workplace
• employment
• biphobia
• employee resource groups

Notes on contributor

Milena Popova is a PhD researcher at the Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of the West of England. They are also a bisexual activist and has contributed writing to Bi Community News and Purple Prose: Bisexuality in the UK.