Sexual health among young bisexual women: a qualitative, community-based study

ABSTRACT

Young bisexual women experience health disparities related to sexual health, yet there is comparatively little research that addresses which specific factors drive these disparities. The current study investigates young bisexual women’s perspective of their sexual health in order to address this gap. We conducted a community-based qualitative study in Canada, which included four two-hour focus group sessions with 35 bisexual women (broadly defined as bisexual and other nonmonosexual people who self-identify as women, cisgender and transgender inclusive). Focus group sessions were transcribed verbatim and analysed from a grounded theory approach. Young bisexual women perceive various forms of stigma, most notably binegativity and monosexism, as negatively impacting their sexual health. This stigma creates barriers at the institutional and interpersonal level to maintaining positive sexual health. Young bisexual women relate substantial negative health consequences to stigma, including a dearth of applicable health resources and risk of sexual violence. Participants suggest a number of ways in which their health could be supported.

KEYWORDS:

• Bisexuality
• sexual health
• community-based research
• qualitative

Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the Women’s Xchange Fund with Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, ON.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Women’s Xchange Fund with Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, ON.

Notes on contributors

Corey E. Flanders

Corey E. Flanders, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the department of Psychology and Education at Mount Holyoke College. She earned her doctorate in Social Psychology at the University of Hawaii and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Corey’s research interests are the intersections between health and identity, with a particular focus on mental and sexual health equity for queer and trans communities.

Lori E. Ross

Lori E. Ross is Associate Professor in the Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Division of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and Affiliate Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. She earned her PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. Lori uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches in her research work, with a strong focus on integrating the principles of community-based research. Much of her research focuses on understanding the mental health and service needs of marginalized populations including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) people, in order to improve access to services for these communities.

Cheryl Dobinson

Cheryl Dobinson, MA, is the director of Community Programming and Research at Planned Parenthood Toronto. She earned her master’s degree in sociology from York University in 1998 where her studies focused on queer youth. Cheryl has extensive experience in community-based health research. She has been involved in five different community-based health research projects over the last decade, including a PPT project on young bisexual women and sexual health, the CIHR-funded project Risk and Resilience among Bisexual People in Ontario: A Community-Based Study of Bisexual Mental Health by Dr Lori Ross at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and previous projects on issues related to sexual identity, mental health and reproduction.

Carmen H. Logie

Carmen H. Logie is Assistant Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, where she also earned her PhD, and an Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Research Institute. Dr Logie’s research focus is health equity, with particular attention to the associations between intersectional forms of stigma, access to care and health outcomes. She has active programmes of research in collaboration with internally displaced women and youth, LGBTQ populations, and people living with HIV in Canada, India, Thailand, Jamaica, Swaziland and Lesotho. She was a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellow and her postdoctoral research focused on the health impacts of multi-dimensional forms of stigma and discrimination, including racism, sexism and HIV-related stigma, among diverse women living with HIV in Ontario. Dr Logie was awarded a Grand Challenges Canada Rising Star in Global Health award to develop, implement and evaluate an HIV/STI prevention intervention with internally displaced women in Leogane, Haiti (2011–2012).