Bisexual

Myths and stereotypes about bisexual women feed bi discrimination in the workplace, school and the healthcare industry.

democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Because of experiences like that of Holland, 33 percent of bi women don’t disclose their sexual identity to physicians. I’m not going to worry about it because I’m just going to have to go through the whole rigamarole.’” … They told me, ‘You said you’re sexually active but that you’re not on birth control, so we need to double-check.’ I told them I’m dating a woman and they were like, ‘You were dating a man the last time you came in to see us.’ I told them that I haven’t been active with a man since before I had my last period, so ‘I’m telling you I’m not pregnant!’ They didn’t care because I had sex with a man at least one time in the past. “It gets to the point where a bi woman asks herself, ‘Why even both- er?’” Holland added. That’s especially true for bi women of color—who comprise 36 percent of all bi women and stand at the crossroads of racism and biphobia. A 2020 study found that among straight women surveyed, the prevalence of rape is 18.7 percent, but among bi women it soars to 46.1 percent. But while Turner quickly found friendship and support, bi women in general are more often walking a tightrope without a net. It’s fueled by a hypersexualization of bi women so widespread that it’s barely noticed. These myths give rise to discrimination against bi women in the workplace, in school and in other arenas. “They had fantasies of being with me and another woman,” Marron said. Bi people were at best a minority within a minority, even though in 2022 they constituted more than 55 percent of LGBT people, and 75 percent of those polled who identified as bisexual were women.