Abstract
Drawing on interviews with 20 self-identified bisexual women, this paper contributes to the limited psychological literature on bisexual women by exploring their experiences of social marginalisation. These (mainly white and middle class) British bisexual women reported that they did not feel at home in either lesbian or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, nor in the wider (heteronormative) society. They identified a number of understandings – bisexuality as a temporary phase on the path to a fully realised lesbian or heterosexual identity and bisexuals as immature, confused, greedy, untrustworthy, highly sexual and incapable of monogamy – which they reported as arising from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and the wider society. The women refuted these accounts which they stated did not reflect their experiences of bisexual identity and which positioned bisexuality as invisible and invalid.
Highlights
Drawing on interviews with 20 self-identified bisexual women, this paper contributes to the limited psychological literature on bisexual women by exploring their experiences of social marginalisation
This paper reports three themes: Bisexual belonging?: “There’s nowhere to fit” captures the ways that these women felt that they did not belong in lesbian and LGBT communities
Like participants in previous research, Roxy felt an ‘interloper’ within LGBT community (Gurevich, et al, 2007:217; see Hartman, 2005; McLean, 2008a) but she indicated her wanting to belong somewhere when she discussed her enjoyment of membership in another community group: It’s inclusive and it includes everybody
Summary
Drawing on interviews with 20 self-identified bisexual women, this paper contributes to the limited psychological literature on bisexual women by exploring their experiences of social marginalisation. The women reported that they did not feel at home in either lesbian and LGBT communities or the wider (heteronormative) society They identified a number of understandings - bisexuality as a temporary phase on the path to a fully realised lesbian or heterosexual identity and bisexuals as immature, confused, greedy, untrustworthy, highly sexual, and incapable of monogamy - which they reported as arising from lesbian, gay and bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities and the wider society. LGBT communities or the wider (heteronormative) society They identified a number of understandings - bisexuality as a temporary phase on the path to a fully realised lesbian or heterosexual identity and bisexuals as immature, confused, greedy, untrustworthy, highly. Incapable of monogamy - which they reported as arising from lesbian, gay and er bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities and the wider society.
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