Strategic Navigations of Identity in the Face of Bi-Erasure: Narratives of Bisexual College Student Identity Negotiation

Abstract

Despite constituting the largest segment of the LGBTQ + community, limited research exists on the experiences of bisexual university students, and that which does often includes them among aggregated samples of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. Using data from a critical poststructural narrative inquiry study guided by a queer theoretical framework, I sought to understand the unique experiences of bisexual students relative to their sexual identities and how they negotiate their bisexuality on the college campus. Sixteen participants engaged in semi-structured interviews and a drawing activity. Thematic and dialogic/performance analyses resulted in one contextual pattern: pervasive binegativity. Thematic analysis further revealed four patterns characterizing identity negotiation strategies, enacted within this broader context: (a) settling for simplicity, (b) downplaying bisexuality, (c) subtly signaling sexuality, and (d) outness as advocacy. Implications for research, theory, and practice are offered.