Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited

Redlemon · 07-13-2005, 08:51 AM

Here's a semi-related followup newsstory:
Bisexual women "pressured to be lesbians"

Quote:

Women who are bisexual face an increasing amount of pressure to declare themselves as lesbians, according to a new study.

And bisexuals continue to feel their sexuality is a stigma, the study claims, in comparison to gay men and lesbians.

The findings, presented at the British Psychological Society’s Psychology of Women Section Conference, point to the need for more women-specific health promotional projects.

They also suggest the need for more inclusivity for bisexuals in the gay community.

Conducted by Patricia Hudson, the study reveals through interviews with bisexual women that they find their sexuality - and its perception - "challenging".

They also believe that neither heterosexual or gay people are understanding of them and feel pressure from both groups to define their sexuality more precisely.

Hudson says health workers need to recognise the diversity of sexual orientation, and encourage bisexual people to fight against the perceived stigma.

“The onus is on professional and academic psychologists to recognise that enduring bisexual identities do exist, and to ensure that they challenge the stigma that so often renders bisexual identities invisible or portrays them in negative ways,” she said.

She said that ongoing support for bisexual women often led to higher self-esteem.

“Despite widespread experiences of prejudice and stigma, interviewees found that their bisexual identity offered the opportunity for enhanced self esteem and the possibility of engaging in enriching relationships,” she added.

Bisexuality has recently been in the news, after North American scientists said the orientation did not exist.

The Chicago and Toronto researchers studied gay, straight and bisexual men and found that those who described themselves as bisexual were not truly attracted to both men and women.

"Regardless of whether the men were gay, straight or bisexual, they showed about four times more arousal to one sex or the other," the lead researcher said.