Being a Bisexual
In today’s society, how would you feel if someone thought you were abnormal for going against the odds? For me being a bisexual women, “a person who is attracted to people of both sexes” (Orndorff, 1999), I usually tend to get some weird looks but I also have people who do not care who I am attracted to. There are some bisexuals who have monogamous relationships, being with one partner. Then there are some who have polyfidelitous relationships, meaning “in which three or more people are all primary partners with each other, are sexual only with these primary partners, and have a lifelong commitment to one another” (Orndorff, 1999) (Question 1). Being bisexual doesn’t change who I am, or what I do, but it does change how people view me.
My day is much the same as for someone who is straight. I get dressed every morning, putting one pant leg on at a time. Go to work, eat lunch, go back to work, go home, eat dinner, go to bed, and do it all over again the next day. The only thing different is who I go home to. Instead of going home to see the opposite sex, I go home to my girlfriend. I am currently in a monogamous relationship, so I do only have one partner. I obtain a normal job, though I am a “peer safer sex educator” (Orndorff, 1999). People at my work are not prejudice, not forming an opinion about me. They are very mindful in what they say around me and most important, they accept who I am (Question 2 & 3).
Just because I am a bisexual, doesn’t me I don’t encounter difficult tasks. Some things that are very difficult for me on an everyday basis are when people ask me “Well, your partner is a woman, why do you keep saying you are bisexual, aren’t you a lesbian?” (Orndorff, 1999) Just because I am in a rela...
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... HIV?” These are frequent questions that occur. First question: we choose to be with whoever we want. Bisexuals have a physical attraction to both sexes. Second question: bisexuals can adopt or a sperm donation (Orndorff, 1999). Third question: “bisexuals don’t spread HIV” ( The Bisexual Index) and “unsafe sex and sharing needles spreads HIV, regardless of sexuality” (The Bisexual Index)
Orndorff, K. (1999). Bi lives: Bisexual women tell their stories. (1st ed., pp. 1-23). Tucson, Arizona: Sharp Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=k1MGyFCbBywC&printsec=frontcover&dq=life of a Bisexual&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lMTqUsTLAuGNygHU1YDACQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ
The Bisexual Index | What is Bisexuality?. (n.d.). The Bisexual Index | What is Bisexuality?. Retrieved from
http://www.bisexualindex.org.uk/index.php/Bisexuality
For my interview portion of this response I interviewed a friend of mine named Nicole who is a bisexual. When I asked her about her fears of coming out her she said that her only fear was being seen as some kind of pervert or sexual predator.” I came out to my friends first, some were shocked but soon it just became something that people just knew and after awhile it became just as relevant as my hair color”. She also stated that after she came out to her friends some of those friends came out to her soon after. She admitted she was treated differently by people because of the discrimination bisexuals get by both hetrosexuals and homosexuals.“People tolerate bisexuals but they are not respected” She said that many people treated her as if she was confused or like she was only pretending to like girls because they believe that would attract men. She explained that most people tend to believe that bisexuality doesn’t exist.
Andrew Sullivan, author of, What is a Homosexual, portrays his experience growing up; trapped in his own identity. He paints a detailed portrait of the hardships caused by being homosexual. He explains the struggle of self-concealment, and how doing so is vital for social acceptation. The ability to hide one’s true feelings make it easier to be “invisible” as Sullivan puts it. “The experience of growing up profoundly different in emotional and psychological makeup inevitably alters a person’s self-perception.”(Sullivan)This statement marks one of the many reasons for this concealment. The main idea of this passage is to reflect on those hardships, and too understand true self-conscious difference. Being different can cause identity problems, especially in adolescents.
For years homosexuality in the United States of America has been looked down upon by citizens, religions, and even politicians. The homosexual culture, or the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender), has been demoralized and stuck out and lashed against by the Heterosexual community time and time again. To better understand the LGBT community we must first grasp the concept of Sexual Orientation.
Living life as a transgendered person is not easy. There are very few times when someone comes out as transgender and their lives are still relatively easy to manage. There are a copious...
Gender roles in a small, rural community are specific as to what a woman “is” and what a man “is”, and these norms are strictly enforced by the rural society. Cooper says that in childhood, “Rejection of the traditional feminity appeared in three ways:1) taking the role of the male, 2) being a tomboy, and 3) avoiding feminine dress and play” (Cooper, pg. 168). This rejection of the traditional roles as a child creates a stigma, or label, attached by society to these individuals. The punishment from society is greater than the punishment of an unfulfilled self. The lessened ability to obtain health insurance, health information on the partner, and other benefits also plays a key role in coming out. The rural lesbian society is so small a...
Betsy Lucal, "What it means to be gendered me: Life on the Boundaries of a Dichotomous Gender System."
Despite the large collection of literature of sexuality that has been accumulating, human asexuality has been largely ignored. Asexuality is controversially considered to be a sexual orientation and people who identify as asexual are people who typically do not experience sexual attraction (Asexuality Visibility and Education Network, 2013). Though research on sex and sexual orientations has been done for centuries, the first real suggestion that there might be people who fall outside of the heterosexual – homosexual orientation spectrum came from Kinsey and colleagues in 1948. These individuals were put into a separate category and were identified as having no erotic response to hetero- or homosexual stimuli, but otherwise they were largely ignored by the researchers (Kinsey, 1953). Later, researchers linked asexuality with negative traits and pathologies, including depression and lower self-esteem (Masters, Johnson, & Kolodny, 1986; Nuius, 1983). An issue with these studies, however, is that the researchers defined asexuality in a way that most current asexuals do not agree with. For example, in a study done by Bell and Weinberg (1978), there were references made to asexual homosexuals who simply hid their homosexuality. Many asexuals, otherwise known as Aces, would struggle with this definition because homosexuality implies a type of sexual attraction: attraction to your same sex. Because Aces typically do not feel sexual attraction to anyone or anything, they should not be classified under the same label as a closeted homosexual. Another issue is that none of these studies actually focused on asexuality. Instead, they were added on the side and generally ignored.
Women experienced a great deal of conflict to be seen as equals to men in the workplace. Homosexuals have stepped out of society’s gender expectations, producing their own controversies and disagreements. The traditional gender roles of “Shiloh” and “Boys and Girls” are from the past, and many steps have been made past them, but society still holds on tight to portions of those established ways. Still, conflict will always occur where ideas diverge.
Sexuality is a fundamental part of our self-discovery, involving much more than just being genetically or anatomically male and female and it is not defined solely by one 's sexual acts (Ministry of Education 1989, p.79 cited in Gourlay, P 1995). The notion that sexuality is fixed and innate disregards the social aspects that impact ones’ sexualities. Gagnon and Simon (1973) further commented that sexuality is a feature of social
Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon, and how acceptable one’s relationship is determined by society’s view of gender roles. Because the majority of the population is characterized as heterosexual, those who deviate from that path are ...
"Adenosine - What Is Adenosine?" Adenosine - What Is Adenosine? N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
In the face of a homophobic society we need creative and critical processes that draw out the complexity of lesbian lives and same sex choices, not a retreat into the comforting myths of heroines and unfractured, impeachable identities
In order to discuss the biology of gender identity and sexual orientation, it is necessary to first examine the differences between multiple definitions that are often mistakenly interchanged: sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Sexual orientation is defined by LeVay (2011) as “the trait that predisposes us to experience sexual attraction to people of the same sex as ourselves, to persons of the other sex, or to both sexes” (p. 1). The typical categories of sexual orientation are homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual. Vrangalova and Savin-Williams (2012) found that most people identify as heterosexual, but there are also groups of people that identify as mostly heterosexual and mostly gay within the three traditional categories (p. 89). This is to say that there are not three concrete groups, but sexual orientation is a continuum and one can even fluctuate on it over time. LeVay (2011) also defines gender as “the ...
...viant, thus marginalized even demonized. While in recent times there has undeniably been a greater sense of acceptance toward homosexuals, there are definitely generalizations that tend to hinder the overall perspective on identity. The issue of sexual identity and gender has recently been brought to the forefront of social discourse due largely to the major activism of the LGBTQ community and countless progressive institutions. Through the recognition of the gender binary one can see that there are an array of preferences for being and behaving. Rather than having to follow traditional roles people should be able to be masculine, feminine, androgynous, aggressive, vulnerable, or indifferent. The issue is not necessarily diversity, but rather openness to gender possibilities and the freedom to experiment and shamelessly explore facets of one’s individual expression.
Sexual orientation is described as a person 's sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted; the fact of being heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. A plethora of people may question their sexual orientation at least once in their lifetime. In 2013, the National Health Statistics Reports gave out a survey to the population and discovered some mind blowing statistics concerning sexual orientation. According to their data, 96.6 of the population identified as heterosexual, 1.6% identified as homosexual, and 0.7% identified as bisexual. Heterosexuality which is widely is accepted, is when someone is attracted to the opposite sex. Homosexuality is defined as when a person prefers someone of the same sex as, and lastly bisexuality is