Bisexuality and Marriage Prejudice
According to national studies, approximately 4.1% of women report some degree of sexual attraction to members of both sexes, with only 0.3% reporting only attraction to other women. (The other 95.6% assumably were attracted only to men) The same survey showed that 3.9% of men self-reported some attraction to both sexes, and 2.4% reported that they were only attracted to other men. (With 93.7% assumably being strictly heterosexual) At the same time, only 0.5% of women identified as bisexual, and only 0.8% of men. (Rust, 2000) These dry statistics point to a very strange conclusion, which is that bisexuality is in reality far more prevalent than homosexuality among both men and women, and yet bisexuals are being "mainstreamed" as it were into either heterosexual or homosexual identities. This gap between actual sexual attraction and sexual identity must result from some sort of social pressure to normalize one's sexual identity. If all bisexuals were choosing to identify as heterosexual to avoid the social stigma of homosexuality, this would make a great deal of sense. Yet further studies show that at least half of self-identified "homosexual" women and one third of self-identified "homosexual" men describe their actual attractions as inclusive of the opposite gender. (Rust, 2000) This indicates that not only are some bisexuals likely giving in to social pressure by claiming to be heterosexual, but many are also claiming to be homosexual rather than bisexual. This raises many very significant questions both regarding the formulation of a community spirit among sexual minorities, but also regarding the implications of this reality for the gay rights movement and the creation of same-sex-marriage standards for the community and the nation.
Critical Question
In the traditional identity-building process within the gay community, individuals would first experience homosexual desire, and then proceed to homosexual experimentation, and then finally come to the place where they could overcome their internalized homophobia and their fear of society's reactions so that they could identify as a queer individual. Identity generally followed experience. Indeed, many individuals with extensive homosexual experience never identified as gay or bisexual, but continued to insist that they were straight. (Dube, 2000) The modern ex-gay movement might be seen as part of this identity-denial, which encourages people to reject the "lifestyle" even if they can't experience normal heterosexual desire. Today, the identity-building process is very frequently inverted, with young people identifying as gay or lesbian based on self-knowledge and sexual attraction before they actual experience homosexual activities. (Dube, 2000) The earlier development of stable homosexual identities is believed to stem from the greater degree of acceptance afforded to gays and lesbians in today's society, the reduction in internalized and external homophobia facing modern queer youth, and increased knowledge about the existence of such sexual identities. However, whether activity comes before identity, or identity comes before activity, in both cases two developments is more than two years time. Hence, a man was likely to be sexually active with other men for years before identifying as gay, or likely to have this identity for years before acting on it. (Dube, 2000) This little history lesson about the development of gay identity makes an important point, namely that identity is generally constructed separately from sexual experience, and may serve a different purpose than the mere cataloguing of sexual interest and is extremely sensitive to outside social pressure. If the main reason that homoesexual-acting men were not identifying as homosexuals was internal and external homophobia, then what reasons can one extrapolate about why bisexuals are identifying as either homosexual or heterosexual, but not as bisexual? The most obvious answer is the existence of bisexual-specific internal and external social prejudices. Moreover, these pressures cannot be coming only from the heterosexual world, or they would not be encouraging so many to identify as (still hated) homosexuals.
The...
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