FWIW I'm a bi man not a bi woman, but as the OP didn't specify this was just about bi women I'll give my two cents -
I will say that I don't think Biphobia is its own axis of oppression, but rather a sub-type of homophobia, and moreover a useful way to talk about the way homophobia manifests for bi people. Similar to how lesbophobia is used to talk about how homophobia manifests for lesbians. Not an entirely new thing, but still a specific set of experiences that deserve care and specificity. I'll also say that not all oppression bisexuals face due to sexuality is automatically biphobia. Much like with lesbophobia, sometimes general homophobia is more applicable to a certain event or discussion. But I do think the various statistics of bi ppl prove that something is going on, otherwise many of them wouldn't be higher than they are for heterosexual people and homosexual people. Things like certain states arguing bisexuality is not protected by anti-discrimination laws since it's not a sex-linked trait, or certain countries explicitly not allowing bisexuals to benefit from refugee policies, also do speak to increasing systemic-as-in-legally-distinct biphobia.
As a note I have to say I find it frustrating that you are challenging this by posing this as a 'material' issue initially, but you immediately fall to talking about how you find biphobia 'conceptually' challenging and focusing on the implications of rhetoric. So let's at least acknowledge that this isn't a discussion about the 'material' circumstances but rather a semantic one on how we want to interpret those material issues. Because we can look at the statistics and see bisexuals are very much affected based on the astoundingly high rates of IPV, sexual abuse, homelessness, poverty, and negative mental health outcomes. And I don't say this to single you out because plenty of people do this too. If we can't as a community grapple with how to explain it - that's fine, and I'd even argue it's reasonable because we just lack research and data to have the full story - but then let's not pretend that it's a question of material effect. The material effects of oppression are clearly there and looking more and more concerning with every new study that comes out. If we were talking about Biblongies, Hetrons, and Kwirkiwarks and you saw Biblongies experienced sexual assault, mental illness, and poverty at the highest rates among the three, you'd be like shit I don't know who or what a Biblongie is but materially they sure are in a bad spot.
For the sake of anyone misinterpreting my words now or in the future, I will again clarify I do not think homosexuals do or can oppress bisexuals, nor do I think the concept of biphobia implies as such. Nor does acknowledging some concerning statistics mean bisexuals are "more" oppressed - but why should we be ignoring materially relevant statistics? If that's what the reality reflects it should not be some misstep to acknowledge them and talk about how SOME facets of homophobia affect bisexuals in keen and worrying ways and we can talk about how that is what biphobia is. This does not take away from the also observable and measurable horrors of being exclusively same-sex attracted.
I think we need to stop making race comparisons when trying to talk about sexuality because they never work and often end up being insensitive, but comparing biphobia to "anti-white racism" really falls flat at any level. White people are not oppressed due to their race at all. Bisexual people ARE oppressed to their sexuality. Bisexuals are not oppressed because of their other-sex attraction, but despite of it. It doesn't even work within your own comparison if you look at the preceding sentence because even in your comparison, bisexuals would not be white - heterosexuals would be.
materially, when is biphobia ever not misdirected homophobia?
Regardless of anything else, I want to know how homophobic acts are 'misdirected'? Why are we supposed to pretend or act like they were actually meant to be directed at someone else or at different circumstances? I have to tell you I find it very offensive that bisexuals can't be trusted to speak about how their abuse was something that zeroed in on them specifically. The woman that tried to groom me and ended up sexually assaulting me very much knew she was going after a bi boy not a gay boy and that's specifically what made her single me out due to her own biphobic beliefs. Plenty of bi women have also spoken out about how bisexuality itself was something that spurred men to abuse them due to similar viewpoints. So to your question of 'how can we know it's not just homophobia' well, because sometimes it's obvious to the victims when it happens. The same way we can listen to any group about how their oppression manifests maybe we can listen to bisexuals and extend some trust and understanding, instead of dismissing their experiences as just useless 'misdirected' events that are not worth examining in their own actual context.
I absolutely hate the implication that the abuse we lived through is "misdirected" and we're in some way grander way not the REAL victims of our own situations but an unfortunate and ultimately irrelevant accident. Even when it's not specific biphobia but general homophobia it is not 'misdirected'.
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