Hi folks! Happy Pride! It's taken longer than I expected but I'm excited to share with you the results of the study I collected data on back in 2019. Above is the infographic of the study's main findings. Thank you to everyone who participated and shared my post when I was looking for participants. I seriously appreciated it!
My inbox is open and I'm happy to answer any questions about the study. The actual research article isn't available yet but once it is I'll let y'all know.
[ID: Seven social slides.
Slide 1: Pink, purple, and blue background with a white box. Inside the box is text that reads, "Research results. Bisexual+ Women of Color and Body Satisfaction. Let's discuss."
Slide 2: Same background. Different text. "Helpful definitions. Bisexual+/Bi+ is an umbrella term used for those who have the potential to be emotionally, romantically, and/or physically attracted to more than one gender identity (i.e. bisexual, pansexual, queer, fluid, etc.). Not everyone who falls under this umbrella likes this term though. Academic literature sometimes uses the terms plurisexual or nonmonosexual. The second bullet point reads Internalized Biphobia/ Binegativity: A person's negative views and feelings about themselves being bisexual+ that stem from society's biases. The third bullet point reads Internalized Racism: A person's negative views and feelings about themself being part of a racially marginalized community that stem from society's biases."
Slide 3: Same background. Image of four sketched women of varying skin color wearing some combination of blues, pinks, and purples. "Women, Objectification, and Body Satisfaction. According to objectification theory, cisgender and transgender women's bodies are constantly under scrutiny and objectified by the society around them and unconsciously by themselves. Objectification of oneself, or self-objectification, may predict body dissatisfaction, internalized discrimination, and other mental health issues, especially in women with marginalized identities. Source: Comiskey et al., 2020; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997."
Slide 4: "Does internalized discrimination predict body dissatisfaction in bi+ women of color? Yes, internalized biphobia and internalized racism, respectively, did predict body dissatisfaction in the 292 predominantly bisexual cisgender women of color who participated in the survey. Source: Paul, in press."
Slide 5: "Why does it matter? Bisexual+ individuals report greater mental health-related issues, such as depression, anxiety, and disordered eating than their lesbian and gay counterparts. This may likely be due to invalidation and/or stereotypes about bisexuality. However, there is a small amount of research on the unique experiences of bisexual+ individuals, especially bi+ people of color. The more we know about predictors of negative mental health that are unique for bisexual+ women of color, the more mental health professionals can help their clients with these intersecting identities."
Slide 6: "References: Brewster, M. E., Moradi, B., DeBlaere, C., & Velez, B. L. (2013). Navigating the borderlands: The roles of minority stressors, bicultural self-efficacy, and cognitive flexibility in the mental health of bisexual individuals. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(4), 543. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033224
Campón, R. R., & Carter, R. T. (2015). The Appropriated Racial Oppression Scale: Development and preliminary validation. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21(4), 497. https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/cdp0000037
Flanders, C. E., Anderson, R. E., Tarasoff, L. A., & Robinson, M. (2019). Bisexual stigma, sexual violence, and sexual health among bisexual and other plurisexual women: A cross-sectional survey study. The Journal of Sex Research, 56(9), 1115-1127. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2018.1563042
Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women's lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of women quarterly, 21(2), 173-206. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x
Ghabrial, M. A. (2019). “We can shapeshift and build bridges”: Bisexual women and gender diverse people of color on invisibility and embracing the borderlands. Journal of Bisexuality, 19(2), 169-197. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299716.2019.1617526
Ghabrial, M. A., & Ross, L. E. (2018). Representation and erasure of bisexual people of color: A content analysis of quantitative bisexual mental health research. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 5(2), 132. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000286
Hayfield, N., Clarke, V., Halliwell, E., & Malson, H. (2013). Visible lesbians and invisible bisexuals: Appearance and visual identities among bisexual women. In Women's Studies International Forum, 40, 172-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2013.07.015
Paul, Z. (in press). The mediating effects of body surveillance on internalized discriminations and body satisfaction in plurisexual women of color. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.
Szymanski, D. M., & Kashubeck-West, S. (2008). Mediators of the relationship between internalized oppressions and lesbian and bisexual women's psychological distress. The Counseling Psychologist, 36(4), 575-594. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000007309490"
Slide 7. Follow Me and has the Tumblr symbol and the Facebook symbol next to biwocstudy. The Instagram and the Youtube symbols are next to AmberInsights. And the Twitter symbol is next to ZoriAmber. In the corner is a drawn heart with the colors of the bisexual flag, pink, purple, and blue. End ID]