The whole "Bisexuality is binary and transphobic!" thing really completely collapses when you read about the history of the term and how it has been understood, and apply some critical thinking. The term originated in a similar context to "Heterosexual" and "Homosexual", which was in the Late 19th and Early 20th century effort to categorise and define sexual behaviour.
This was the era of inversion theory, the belief that "Homosexuals" were "inverts". "Homosexuals" were people who were "physically male/female", but "internally" the "opposite sex". "Homosexuality" was therefore actually the "Heterosexuality" of those in the "wrong" bodies. "Bisexuality" in this framework was described and understood an imaginary way of being Intersex, texts of the time sometimes described it as "Psychological Hermaphroditism". The "Bi" in this context refered to how the researchers and intellectuals of the time understood Bisexuals as a "mixture of male and female traits", both "men and women". Their "male part" was believed to desire women, whereas their "female part" was believed to desire men.
"Bi" because they were "both women and men".
The next shift in understanding "Bisexuality" was caused by Sigmund Freud and his Oedipal Theory of sexual development, being a core (but often forgotten) part of the theory. To Freud, (male) children were born "Bisexual" in a state of "Polymorphous Perversity" in which they desired both their mother and father. As the child grew they suppressed this desire, when done successfully the "healthy" child would grow up to be Heterosexual, whereas faliure made the child into a "Pathological" Homosexual. Bisexuality for Freud was not a real, mature sexuality, it was an immature and "primative" developmental stage for children. Everyone was "born Bisexual", but nobody was "Bisexual". "Bisexuality" was to be repressed as a part of the development of other sexualities.
"Bi" due to the infantile desire for both mother and father, the repression of which was key for the development of the real sexualities.
Next was Alfred Kinsey and his scale. He actually achieved the bare minimum of working out that "Bisexual" was a real sexuality. But he created a sliding scale, the "Kinsey Scale", which had heterosexuality on one end and homosexuality on the other. "Bisexual" was the space between, with the "True Bisexuals" sitting in the middle.
"Bi" because there were two ends of the axis.
Like all other sexual identities of the time, "Bisexuals" were made by the world of pathology, science, and medicine. We were "Bi" because those in positions of power over us, typically white cishet male scientists and theorists, defined and understood us within this framework. We were "Bi" because we were "Men and Women", because we were "Feminine and Masculine", because we were "Heterosexual and Homosexual". This was not a definition that we created for ourselves, these were the meanings those who had power over us forced upon us.
But by making "The Bisexual" into a type of person, much like "Homosexuals", we became subjects, capable of recognising our common struggles and organising ourselves into a movement. Capable of reclaiming control of how we were understood from the hegemonic powers that created us.
Now there is no singular definition of what it means to be "Bisexual". But it doesn't have to be binary, and it often isn't. Popular definitions like the Robyn Ochs definition are purposefully inclusive of non-binary individuals, and there are many non-binary individuals who are themselves bisexual.
The claim that Bisexual identity is inherently binary echoes the pathologisation of our past. It fails to engage with us and the meanings and definitions we have created for ourselves. It is also worth noting that if being established on the foundation of the gender binary makes an identity problematic, then heterosexuality and homosexuality also reinforce the binary and are problematic. But that isn't a critique raised for either of those groups or identities, it purely seems to exist to be used against bi people in queer infighting to justify excluding us from the broader queer community. Funny how that works.
izzy806
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
prguitarman
kianamaiart
annaxmalina
