Is it possible for you to cover biphobia in terf circles more? I don't have a set question, but after reading the past couple of posts I'm curious
You prompted to me to look up some more TERF discussion of bisexuality and I found âBisexual politics: A superior form of feminism?â by Sheila Jeffreys (1999). That link goes to the abstract, I had to use my uni login to get access (though I can share the pdf if people are interested). Anyway, reading it, this is basically the biphobia handbook. In the quotes below anything called âLesbian feminismâ is actually talking about political lesbianism - female separatism + lesbian by choice.
First Jeffreys falls on the old âbisexuals are just promiscuousâ by comparing bisexuality to BDSM because⊠some bisexuals like BDSM?
â[O]ne bisexual sado-masochist explained that SM activities are âgender-freeâ [âŠ] Here âbisexualityâ consists solely of sexual acts. This is significantly different from the lesbianism of lesbian femnism, which is not seen simply or even necessarily as sexual acts and encompasses a love and valuing of women, a community of friendship and support, the creation of a history and culture and a form of political resistance to male dominance.â
She then talks about how bisexual people are predatory, based on the concept of bi women finding women for a threesome with their boyfriend:
âThis bisexual practice [of sharing female lovers] entails the sexual exploitation of lesbians for the titillation of heterosexual couples and might account for some considerable distrust of bisexuals on the part of lesbians who do not wish to provide such an amusement. The attention to love and relationship, to loving and valuing women that characterises lesbian feminism is quite startlingly absent.â
(I fully agree that âunicorn huntingâ is a shitty thing, but itâs also got nothing to do with bisexual women âpreyingâ on lesbians in particular)
Thereâs then a section which starts with âImaginary bisexuality: in this category are women who identify as bisexual though they have no sexual or romantic relationships with women and do not particularly intend toâ. That should tell you what you need to know about that one.
She then basically calls bisexuality internalized homophobia,:
âBisexuality as a way to not identify as lesbian or gay. [..T]hough bisexual activists tend to angrily reject the suggestion that their bisexuality is just a phase [âŠ] [Findings about gay and bi menâs preferred ârolesâ in anal sex] suggest that bisexual men were those determined to maintain a traditional masculine identityâŠâ
And also accuses bisexual people of exploiting lesbian relationships in multiple ways, talks about how polyamory is just a way for bisexual men to justify their cheating on their wives, and has a section called âBisexual takeover of lesbian history and cultureâ, which is a long ramble but seems to mainly complain that some bisexuals argued Virginia Woolf was bisexual and not a lesbian. And also about how bisexual women remain loyal to men over women so they canât be feminists.
So Iâm going to go ahead and say that the bisexual hatred was well and truly established by 1999!
