Content added Content deleted
No edit summary |
(rephrasing some human/people language) |
||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
'''Bisexual '''(often shortened to '''Bi''') refers to someone who is [[Sexual Attraction|attracted]] to two or more genders. It is also sometimes defined as the attraction to genders both the same as and different to one's own. This does not necessarily refer to one only being attracted to [[Man|men]] and [[Woman|women]], as some think: the bisexual community has an extensive history of challenging the [[Binary Genders|gender binary,]] and bisexual activists have been outspoken about this fact. |
'''Bisexual '''(often shortened to '''Bi''') refers to someone who is [[Sexual Attraction|attracted]] to two or more genders. It is also sometimes defined as the attraction to genders both the same as and different to one's own. This does not necessarily refer to one only being attracted to [[Man|men]] and [[Woman|women]], as some think: the bisexual community has an extensive history of challenging the [[Binary Genders|gender binary,]] and bisexual activists have been outspoken about this fact. |
||
Bisexuality encompasses a wide spectrum of attraction. A bisexual |
Bisexuality encompasses a wide spectrum of attraction. A bisexual may be attracted to any number of genders, from two to all, and may be attracted to any genders in any combination (including [[Non-Binary|non-binary]] genders). Bisexuals may or may not have a preference and may or may not feel a difference between their attraction to different genders. |
||
Bisexuality can be similar to [[Pansexual|pansexuality]] and other [[Multisexual|multisexual identities]]. The differences between these identities usually comes down to individual preference, particularly where people may feel that different terms communicate their personal experience of attraction with more accuracy. Each bisexual individual may choose to define their attraction slightly differently. |
Bisexuality can be similar to [[Pansexual|pansexuality]] and other [[Multisexual|multisexual identities]]. The differences between these identities usually comes down to individual preference, particularly where people may feel that different terms communicate their personal experience of attraction with more accuracy. Each bisexual individual may choose to define their attraction slightly differently. |
||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
The romantic counterpart is [[biromantic]]. |
The romantic counterpart is [[biromantic]]. |
||
==Kinsey scale== |
==Kinsey scale== |
||
According to zoologist Alfred Kinsey's research in the mid-1940s, most |
According to zoologist Alfred Kinsey's research in the mid-1940s, most individuals are not exclusively [[Straight|heterosexual]] or [[Gay|homosexual]]<ref>https://kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/kinsey-scale.php</ref>. The Kinsey scale measures sexual attraction and behavior on a seven-point scale ranging from 0 ("exclusively heterosexual") to 6 ("exclusively homosexual"). It was found that most of us fall somewhere in the 1-5 category and are believed to have "varying bisexual responses". However, people who rank anywhere between 2-4 are most likely to be recognized as bisexual, as they are often not one extreme or the other. For those individuals ranking either a 1 or a 5, the terms [[heteroflexible]] and [[homoflexible]] have come into the mainstream, though it is also recognized to use the label of bisexuality for their sexual orientation, as sociologists Martin S. Weinberg and Colin J. Williams wrote that, in principle, those who rank anywhere from 1-5 could be considered bisexual. |
||
The psychologist Jim McKnight was one of the first to write that the idea of bisexuality is a form of sexual orientation, as suggested implicit in the Kinsey scale, which he cites often in his work. However, despite McKnight and Kinsey's work on human sexuality, this conception of bisexuality has been severely challenged since the work ''Homosexualities ''(c. 1978) was published by Weinberg and his psychologist colleague Alan P. Bell. |
The psychologist Jim McKnight was one of the first to write that the idea of bisexuality is a form of sexual orientation, as suggested implicit in the Kinsey scale, which he cites often in his work. However, despite McKnight and Kinsey's work on human sexuality, this conception of bisexuality has been severely challenged since the work ''Homosexualities ''(c. 1978) was published by Weinberg and his psychologist colleague Alan P. Bell. |
||
| Line 40: | Line 40: | ||
The first openly bisexual people in history were rare in early American life. Some examples of this include poet Walt Whitman, who has been described as both bisexual and homosexual in his feelings and attractions. In the early 20th century, during the Harlem Renaissance, blues singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith made no secret about their relationships with men and women. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was also openly bisexual. |
The first openly bisexual people in history were rare in early American life. Some examples of this include poet Walt Whitman, who has been described as both bisexual and homosexual in his feelings and attractions. In the early 20th century, during the Harlem Renaissance, blues singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith made no secret about their relationships with men and women. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was also openly bisexual. |
||
===Kinsey scale=== |
===Kinsey scale=== |
||
In 1948, Alfred C. Kinsey, an American biologist who was also bisexual, published two books on the topic of |
In 1948, Alfred C. Kinsey, an American biologist who was also bisexual, published two books on the topic of sexuality, named ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male ''and ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. ''He formulated a scale, which went from 0-6 respectively (0 being exclusively heterosexual and 6 being exclusively homosexual)to demonstrate varying bisexual responses for those who aligned themselves on the scale. Kinsey also said that anyone who was between 1-5 on the scale to be considered bisexual or [[ambisexual]] specifically. |
||
===1950's to present day=== |
===1950's to present day=== |
||
With the rise of LGBT activism in these decades, such as political debates, the Stonewall Riots''', '''and Gay Pride Parades, bisexuals were included in the fight for LGBT rights. In the first public protest for gay and lesbian rights staged in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C, two of the protesters identified themselves as bisexual. |
With the rise of LGBT activism in these decades, such as political debates, the Stonewall Riots''', '''and Gay Pride Parades, bisexuals were included in the fight for LGBT rights. In the first public protest for gay and lesbian rights staged in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C, two of the protesters identified themselves as bisexual. |
||
| Line 50: | Line 50: | ||
Biphobia and bi erasure (the practice of obscuring or denying a bisexual person's orientation in favour of portraying them as either gay/lesbian or straight) remain common, and despite efforts from bisexual activists the cisheteronormative perception of the gender binary continues to affect how bisexuals are perceived, in particular attempting to enforce the gender binary on the sexuality despite its defiance of the concept. Bisexual visibility and awareness have, however, been increasing in recent years. |
Biphobia and bi erasure (the practice of obscuring or denying a bisexual person's orientation in favour of portraying them as either gay/lesbian or straight) remain common, and despite efforts from bisexual activists the cisheteronormative perception of the gender binary continues to affect how bisexuals are perceived, in particular attempting to enforce the gender binary on the sexuality despite its defiance of the concept. Bisexual visibility and awareness have, however, been increasing in recent years. |
||
==Etymology== |
==Etymology== |
||
The Greek prefix ''bi-'' means "two", referring to the initial usage of the term to mean "both" heterosexual and homosexual. The ''bi-'' prefix is sometimes reinterpreted to refer to "two genders", as |
The Greek prefix ''bi-'' means "two", referring to the initial usage of the term to mean "both" heterosexual and homosexual. The ''bi-'' prefix is sometimes reinterpreted to refer to "two genders", as bisexuals are attracted to two or more genders. |
||
==Resources== |
==Resources== |
||
''<nowiki/>'' |
''<nowiki/>'' |
||