Bisexual men stand at an interesting intersection of masculinities, identities, and prejudices. Bisexual men are often stereotyped as unfaithful partners, being rated lower than bisexual women, lesbians and gay men in large scale attitudinal surveys. Furthermore, bisexual people in general often experience ‘double discrimination’ from both the gay and lesbian communities as well as from the wider heteronormative norms of societies and their institutions. 

17 interviews with bisexual men and their partners were conducted, some were joint interviews some were sole interviews with bisexual men. The qualitative data generated was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings of the research revealed that bisexual identities emerged in contested epistemological spaces, and with remarkable heterogeneity: many participants refuted that ‘bi’sexuality was binaristic, some articulated that gender was a factor in attraction, whilst others discussed bisexuality in concordance with pansexuality (or other labels such as queer) and viewed their attraction as regardless of gender. Despite no overt questions being asked about prejudice, virtually all participants reported experiencing biphobia, which was distinct from homophobia. Participants relationships with their intimate partners were marked by security and identity development: they offered a reflexive space for bi men to comfortably negotiate their identity with partners who were often also bisexual themselves. Relationship with family was marked by a burden to have to educate them on matters relating to bisexuality, which does not have the same cultural understandings attached to it as lesbian and gay identity. Despite families’ familiarity with LGBTQ issues generally, there were often more misconceptions which had to be countered by the participants when coming out. The researcher will reflect on these themes and their own positionality as a bi man.

Dr Sam Lawton talks about the lecture he gave to the CIVIS Gender Studies Network.

I recently delivered a lecture to the CIVIS Gender Studies Network. CIVIS is a consortium of multicultural and multilingual European Civic Universities formed by the alliance of leading higher education institutions across Europe. I was very grateful to be hosted by Professor Marcella Corsi of Sapienza University of Rome, coordinator of the Minerva Laboratory on Diversity and Gender Inequality, for the Gender Studies Network lecture. The session was chaired by my colleague Dr Francesca Stella of the University of Glasgow. It was a great opportunity for me, as an early career researcher to share my expertise with many colleagues from international institutions and disseminate the findings of my PhD research to a European audience. I would encourage my fellow ECR colleagues to seek out similar networks, especially given that internationalisation is a key priority of the university. In addition to connecting with international colleagues, the lecture was a fantastic chance to engage in knowledge exchange. The lecture was recorded and can be viewed online by anyone, which is a cornerstone of being able to disseminate findings to a wide audience. My PhD is over 70,000 words long, so to have a record of the lecture, a distillation of that work in a much more manageable and accessible 45-minute presentation format is a boon helping me demonstrate impact and is a permanent site of knowledge production. I would encourage any colleagues thinking about delivering presentations of their work to record these events and disseminate their work online through platforms such as YouTube; it is a very easy way to evidence your professional practice, engage in knowledge exchange and have a record of the key activities that you undertake as an academic and intellectual that we sometimes overlook in our day-to-day professional lives."

Watch the full lecture on YouTube.

 

First published: 5 March 2024

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