Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper investigates the visibility (or invisibility) of a “bisexual identity.” Based on semi-structured interviews with 48 self-identified women and men, I consider the ways perceived heterosexual privilege might contribute to the invisibility of a bisexual identity as well as how the gendering and sexualizing process forces social actors to revert back to either/or dichotomous categories; thus, leaving little space for a "bisexual identity" to stand alone. My argument is that a "bisexual identity" may become co-opted as the gender performance of social actors is contrived either as "homosexual" or "heterosexual," but not as distinctly "bisexual." Here, I argue that self-identified bisexuals are largely mistaken or misappropriated in the social, interactive context. In my final analysis, I hope to introduce an improved framework for understanding how self-identified bisexuals’ experience with “passing,” defies conventional wisdom that “othered” sexual minority groups will go to any length to gain access to heterosexual and “passing” privileges. Furthermore, my respondents contradict Goffman’s (1963) original analysis, which assumes that one’s “secret defect” is always associated with what is considered undesirable by the heterosexual majority. To be sure, the “stigma” my informants wanted to avoid was being associated as “straight,” and not their bisexual or queer status.