User:Vlynnec3

Bisexual Invisibility Report

Recommendations One of the challenges―and frustrations―for bisexuals and their allies is that so much invisibility persists despite decades of educational efforts. One long-time activist described it as “sweeping sand.” While many people and organizations have certainly become more welcoming and inclusive of bisexuals over the years, others remain inconsistent, oblivious, or occasionally hostile. The question becomes how to create institutional changes that remain even if a bi-supportive leader, staff person, or volunteer moves on. The LGBT Advisory Committee has several recommendations for creating more visibility for bisexuals and bisexual issues in the City and County of San Francisco:  Educate the public, city departments, and elected officials about inclusive language (for example, “anti-LGBT bias” rather than “homophobia”) and ensure its use whenever possible and accurate.  Review the STI brochures offered through San Francisco’s Department of Public Health and, if needed, encourage them to adopt models created by Fenway BiHealth in Boston (one that addresses those who identify as bisexual and one for those who don’t).  Work with the Department of Public Health to ensure that data collection addresses the experiences of bisexuals accurately and consistently.  Share this report and the results of the survey of local nonprofits on what bi-specific programming they have, if any; whether their programs that say they serve bisexuals are welcoming in practice; and how the content of their programming changes to address the needs of bisexuals.  Include specific, separate information on bisexuality in diversity trainings.  Ensure that bisexuals are included among the speakers when there are panels, forums, and other official discussions affecting the LGBT community. Many assumptions lie at the core of bisexual invisibility: assumptions about a person’s sexual orientation based on her/his partner’s gender; about bisexuals people’s reliability, honesty, or commitment to the LGBT movement; about bisexuals’ health concerns and needs; and about the world as an “either/or” place rather than one of infinite variety. Any long-term solutions must dispel these assumptions to make room for those whose lives exist beyond binaries.

About The Bisexual Invisibility Report

From Shiri Eisner (aka Bi Radical, aka Bidyke) Posted on September 19, 2011

Published in March 2011, the Bisexual Invisibility report (perhaps more aptly called “the bisexual erasure report” or the “monosexism report”*) is the first report about bisexuality to have been released by a government body in the US. Without a doubt, this is one of the most important texts to have ever been published about bisexuals. Its importance cannot be overstated, as this is one of the only published texts today addressing the material results of monosexism and biphobia on the lives of bisexual people. And just as this report is important, the content thereof is both saddening and infuriating. I’ve gathered a few of the report’s findings, in hopes to shed light on these material effects. In this, I seek to further stress my argument that monosexism is a widespread oppressive system influencing bisexual people in many walks of life.


 * I generally oppose the form “bisexual invisibility”, as I believe that “invisibility” is not a trait inherent to bisexuality, but is rather actively socially constructed by bisexual erasure.

Some facts about bisexual health:

Bisexual people experience greater health disparities than the broader population, including a greater likelihood of suffering from depression and other mood or anxiety disorders. Bisexuals report higher rates of hypertension, poor or fair physical health, smoking, and risky drinking than heterosexuals or lesbians/gays. Many, if not most, bisexual people don’t come out to their healthcare providers. This means they are getting incomplete information (for example, about safer sex practices). Most HIV and STI prevention programs don’t [...] address the [specific] health needs of bisexuals, much less those [who have sex with people of more than one gender] but do not identify as bisexual. Bisexual women in relationships with monosexual partners have an increased rate of domestic violence compared to women in other demographic categories. The report states a wide-scale research performed between the years 2003-2007 in which the researchers looked at health disparities between lesbians and bisexual women, and found that:

Bisexual women showed significantly higher rates of poor general health and frequent mental distress, even after controlling for confounding variables. Bisexual women were more likely to be current smokers and acute drinkers.