Over the years, the rigid borders of sexuality have evolved past having to identify as liking one gender or the other.
Bi Visibility Day, also known as International Celebrate Bisexuality Day, has been celebrated every Sept. 23 since 1999. After 19 years, the conversations around the term bisexuality have increased but also become more complex.
This year, Ohio University’s LGBT Center will host a mini-movie marathon showing different people and their stories as LGBT-identifying individuals Friday. The center will also be hosting a Safezone on Saturday that will focus specifically on standing in solidarity with bisexual and pansexual individuals.
According to women, gender and sexuality studies professor Catherine Euler, gender has so much variety.
“To say bisexuality is limited to only men and women automatically excludes the people who do not identify as either man or woman,” Euler said. “Nowadays, it seems like people are using the term pansexuality to be more inclusive of all people.”
The term pansexuality was first coined by psychologist Sigmund Freud, according to CNN.
OU’s LGBT Center Director delfin bautista shared their thoughts on what being pansexual means.
“Before pansexuality, there was bisexuality, which historically, meant being only attracted to men and women,” bautista, who uses they/them pronouns and the lowercase spelling of their name, said. “But the more modern definition is a person who is attracted to two or more genders. Recognizing there are more ways of being in the world than just man or woman is the kind of inclusiveness this world needs.”
Many people use the terms bisexual and pansexual interchangeably. It is something the world is becoming more accustomed to, but not completely. There has been a good amount of prejudice against bisexual people throughout history, Euler said.
In the previous two decades, there has been a mistrust of bisexuals because identities were very strongly formed, she said.
“There were many gay men and women who were assumed to be ‘bisexual tourists,’ (for example) if a woman went to have a relationship with a woman and then decided to then have a relationship with a man after that, it was just confusing for a lot of people,” Euler said. “So many lesbians got burned for that, as well as men.”
In a culture where being bisexual is not universally accepted, it is not uncommon to hear people say that it is "just a phase." Destiniee Jaram, a freshman studying journalism, said she finds it insulting people would even consider bisexuality as a phase.
“When I hear someone talking about being gay or bi as being just a phase, to me, it delegitimizes a person’s sexuality,” she said. “You can be attracted to two different groups of people, it’s not a crime.”
Due to that assumption, many bisexual-identifying individuals may not want to identify themselves as being attracted to more than one gender.
“You think you would be able to identify with two groups of people, but you end up being a little isolated from both,” Jaram said. “You’re not gay enough for gay people and not straight enough for straight people.”
There are many misperceptions about bisexuality, but that is why Bi Visibility Day and National Bi Week are celebrated each year, bautista said. The purpose of these events are to inform and celebrate being bi and being proud. The OU LGBT Center is always open to anyone who wants to connect with fellow LGBT students, as well as a place where one can feel safe.
“We need to be more open and comfortable talking about bisexuality,” bautista said. “There’s a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to discriminating against bisexuals, rather than listening to what they say and what they believe in.”
