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Ten years ago, bisexual and lesbian women had the same rate of mental health problems (it was shoddy). Nowadays, lesbian mental health has improved; probably due to homosexuality no longer being seen as a mental disorder, social changes such as the Equal Marriage act and society being ever so slightly more accepting of Lesbian and Gay people.

However, the picture isn’t the same for bisexual women; the gap in good mental health has widened throughout the years, as bisexual women appear to have been left behind, a new study shows.

Bisexual women are 64% more likely to report an eating disorder than lesbians

Eating disorders in women generally, lesbians and bisexual women, %

In a study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, it was found that bisexual women were 64% more likely to report an eating problem than lesbians. They were also 37% more likely to have deliberately self-harmed than lesbians and 26% more likely to have suffered from depression in the previous year. Bisexual women were also 20% more likely than lesbians to have suffered from anxiety in the last year.

Compare those to the incidence of these problems in the general population and the results are stark. In Britain approximately 4.4% of women generally suffer eating disorders.

Self-harm is much higher among bisexual women

Self harm in the UK generally and among lesbians and bisexual women, %

A third (29.4%) of bisexual women interviewed by Stonewall said they had deliberately self-harmed in the last year. A fifth of lesbians said the same thing (19.2%). These rates are a lot higher than the self-harm rate in the general population which is about one in 250 people or 0.4%.

It could be because the Stonewall study asked younger people who are more likely to self-harm.

Why are mental health outcomes so much worse for bi women?

The study found that bisexual women were more likely to be younger, poorer, trans-identified and minority ethnic identified than lesbian women.

This means that they are more likely to be from another oppressed group, and from a more socio-politically disadvantaged class than lesbians. This can add up to poorer mental health along with more societal struggles and pressures.

And then there can be ‘double discrimination’ at play.

Double discrimination

There also have been reports and worries about biphobia, and other members of the LGBTQ community seeing bisexual women as unwelcome interlopers, and not genuine members of the community.

This can lead, understandably, to alienation of these women. Researchers warned that "bisexuals may suffer greater minority stress than lesbians and gay men".

Another reason, perhaps, could be the fact that bisexual women are often not recognized as a category in their own right, facing different oppressions than lesbians, and this is shown in this thesis, which argues that research about women who sleep with women often lumps lesbians and bisexuals together. This ignores the unique issues that bisexual women face and limits awareness around the issue.

So, it’s great that things are getting better for the LGBTQ community; but maybe we should focus on the B in the acronym a bit more.