(Picture: Deirdre Spain)

In news that will surprise no bisexual person, biphobia is still alive, kicking, and miserably common.

A new study published in the Journal of Sex Research looked into heterosexual people’s views of bisexual women, and found that straight people still overwhelmingly uphold negative stereotypes about bisexuals.

These stereotypes include that bisexual women are just ‘confused’, that they’re promiscuous, that they’d be unhappy in a monogamous relationship, and that they’re less deserving of trust.

261 straight US participants were divided into four groups and assigned a task.


The first were asked to describe three randomly selected social groups, with a lag of five seconds between sections to simulate a randomisation process. In reality, each participant was asked to describe the same three groups: heterosexual women, lesbian women, and bisexual women.



The second part of the questionnaire involved reading descriptions of two characters, then evaluating them against a list of items. They were shown illustrations of couples on coffee dates, with accompanying descriptions of each character – with one bisexual woman paired with a lesbian woman or a heterosexual man.

The couples on those imagined dates went through the exact same conversation with 10 neutral questions, such as ‘what is your favourite reality TV show’, plus one question related to sexual orientation. The bisexual woman character responded to say she’s a bisexual, while the straight man said he was straight, and the lesbian woman said she was gay.

(Picture: Getty/ Ella Byworth)

The participants were then asked to choose statements that they felt applied, such as ‘I think Laura is not a trustworthy person’ or ‘I think Laura is a trustworthy person’. These statements were specifically tailored to identify previously noted stereotypes of bisexual people, including promiscuity and trustworthiness.

It turns out the character’s bisexuality had a substantial effect on how the participants evaluated them.

Bisexual women were perceived to be more confused, promiscuous, nonmonogamous, neurotic, extraverted, and open to experiences, and were evaluated as less agreeable and conscientious.

Bisexual women were also evaluated as less dependable and less emotionally stable than lesbians.

That’s not just down to explicit cultural messaging or experience, although that plays a part. Individuals who had no knowledge of bisexuality were more likely to evaluate bisexual women as confused and promiscuous.

‘This means that society’s tendency to ignore bisexuality is harmful to bisexuals,’ said the study’s lead author. ”But this finding is also encouraging to some degree: it means that educating the public about bisexuality can help reduce prejudice and therefore improve the lives of bisexual individuals. As a society, we need to talk more about bisexuality.’

Considering that previous research suggests that bisexual people suffer from higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts than heterosexuals, lesbians, and gay men, it’s clear the lingering attitudes towards bisexuality have a serious impact.

Just to clear this up for anyone wondering, bisexual women are not confused. Just as you’re able to find multiple people attractive over the course of your life, it’s perfectly ordinary to be attracted to people of different genders.

Bisexual women are not automatically promiscuous. People of any orientation can have as much or as little sex as they please.

Bisexual women are not destined to fail at monogamy, because being attracted to men and women does not mean they’re attracted to everyone, and they are entirely capable of controlling desires and not screwing people over, the same as people of any other orientation.



Some bisexual women are more neurotic… but hey, aren’t we all?

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