The bisexual sitting trope seems negative, but it's used in a positive way (Pexels and Twitter)

Not sitting properly is bisexual culture—at least, according to the internet.

The trope that bisexual people find new and exciting ways to position themselves on chairs and sofas, appropriately far evolved from the boring heterosexual custom of sitting straight, is part of a humorous trend for self-deprecating stereotypes created inside the community.

Around the internet, you can find the varied but connected ideas that bisexual people can’t drive, do maths, ride a bike or sit in a normal way—but do cuff their jeans and use finger guns.

Unlike harmful biphobic stereotypes though, these tropes seem to have been created by, with and for bisexual people.

The sitting trope is a particularly popular internal stereotype, with numerous posts on social media about the evolved way in which bisexual people use chairs blowing up over the past few months.

One tweet which was turned into a Reddit post with more than 3,000 upvotes noted: “Nothing ever felt more validating than when I first saw the tweet that said ‘bi people cant sit right’ while I was sitting half off a chair with my legs up on my couch and my chin pushed into my chest.”

A like-minded Redditor responded: “Can confirm. Slouched in my chair 40 degrees off-kilter from my monitor and 90 degrees off-kilter from my 2nd monitor/TV – one foot resting on my mini-fridge and one bent with my knee resting on the desk.”

And another person wrote: “I read this then realised I was slouched low in my chair with my legs up on the edge of my desk. My knees are a foot from my face and I’m holding my forehead with my arm on the armrest. Can confirm.”

Bisexual people use in-joke to call stars bi

The trope is all over Twitter, with fans using the meme to speculate that their favourite fictional characters or celebrities are bisexual.

One such tweeter wrote: “in princess diaries mia can’t sit in chairs and does the foot pop while hugging lily this is all evidence that she’s bisexual, in this essay i will” before adding underneath: “SHE ALSO CANT DRIVE????? BI ICON.”

And another person familiar with the positive stereotype wrote about TV show The Outpost, saying that a character called Gwynn “proves how to be the perfect disaster bi.”

“Don’t believe me? Lets look at the facts. Girl has gotten herself the bisexual haircut, a sword, and an army and still can’t sit properly. In this essay I will…”

In a different post, a tweeter wrote: “me and my gf, watching star trek. we see beverly crusher sit in a chair weird. We both look at each other.

“‘Beverly Crusher confirmed bisexual,'” they say to each other.

Bisexual sitting can validate people’s identities

The concept is also used by people who want to proudly present their sitting habits as proof of their own bisexual nature.

“I’m so f**king bi omg,” wrote one commenter called Rea. “You know that claim that’s like if you’re bi you can’t f**king sit properly.

“There’s this one lecture room i go to where every single time without fail, i put my feet up on the chair next to me waiting for the lecture to start, completely forgetting i’m in like a professional setting, until 5 minutes later i’m like omg wait i what am i doing sit like a f**king human rea.

“So yeah, proof that i’m definitely a bi.”

Another person wrote, along similar lines, that the “whole thing about bis not being able to sit in chairs properly is embarrassingly true. example a: me.”

There are also many comments from bisexual people who were previously unaware of the trope, saying that it confirms what they’ve always known. One person tweeted: “I didn’t know that ‘bi women don’t know how to sit in chairs properly’ was a stereotype until somewhat recently but I 100% fit it.

“Crossing my legs like a lady is just not comfortable or natural for me,” they continued, adding: “I’m so guilty of manspreading or tucking one leg under me if I’m not paying attention.”

This can cause difficulties for some bisexual people, like the tweeter who “fell over on saturday & massively bruised both my legs which would be mostly ok, but i’m having real trouble sitting in chairs because as a bisexual my legs need to be under me, crossed or otherwise situated in some weird way and off the floor and it’s just so painful!”

Why has this trend about bisexual sitting emerged?

The bisexual community has to regularly deal with people who falsely see its members as greedy or promiscuous, who don’t see them as bi if they’re in a monogamous relationship, and who find a plethora of other ways to erase them from popular culture.

You’re likely to feel less satisfied, worthwhile and happy than everyone else if you’re bisexual, as well as suffer from anxiety, and – as if that wasn’t enough – you’re also probably sleeping worse than other people.

It’s no wonder that bisexual folk felt the need to combat the daily grind of fending off damaging concepts by creating harmless ways to relate to each other and laugh at themselves.