Mary Fischer, writing for Oprah.com (2009) and excerpted on CNN (2009), cites research by Lisa Diamond (see 1/17/08) and J. Michael Bailey (see 6/24/08 and 4/11/07) to discuss a "trend" for women's bisexuality. Blogger Rachel Kramer Bussell, on The Daily Beast (2009) suggests that fluidity may be gaining steam in male culture, even if it's "just an act."
Now, the unifying idea between both columns -- and neither of these are scientific sources -- is that greater social acceptance of non-heterosexuality is allowing people to express behaviors and feelings that they might otherwise repress. I will not go off on a J. Michael Bailey rant again (even if I break my jaw via tooth-grinding rage). My points from 2007-2008 still stand, and it looks like it will be too nice today for me to spend it angry. But I am a little baffled to see two pieces this week discussing the trendiness of bisexuality, and having them be aimed at both men's and women's sexuality. It makes me wonder how much "safer" a topic is rendered by having it be a "trend". I'm reminded of the statement: "it's just a phase." The minimizing word "just" seems telling there. It's a word I've been working to cut from my own vocabulary, having caught myself using it 3-4 times in a single sentence. But it seems to me that if these are otherwise-repressed urges, expecting them to go away if social conditions change is unrealistic.
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5 comments:
[info]furikku
2009-04-24 01:59 pm UTC
I see it more as a phase in the sense of "young people need to explore to figure out what the fuck sometimes." Some folks genuinely won't be able to know for sure whether they're most comfortable identifying as homo, hetero, or bi without trying it all out.
Though treating any sexuality as a trend is definitely problematic. :/ I think it's true that it's more "acceptable" than before for a gal to "play bi" for hetero guys' titillation, though. That says more about US culture than about the gals themselves, I think.
I kind of wonder about the rates of acceptability for guys to "play bi." I know of a few subcultures where it's considered acceptable but still slightly weird (mostly because of the mainstream influence).
differenceblog.com
2009-04-24 02:03 pm UTC
Yeah, I found Bussell's article on male-fluidity troubling and also baffling, since I've seen little or no evidence of the phenomenon she describes. Although, I'm now thinking of the straight-man-on-man kisses in the "The Legend of Ricky Bobby" (2006) and "BASEketball" (1998) movies, both of which were comedies.
furikku
2009-04-24 02:07 pm UTC
I think it's slightly acceptable in like animu fan culture (where there's a pretty large percentage of girls that love guys kissing for their entertainment uuugh) and in... whatever the Scene culture is. Although I can only talk about animu fan stuff, since I'm not into the music stuff, so I may be totally talking out of my ass.
Either way, pretending to be a sexuality you are not just to get attention is a Bad Thing, for various self-evident reasons. :I
differenceblog.com
2009-04-24 02:11 pm UTC
pretending to be a sexuality you are not just to get attention is a Bad Thing, for various self-evident reasonsI'm less convinced of this, and certainly not convinced that the reasons are self-evident. I do think it makes it more difficult for my sexual identity to be taken seriously sometimes, but I also wonder how "Bad" that is as a "Thing". I think that it's only bad if you define "trying to get attention" as necessarily bad, but I'd be interested to hear if you have further reasons.
[info]furikku
2009-04-24 02:16 pm UTC
Well, leaving aside the issues of oppressions and -isms, I consider it a bad thing to try to deny one's nature* and/or lie about oneself to others, particularly in areas like sexuality where it can lead to major misunderstandings later on.
Essentially, if you're not being True to Yourself about stuff, it tends to lead to problems.
*as opposed to, say, acknowledging it but avoiding doing what you want, if it happens to be a harmful thing (not conflating "bi" or "homo" with "harmful," but I feel I should make that point when I'm speaking in generalities)
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