Bisexual

People who are bisexual experience sexual or romantic attraction towards genders like and unlike their own. That may be 2 or 3 (yes, there are more than 2 genders, stay tuned!) or 4... You may think that bi=2 but the definition has more or less evolved over time. Now, bisexuality is a really broad term and basically acts as a superset of people who are not monosexual.

I would like to point out as well that "bisexual" is a label people attribute to themselves if they feel that it fits them. Hence, bisexuality may have different meanings to different people.

"Bisexual" is sometimes used as an "umbrella term" for other "multisexualities", that is, other sexualities whereby someone experiences attraction to several genders.

Sexualities figuring under this category include "pansexual", "polysexual", and "omnisexual"

Unfortunately, bisexual people are, despite being the largest part of the LGBT+ community, oftentimes the most discriminated against. Interestingly, they are victims of homophobia as well as biphobia, sometimes originating from inside the Queer community itself.

As such, there are a number of misconceptions surrounding bisexual people.

1. Bisexual people are attracted to everyone.

Absolutely not! Saying bisexual people are attracted to all humans on Earth is pretty insane. This idea comes from a lot (and I mean a lot) of misunderstanding of the Bi community. To put it into perspective, hetero people are not attracted to all 3.95 billion people of the opposite gender, right? They still have preferences and types.

2. Bisexual people are half gay half straight.

This one annoys me for two main reasons. The first is that bi people are not necessarily 50/50 in their gender preference. They may tend more to one gender or the other, in such a way it is not 50/50 but could even be 10/90.

The second reason this is so annoying is that it's often exclusionary for Bi people, as if they don't belong in the LG*B*T+ community because they have attraction to the opposite gender. (This is also pretty transphobic since heterosexual transgender people would also be excluded from the LGBTQ+ community)

I'd also like to point out that purple is its own colour. Sure, it's made up of red and blue the proportion of each don't matter. 30/70 for red/blue still gives purple! And when you go to Mauvilac for paint, you don't go "uh, uhm, I'll have some half red half blue paint please" or when you look at flowers, you don't say "deary me, this is quite a beautiful shade of half red half blue, isn't it?"

3. Bi people will "pick a side".

This reflects the sentiment of Point 2. Bisexuality is its own sexuality. Considering the case of a bisexual guy, he is not "straight" when in a relationship with a girl and not "gay" when with a guy. In both cases, he is bisexual. If he settles down with a woman, he hasn't picked a side and he wasn't straight all along. It's not that hard to understand that someone who is bi cannot be reduced to straight and gay.

4. Bi people are more likely to cheat.

Why? What on Earth gives that impression? Is it because they're attracted to multiple genders? This just makes no sense. "A person is more likely to cheat because they're bi" - a flamingo with its head in the dirt.