The Politics And Stigma Of "Deviant" Sexuality
The Politics and Stigma of “Deviant” Sexuality:
An exploration of biphobia and its consequences on the mental health of bisexual individuals
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There is a growing body of both quantitative and qualitative research that looks specifically at bisexuality, examining the ostensive differences between it and both heterosexuality and homosexuality. The majority of this research seems to suggest that because of the stigma attached to bisexuality, bisexual individuals have an increased risk of mental health problems. This paper argues that this risk is a result of both homophobia and the political dichotomy subsequently created between homosexuality and heterosexuality, through which three main components of “biphobia” emerge. The first is the homophobia felt by heterosexuals towards bisexual individuals because of their attraction to others of the same sex. The second is the biphobia felt by homosexuals towards bisexual individuals because of their attraction to others of the opposite sex. The third is the lack of public visibility and/or acknowledgement of bisexuality in general, despite ample evidence from national studies that it is more prevalent than homosexuality.
Stigma
According to Irving Goffman, the term “stigma” is used to refer to an attribute or characteristic of an individual that is deeply discrediting, marking this individual as fundamentally different than the majority of others in the social category in which they otherwise fit. (Goffman year!). These others are given the name of “normals” by Goffman. However, it is important to note that stigma should be viewed as a product of the relationship between the stigmatized and non-stigmatized rather than anything inherently “bad” in the actual stigmatized trait. The purpose of the stigma often has more to do with reinforcing the normalness of the “normals” than protecting these normals from any real threat posed by this stigmatized...
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