by Zack Beauchamp
In response to the recent study Dan Savage looked at demonstrating the existence of male bisexuality, Alexandra Petri snarks:
This must come as a relief to bisexuals, who had been hovering in a state of Cartesian uncertainty for years. “We think we exist,” they would say, “but we’re waiting for the results to come back from the lab.”
Except that they, uh, were. From Josh Eidelson:
Being attracted to women meant that I could pursue romantic relationships with the gender everyone expected me to without feeling like those relationships were dishonest, but I was troubled by a growing sense that the important people in my life didn’t know the whole story. Part of what kept me from doing something about it sooner was the stereotype that bisexuals were lying to themselves—that, for men, bisexuality was just a pit stop on the way to gayville…The New York Times headline blared, “Gay, Straight, or Lying?” I hadn’t told the person who showed me the article—or anyone else, for that matter—that I was wrestling with my own sexuality. I had promised myself that I would use my last year of college to figure out what my deal was. Seeing that article reinforced a fear that, however dishonest it may have been to portray myself as gay-friendly straight guy, there was nothing I could say about my identity that would be both honest and perceived as such.
Now, it's not totally clear from Josh's article that the scientific evidence caused him to doubt his own sexuality rather than have difficulty coming out. Regardless, being told "science proves male bis don't exist!" makes the already difficult process of figuring out one's own sexual identity even harder for young bi men. After all, how you exist if hard, objective science says otherwise? Further, being kept in the bi closet created by social expectations confirmed by scientific data itself has an imprisoning effect on developing your identity.
The Dish 