celebrating bisexuality
Today is International Celebrate Bisexuality Day! Ideally, I would celebrate my bisexuality by having kinky sex with a small selection of my favourite bisexual boys, girls and people inbetween, but I'm going out drinking with a big selection of them instead. Which is almost as good.
I first identified as bisexual when I was thirteen, nearly half my life ago. For the two years before that I was very confused: I knew I was utterly smitten with my female best friend, but I also knew, in a naive pubescent way, that there was no reason I might not choose a man as my life partner some day if I met the right guy. Then I discovered the concept of bisexuality (possibly on the Internet, but probably in one of the erotic books for women that my mum failed to successfully hide from me) and everything made much more sense.
When my relationship with my best friend developed into a sexual one, I became swept up in the full flush of first love. Clearly, my love and I were fated to be together forever. Clearly, therefore, I must be gay. I believed this until I entered the sixth form, at which point all the mean, spotty boys I knew started growing into tall, handsome young men. I realised I'd been bisexual all along, I just hadn't ever fancied teenage boys. Which is, you know, fair enough.
Peter from Bi Social News has written an excellent article asking: what is it that bisexuals have to celebrate? He answers his own question:
Bisexuality is an invitation to complexity. There is no coloring in between the lines with bisexuality because there are no lines to color in between. The world is open to us. What matters here then is defining an ethical code of our own. In other words, an invitation to complexity is an imperative to critical thinking and making reasoned choices. ... Bisexuality exists as both potential and realization always, especially if you are monogamous.
Being bisexual is emotionally intense and intellectually demanding, because it requires constant engagement and evaluation as part of the package. When we bisexuals live up to the challenge, we show healthy models for human relations and that’s what we should be aiming for.
I am proud to be bisexual. It opens up limitless possibilities and models for relationships, sex, love. I am blessed to be able to enjoy the romantic and erotic company of men, women, and those inbetween. Because my interest is not limited to the cisgendered, I prefer the word queer to describe my own sexuality: I do not consider gender to be a binary, and I am not only attracted to those at the extreme ends of the spectrum. But for today, I'm happy to identify as bisexual, and celebrate that fact.
Today is necessary, not just as a love-fest for those of us similarly inclined, but to challenge the many problems our culture has with bisexual invisibility and prejudice. The LGBT movement has gained increasing force in the last few decades, but too often bisexuals are excluded from the language of LGBT rights, or shunned by individuals trying to reinforce their black-and-white view of the world. While the entertainment industry has started to admit the existence of real gay men and women, bisexual characters are almost never recognised in films and TV. Bisexuality is rarely mentioned in politics or public conversations about LGBT rights. Our culture has very few models for healthy bisexuality, and (perhaps as a result) stereotypes and prejudice abound. We are accused of indecision ('staying on the fence'; 'not making up your mind'), greed ('wanting our cake and eating it'), disloyalty, betrayal and lack of solidarity. We are told we lack self-awareness and emotional maturity ('you'll grow out of it'; 'you're just going through a phase'). Too often, our identity is denied and erased from public perception.
I'm preaching to the choir here: the kink scene is unusually aware and accepting of the range of human sexuality, and I'm sure you all already know this stuff. So I'll get off the soapbox, and finish up my mini-celebration of being queer with some bisexual spanking photos.

This is Leia-Ann Woods, Honey Hardy, Jadie Reece and Stephen Lewis all looking gorgeous in Northern Spanking's recent high-definition film Girls' Night In, beautifully photographed by Billy. The ladies are having fun enjoying each other when Leia's hubby walks in, catching them in the act of admiring and appreciating one another's bottoms. Well, what do you expect the man to do? Spank them, of course!

Happy International Celebrate Bisexuality Day, everyone. To all my fellow queers, I hope you have heaps of fun celebrating your sexuality in whatever way you prefer. Here's to embracing the power of 'and'. :)





Oh, I love this post so! I had no idea it was International Celebrate Bisexuality Day... I certainly didn't do anything to properly celebrate it.
ReplyDelete"I prefer the word queer to describe my own sexuality: I do not consider gender to be a binary, and I am not only attracted to those at the extreme ends of the spectrum."
Now, if I could walk around at all times with a badge that says that, things might be a lot simpler.
Your post inspired me.
ReplyDeletehttp://champagneandbenzedrine.blogspot.com/2009/09/bisexuality.html
Like Graham, I had no idea - I hope that you had a good night.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to say was really lovely post it is ....
"I became swept up in the full flush of first love" - brings back some lovely memories
"the kink scene is unusually aware and accepting of the range of human sexuality" - set me thinking why is this - then after I could not work out why just decided to be thankful it is.
Keep up the good bloging!
p.s. a little freaky but the CAPTCHA for this post has "bi" in the middle !
Pandora
ReplyDeleteI equally had no idea y'day was ICBD but i endorse the sentiments of your blog, if only everyone was not judgemental of others choices and just let be.
Paul
A day late but happy Bisexuality say to all the Bi's out there. I wish I was bisexual, it must be easier to convince a guy that cuddling up to watch the entire box set of Firefly is a genuinely romantic evening.
ReplyDeletePrefectdt
Sorry I meant "day" not "say".
ReplyDeletePrefectdt
Graham - Every day is Celebrate Bisexuality Day! But Wednesday especially :)
ReplyDeleteIt'd have to be a pretty big badge. Maybe a t-shirt?
C&B - Nice post! Thanks for raising awareness - I've always suspected that most people were in the middle of the Kinsey scale than right on the edge, it's just that we're socialised (especially men) to be monosexual. But then, of course my sexuality seems like the default to me. Really, the range and fluidity of sexuality is far more interesting than ideas that everyone's secretly the same.
Charles - well, I got home at midnight, sloshing with gin and covered in permanent marker. Does that count? :)
First love is a funny thing, isn't it? Nothing else I've felt since has had that peculiarly urgent intensity, but it was a ridiculously dysfunctional relationship and I'm far better off where I am now. Reassuring it's a universal phenomenon, I guess! I blame hormones :)
I think kinksters have already accepted the idea that it's okay to deviate from the norm, and so other deviations seem less strange. (In theory of course - there's always the "anyone kinkier than me is disgusting" brigade, but I think they're getting fewer.) It's like my experiences while I was camping the other week - I wasn't with a kinky crowd, but once you're into the "alternative" scene, whether that's goths, metallers, hippies, geeks and gamers, LARPers, the gay scene or any other "non-mainstream" social niche, you're likely to find a higher number of kinky people than in the average slice of the population. Or maybe just more people who are aware of their kink! One "non-mainstream" lifestyle choice often accompanies another - there's a lot of overlap. I often see the same familiar faces at fetish clubs and hippy festivals... not because all hippies are kinky or vice versa, but because all are people who have deliberately woken up to differences in themselves from the norms encouraged by society, and embraced and accepted that difference. Once you've done that once (or had it forced on you by being e.g. bullied at school) it's less of a leap to do it a second time.
Personally, I don't believe there are "normal" and "alternative" people. Every human being is rich and interesting. But our culture is a bit fucked up in ways that call attention to the differences between those who prefer to perform "normal", and those who prefer to reject it in some way.
idlethoughts - thanks for your understanding. I think there's lots of work to do before everyone will agree with you, but as with most social change... it's mostly a matter of time.
Prefectdt - LOL! I think watching Firefly is a pretty romantic evening ... mmmm, now there's a show designed to appeal to bisexuals. Between Kaylee, Mal and Zoe I don't know who to lust over more. And Wash is a sweetie, and River is ridiculously beautiful, if slightly reminiscent of Girls Who Have Hurt Me. And I'd totally do Jayne, if he didn't actually talk ;)
Your tale of first love with your best friend and subsequent incorrect certainty of homosexuality reads just like my own!
ReplyDelete