Deconstructing the Clinging Myth of ‘Straight-Passing privilege’ for bi+ People

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12759396
AutoresRosie Nelson (0000-0003-1885-9625, University of Bristol, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume24
Fascículo3
Páginas303-324
Data de publicação2024-03-27
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Bisexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1529-9716 • E-ISSN: 1529-9724
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15299716.2024.2332873
OpenAlexW4393232547
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas76

This article is premised on critiquing the idea that bi+people – that is, those with multiple gendered attractions - have ‘straight-passing privilege.’ This assumed straight-passing privilege suggests that bi+people are not equally affected by homophobia and heteronormativity when compared with lesbian and gay people. This article aims to demonstrate that this notion of straight-passing privilege is harmful in understanding bi+people. To explore these arguments, this article uses literature relating to passing and identity management to understand how bi+specific identities relate to these theoretical concepts. Through a sociological lens, this article argues that the idea of straight-passing privilege neglects the real circumstances of bi+people, who experience safety and wellbeing concerns and presumed privileges because of these assumptions. It is correct that bi+people may be able to pass as straight in certain circumstances, as may many lesbian and gay people, but the understanding of this as a privilege fails to account for the difficulties that anyone living outside of a heterosexual norm experiences. Rather, bi+people are subject to biphobia and bisexual invisibility/erasure that impacts their ability to be ‘out’ at all—leaving them ontologically incom­prehensible

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Heteronormativity · Human sexuality · Identity (music · Invisibility · Lesbian · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Privilege (computing · Sociology · Subject (documents · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research