To round of Asexuality Awareness Week, we asked our readers to tell us their stories. Here Julia takes us through how it feels to identify both as asexual and bi. From getting tired of always being the teacher to so many inappropriate questions, you may find some familiar issues…
“Why is the group called Lesbian and Gay?” I ask, somewhat naively.
“As opposed to what?” answers one of the organisers.
“LGBT…”
“LGBTQ…”
“LGBTQA…”
I’m sitting in an Amsterdam park having a picnic with a group of LGBT people who have met through meetup.com. I’ve been in the country a fraction over 24 hours. I’ve just moved to a new city, and I’m determined to meet new people and not wallow in the self-pity of my country going to pot. Alas, my lack of sleep means I’ve not stopped my mouth running away before my brain… Continue reading
Asexuality is a misunderstood and often overlooked group within the LGBTQIA+. Over the years they’ve had to fight, often alone, for recognition within both the LGBT community and within scientific circles. For a large portion of the twentieth century, what we now understand to be just another orientation was seen as a disorder or hormonal imbalance. After overcoming the scientific misunderstandings, asexual activists dedicated attention to overcoming misunderstandings within the LGBT community.
A quick tag search on Tumblr and a few hours spent reading the pages of discourse will show that despite the best efforts of asexuals, the LGBT has been somewhat unwelcoming. This is something I tried to tackle in my article for The Matador Network, A Bisexual Call to Arms in Support of Asexuals, where I discuss the importance of bisexuals supporting asexuals, since our two communities truly do share things in common.
Simply reading an article… Continue reading
Ofcom has today ruled that the biphobic comments made by Christopher Biggins and broadcast on Channel Five’s Big Brother did not breach the regulators rules.
The incident, which saw Biggins booted off the show in August of this year, was investigated after Ofcom received 44 complaints.
Stalwart Pantomime Dame Biggins had said, “The worst type though is, I’m afraid to say, the bisexuals… what it is is people not wanting to admit they are gay.”
Ofcom said: “We investigated whether a discussion between Christopher Biggins and Renee Graziano about the sexual orientation of bisexual people was offensive.
“We accepted that these remarks made in Celebrity Big Brother were capable of causing offence, but they were likely to be within the audience’s expectations of this programme.”
Asexuality – not experiencing sexual attraction – is one of the least widely understood sexual identities, and myths abound. In honour of Asexual Awareness Week, we’ve rounded up eight of the most common misunderstandings, ripe for debunking.
MYTH: Asexuality is just a made up new sexuality.
FACT: Leaving aside that all sexual identity labels are ‘made up’ at some point, the word ‘asexual’ has been used in its current sense since the 1890s. That’s exactly the same length of time as ‘homosexual’ has been around.
MYTH: Asexuality is just a fancy way of saying abstinent or celibate.
FACT: Abstinence is a behaviour. It is the choice not to engage in sexual activity. People who have chosen abstinence or celibacy still experience sexual attraction. By comparison, asexuality is defined by a lack of sexual attraction and is not a choice.
MYTH: Asexual people never have sex.
FACT:… Continue reading
In the wake of SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage, BiNetUSA has called for greater support for bisexual people. We asked board member and presenter of the BiCast Lynnette McFazden to give us the info.
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me. Except they do. This year we have four reported suicides of bisexual or pansexual youth in the US that are directly related to bullying. These are just the ones whose sexual orientation is reported correctly; in the past media has called these kids gay or straight. It is good the media is changing how it deals with bisexuality. But it is terrible we are losing so many.
Bisexual and transgender identified individuals have the highest suicide rates in the LGBT community. 46% for each. Of the four bi and pan youth we have lost this year, half were also transgender.