It’s hard to deny that ignorances and misunderstandings about pansexuals exist, and the bisexual community is not immune – despite facing plenty of myths of our own. Myths around bisexuality and pansexuality overlap, but pansexuality also attracts some unique prejudices. It’s time to put them all to bed, starting with eight of the most common panphobic myths.
MYTH: Pansexual is a new term
FACT: We’ve been seeing the word pansexual since at least 1924. It’s shifted in meaning since it was coined, of course, just like the words ‘bisexual’, ‘homosexual’ and even ‘furniture’, ‘girl’ and ‘manufacture’. That’s just how language works.
It was first used by contemporary critics of Freud such as Otto Rank and Wilhelm Reich in derision, as an ironic validation of Freud’s suggestion that “that the sex instinct plays the primary part in all human activity”; or that our libidos either directly or indirectly, drive… Continue reading
By now, you’ve probably seen the trailer for Stonewall, the film accused of whitewashing, ciswashing and bierasing events that took place on Christopher Street, New York, in June 1969. If you’ve decided to #BoycottStonewall, consider watching one of these films instead.
Marsha P Johnson was an African American, bisexual transwoman, famed for being photographed by Andy Warhol and for her role in instigating the Stonewall Riots. This documentary tells her story though original footage of interviews with Johnson as well as interviews with her family and friends. You need to see it immediately.
(full doc)
Stonewall, the final work of director Nigel Finch who died shortly after filming finished, is a fictonalised account of the riots written by Rikki Beadle Blair and based on the memoir Stonewall by Martin Duberman.… Continue reading
Here’s a round-up of some of the news, blogs posts and comment we missed this week.
Did we miss any other must-see stories? Let us know in comments…
Image: “Joseph Kawesi, 31. Uganda, MARCH 2015 ” by Robin Hammond. Shared under fair use. Via Time.com
The bi pride flag has become internationally recognised symbol of our movement, so it’s surprising that so many people don’t really know where it came from of what it represents. Now, we can’t have that, so with a little help from thewaybackmachine, and the good people at BiNet USA, Biscuit presents a history of the bisexual flag.
There are lots of symbols that represent homosexuality. From the (pun not intended) gaiety of the rainbow flag to the somber significance of the inverted pink or black triangles or the mythological connections of the labrys, you can usually find a motif that suits your purpose.
But until 1998, when Michael Page designed the flag that would become a global shorthand for bisexuality, there was no universal symbol under which the movement could unite. Many bisexual people did not feel a connection to the already iconic rainbow flag, which seemed to belong… Continue reading