The Biscuit Purple List 2017
Your nominations have been counted, your thoughts have been collected and your faithful Biscuit team has cogitated, confabulated and contemplated every single line you’ve written. It hasn’t been easy, but we are at last ready to present the Biscuit Purple List 2017.
We asked you who inspired you, who made you proud and who you though deserved more recognition than they got, and you answered in your hundreds. You told us you value visibility as much as outreach and community building efforts, with household names like Sara Ramirez, Joe Lycett and Nicola Adams appearing alongside prominent activists like Jen Yockney and Meg-John Barker and community organisers like Sali Owen.
From the worker bees of grassroots organising to the Queer elite, the full gamut of the bi community is represented here. YouTube starlets who educate while they entertain; local group leaders who do so much more than just give us a space to… Continue reading
Bi Causes Benefit from CaBiRet
A night of bisexual cabaret (or, as the organisers insist, cabiret) raised over £100 to be split between the Bisexual Index and Bis of Colour.
It was standing room only last night, when more than sixty people arrived at the Cavendish Arms in Stockwell for a night of bisexual cabaret. The event was held to celebrate Bi Visibility Day and featured comedy acts, music, magic and poetry.
“It was a fantastic night,” Marcus Morgan of the Bisexual Index told us. “It’s so great to see people coming together to support our community and celebrate the positives of bisexuality.”
Jacq Applebee performs poetry
Funds raised at the event – totalling more than £100 – will be split, with half to go to the Bis of Colour group, and half to go to the printing costs of the Bisexual Index.
Survey Finds Biphobia Alive and Well in America
Almost half of adults would not date a bisexual person, according to a survey of 1000 adults across the USA.
We are often told that bisexuality doubles your chances of a date on Saturday night, but the reality may be that your chances are halved, according to a new survey.
The survey, carried out by sex toy retailer Adam and Eve, found that 47% of respondents would not enter into a relationship with a bisexual person. A further 19% were undecided.
Men were less likely to reject a potential partner because of their bisexuality, with 39% of those polled saying they would date someone bi compared to just 31% of women.
The findings are no surprise to bisexual activists. With belief in the myths that bisexual people are more likely to be unfaithful, pass on sexually transmitted infections and need multiple partners to be content so… Continue reading
CaBiRet – An Evening of the Bisexual Variety
On 2nd October the Cavendish Arms, Stockwell, hosts an evening of cabaret with a distinctly bisexual flavour.
Your host is bisexual magician and Biscuit fave Marcus Morgan, with other acts TBA. Doors 7.30, but the pub will be serving food from 5pm. Come along, share a laugh (or a groan) and indulge in an evening of entertainment where bisexuality is the norm, not the (begrudging) exception.
The event is free, but bring a long a coin or too as donations will be collected for various bisexual causes.
EXCLUSIVE extract from British Bi Guide Purple Prose
Biscuit has been given a sneak preview of Purple Prose, a guide to the bisexual community from indie publisher Thorntree Press now crowdfunding over at Indigogo. The book is billed as “a guide to the bi community in the UK, and an exploration of the issues facing bisexuals everywhere”.
In the first of two exclusive extracts Marcus Morgan, Chair of The Bisexual Index, talks about bisexual activism:
“If you’ve been reading the chapters of this book in sequential order then by now you have a better understanding about bisexuality, the bisexual community in the UK, what biphobia is, and how bisexual erasure (or invisibility) hurts people.
If you’ve been paying attention, you might even be starting to get cross. What right do people have to oppress us, who decided that bisexuality would be erased, what’s the deal with the lack of services, information and support?… Continue reading
The Biscuit Purple List 2015
Your nominations have been collected, heated discussions have been had and disagreements have been thwarted, and now we are proud to be able to present the first ever Biscuit Purple List.
The Purple List was conceived as a reaction to the bi-erasure of similar honours lists, which neither recognise the work done that specifically benefits the bisexual community, nor the importance using the word ‘bisexual’ to describe the non-monosexual people who do appear in them.
We think that it’s important to make a really big deal about the awesome people who give their time, energy, cash and resources to make life a little bit better for bisexual people. As a group we have lower rates of well being than gay and lesbian identified people. We’re more likely to commit suicide and to self harm. We are more likely to misuse drugs. Our teens have … Continue reading
Hoisting our colours: A brief history of the bisexual pride flag
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
“If You Wanted Support, You Sent Off For Leaflets” – Finding a Bi Community Before the Internet
The story of how I came to find the UK bisexual community is one I tell often – if you’ve heard it before I apologise – but it’s a useful example of the subtle, or perhaps not so subtle, biphobia we encounter. Of the way we are delegitimised with the kindest intentions.
I was 21 years old. I worked in a high street insurance brokers on the outskirts of London. I had keys to lock up the shop so I waited… Continue reading →