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Misrecognition and managing marginalisation: Bisexual people’s experiences of bisexuality and relationships

Misrecognition and managing marginalisation: Bisexual people’s experiences of bisexuality and relationships
Misrecognition and managing marginalisation: Bisexual people’s experiences of bisexuality and relationships
Many negative portrayals of bisexuality within Western culture relate to relationships, yet only a small body of research has explored bisexual people’s experiences of their bisexual identity within their partner relationships, particularly in relation to the wider cultural context of binegativity. Twenty qualitative interviews were conducted with bisexual men, women, trans and genderqueer/non-binary people in relationships. Participants were based in the United Kingdom and ranged from 18 to 40 years old. We conducted a thematic analysis of the data and identified two key themes: 1) The case of the disappearing bisexual: Invisible identities and unintelligible bisexual relationships and 2) That’s not my bisexuality and not my bisexual relationship: Defending self, relationships, and partners against bisexual negativity. In the first theme, we report how bisexual identity was understood by participants as largely invisible, particularly when they were in relationships, and discuss how the notion of a ‘bisexual relationship’ was seemingly unintelligible. In the second theme, we discuss how participants engaged in identity and relationship work to defend themselves and their partners against binegativity in order to protect their bisexual identity, their partners and their relationships. These results contribute novel findings to our understandings of how bisexual people experience and manage their identities and relationships within the wider context of binegativity. We conclude with a discussion of the importance and implications of our findings.
1941-9899
221-236
Hayfield, Nikki
802cda7d-2c92-4e2e-a421-7a55a8bf9888
Campbell, Christine
f20c3c24-35b1-4a30-b5d8-371c676d1bd4
Reed, Elizabeth
06fc34da-5626-478a-9c54-327cf6e82f50
Hayfield, Nikki
802cda7d-2c92-4e2e-a421-7a55a8bf9888
Campbell, Christine
f20c3c24-35b1-4a30-b5d8-371c676d1bd4
Reed, Elizabeth
06fc34da-5626-478a-9c54-327cf6e82f50

Hayfield, Nikki, Campbell, Christine and Reed, Elizabeth (2018) Misrecognition and managing marginalisation: Bisexual people’s experiences of bisexuality and relationships. Psychology & Sexuality, 9 (3), 221-236. (doi:10.1080/19419899.2018.1470106).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Many negative portrayals of bisexuality within Western culture relate to relationships, yet only a small body of research has explored bisexual people’s experiences of their bisexual identity within their partner relationships, particularly in relation to the wider cultural context of binegativity. Twenty qualitative interviews were conducted with bisexual men, women, trans and genderqueer/non-binary people in relationships. Participants were based in the United Kingdom and ranged from 18 to 40 years old. We conducted a thematic analysis of the data and identified two key themes: 1) The case of the disappearing bisexual: Invisible identities and unintelligible bisexual relationships and 2) That’s not my bisexuality and not my bisexual relationship: Defending self, relationships, and partners against bisexual negativity. In the first theme, we report how bisexual identity was understood by participants as largely invisible, particularly when they were in relationships, and discuss how the notion of a ‘bisexual relationship’ was seemingly unintelligible. In the second theme, we discuss how participants engaged in identity and relationship work to defend themselves and their partners against binegativity in order to protect their bisexual identity, their partners and their relationships. These results contribute novel findings to our understandings of how bisexual people experience and manage their identities and relationships within the wider context of binegativity. We conclude with a discussion of the importance and implications of our findings.

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Accepted/In Press date: 20 April 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 25 April 2018
Published date: 14 May 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 433807
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/433807
ISSN: 1941-9899
PURE UUID: 12d83e15-a569-4a44-8d14-67f52e778224
ORCID for Elizabeth Reed: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0885-2908

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Date deposited: 04 Sep 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:10

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Contributors

Author: Nikki Hayfield
Author: Christine Campbell
Author: Elizabeth Reed ORCID iD

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