Resources
Understanding bisexuality and biphobia
Check out our other resources pages for information on Community Connections, Support Services, Factual Information, Bi+ Culture in Literature and the Arts and Bi+ Organisations Across Australia.
Bisexuality and multi-gender attraction
There are many different ways that people understand and describe their experience of being attracted to people of more than one gender. Below are some common terms that people use, and what they mean.
People often choose terms based on what feels good to them or resonates with them personally, rather than based on academic distinctions in meaning. Some people are comfortable with multiple labels (e.g. some people may identify as bisexual as well as pansexual). Some people prefer just the word ‘queer’ or ‘fluid’, or reject labels altogether. There is no right or wrong answer - it’s about how each of us understands ourselves and what feels safe and affirming to us individually.
People’s understanding of their sexuality, and the language they prefer to use in talking about it, can change over time and in different contexts. For example, a person might talk about themself in some contexts as gay and in other contexts as bisexual; or might see themself as straight, queer or pansexual at different times in their life. It’s fine to use whatever words feel safe and affirming to describe yourself in whatever time and place you are in.
People sometimes avoid the term ‘bisexual’ because of misconceptions about what bisexuality is. (For example, some people think that bisexuality excludes attraction to people who are trans or gender diverse. This is a biphobic myth and erases the many bisexual people who are themselves trans or gender diverse.) We encourage you to listen carefully to bi+ people about their experience and to avoid making assumptions about terms that others use to describe themselves.
The definitions below have developed within a “Western” cultural context. There are many diverse ways to understand and describe sexuality and gender across cultures. Uncritically using the labels and ideas below to refer to queer people across different cultures can be an act of colonialism. Please be ready to learn from others about how multi-gender attraction is understood within their cultures.
We believe that people should have autonomy about how they describe themselves and what labels they choose to use (if any). Please don't apply labels to others unless they are comfortable using those terms for themselves.
Bisexual
Bisexuality simply means attraction to people of more than one gender. This was well expressed by Robyn Ochs, a prominent bisexual activist, educator and author, who wrote: “I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted – romantically and/or sexually – to people of more than one gender, not necessarily at the same time, in the same way, or to the same degree.”
An alternative definition that is sometimes used is “attraction to people of one’s own gender and other genders”.
Pansexual
Pansexuality is sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity.
Polysexual
Polysexuality is attraction to people of many genders.
Omnisexual
Omnisexuality is attraction to people of all genders.
Multi-gender attracted
Multi-gender attracted is an umbrella term for those who experience attraction to people of more than one sex or gender. Bisexual, pansexual, polysexual and omnisexual people are all encompassed within the ‘multi-gender attracted’ umbrella. Multi-gender attraction can also be about behaviour as well as, or instead of, identity. For example, some men who have sex with men may be considered to be multi-gender attracted but may not identify with any LGBTIQA+ identity. The term ‘multi-gender attracted’ tends to be used more in academic and policy contexts than in everyday use within community.
Multi-gender attraction is not based on the gender of a person’s current or past sexual partners. For example, a person can be in a long-term relationship with someone of the same gender, and still be bisexual or pansexual (or another multi-gender attracted identity) if they can experience attraction to people of other genders. Multi-gender attraction also doesn’t require an equal level of attraction to people of all genders. For example, a person can experience frequent attraction to nonbinary people, and occasional attraction to women or men, and still be bi+.
Bi+
Bi+ is widely used within queer communities as a broad and inclusive term for people who are multi-gender attracted. It is an umbrella term that encompasses the many flavours of multi-gender attraction including people who may identify as bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, queer, fluid, questioning, and other non-monosexual identities. It also includes those who express multi-gender attraction in behaviour but do not identify with LGBTIQA+ communities.
The term bi+ is being increasingly used in activism and education by multi-gender attracted people. It is a word that helps to bring us together and to share our common experiences and priorities as a basis for positive change.
Plurisexual
Plurisexual is another umbrella term used to describe those who are attracted to people of more than one gender. It tends to be used in academic contexts and is rarely used in everyday discussion within queer community, at least in Australia.
Monosexuality
Monosexual
Monosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction to people of one sex or gender only. A monosexual person may identify as heterosexual, homosexual or queer. ‘Monosexual’ is often used in contrast with bi+, and is a factual term which describes a set of sexual orientations. It is not a slur. It is helpful in making visible social patterns through which people who are attracted to one gender are treated differently from those who are attracted to multiple genders.
Monosexism and biphobia
Monosexism
Monosexism is a system of social attitudes and structures that privileges monosexual people over bi+ people. Like patriarchy, racism, ableism and other oppressive social systems, it is woven into the narratives, relationships, policies and institutions that shape our society.
Monosexism can be seen in individual attitudes (i.e. that monosexuality is superior to or more valid than multi-gender attraction) and individual discriminatory behaviours (e.g. seeking to exclude bi+ people from straight and queer spaces). It is also visible in systematic patterns of harm and disadvantage to bi+ people as a group. For example, monosexism results in bi+ people in Australia and elsewhere having higher rates of homelessness, poverty and mental illness than people of other sexual orientations.
Biphobia
Biphobia refers to prejudice, discrimination, or hostility directed towards bi+ people (or towards people who are perceived to be bi+). It encompasses negative attitudes and behaviours that marginalise, stigmatise, or invalidate multi-gender attracted individuals and their experiences.
Biphobia can manifest in various ways, including perpetuating stereotypes and misconceptions about bi+ people (e.g. myths that bi+ people are promiscuous, untrustworthy or dangerous), rejecting bi+ people (e.g. excluding bi+ people from family relationships, discriminating against bi+ people in dating), refusing services to bi+ people, seeking to convert bi+ people to other sexual orientations, or perpetrating acts of violence or harassment toward bi+ people.
Recognising and reducing biphobia is essential in addressing the harms caused to bi+ people’s health and wellbeing by monosexism. It is also vital in promoting inclusivity, visibility, and acceptance of diverse sexual orientations and identities within society and LGBTIQA+ communities.
Bi erasure
Bi erasure or bi invisibility is the pattern of ignoring or dismissing evidence of bisexuality and of not acknowledging bi+ experience. This is part of the intellectual structure of monosexism, as it reinforces the assumption that monosexism is normal and that multi-gender attraction is invalid or does not exist.
Bi erasure is often present in everyday language and attitudes (e.g. saying that a bi+ person is “just going through a phase” or is “just confused”; or using the term “gay marriage” instead of “same sex marriage”, as many bi+ people will not feel included within the term “gay”). It can often result in false and harmful assumptions about people (e.g. assuming that a person is heterosexual because they are dating someone of a different gender, or assuming that they are homosexual because they are dating someone of the same gender - in both cases, the person may be multi-gender attracted).
Bi erasure can also involve overlooking, removing, falsifying, or re-explaining evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the media, and other primary sources. This sometimes involves re-interpreting bi+ experiences or people as either heterosexual or homosexual. In an extreme form, bi erasure can include writing or research seeking to establish that bisexuality does not exist.
Bi+ visibility
Bi+ visibility is the antidote to bi erasure. Bi+ visibility involves increasing public awareness, understanding and acceptance of bi+ people, and of the validity and value of multi-gender attraction. Bi+ visibility can occur organically through positive representations of bi+ people in arenas such as the media, sports, literature and the arts. It can also be strengthened through strategic work to highlight and celebrate bisexuality, undertaken by bi+ individuals, bi+ organisations, and allies.
Other useful definitions
Gender identity
Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of self in relation to gender. It encompasses how someone perceives themselves as a girl/woman, boy/man, both, neither, or another gender outside of the “Western” gender binary. While some people’s gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth (known as cisgender), for others their gender identity doesn't neatly match the sex they were assigned at birth (transgender).
Sex and gender extend beyond the “Western” male/female binary. Intersex people have innate sex characteristics that don’t fit medical and social norms for female or male bodies. In terms of gender, some people identify as gender diverse or non-binary (genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, etc.), and many cultures around the world have gender frameworks that differ from the male/female binary. Like sexual orientation, gender identity can change over time.
Bi+ people can have any gender identity. For many people, the experience of being attracted to people of multiple genders connects with questioning rigid concepts of gender. There is a strong crossover between bi+ communities and trans and gender diverse communities.
Gender expression
Gender expression is the ways in which people publicly present their gender. This may include behaviour, outward appearance (e.g. clothing, hairstyle, makeup), body language, voice, and other characteristics. A person’s name and pronouns can also provide signals about gender. A person’s gender expression doesn’t necessarily match their internal sense of gender, and how others perceive our genders doesn’t necessarily match how we prefer to be seen, or how we understand our own gender.
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation refers to who a person is attracted to, romantically and/or sexually. Bi+ sexual orientations are part of a diverse range of different ways of being attracted to other people, including lesbian, gay, queer, questioning, straight (heterosexual) and other orientations. Some people have little to no sexual attraction to others (asexual) or little to no romantic attraction to others (aromantic).
Sexual orientation is not determined by our gender identity or the sex we were assigned at birth, although our understandings of our sexuality and gender may evolve together. Like gender identity, a person’s sexual orientation and their way of thinking and talking about it can change over time.