Studies have found that people who identify as bisexual or, to put it another way, people who don't identify as straight or gay, experience:
- more negative reactions from family and friends than do straight or gay people,
- greater degrees of heterosexual bias than do gay people, and
- prejudice from the lesbian and gay community
Biphobia is a term given to those negative reactions in the same way that homophobia is the term given to negative reactions regarding gays and lesbians.
When others have a negative opinion about you and your sexual orientation, it's likely to have a negative impact on how you feel about yourself, and create a type of self-hatred: your own internalized biphobia.
Because of this prejudice, people who don't identify as gay or straight have higher scores for depression and anxiety than do lesbians, gay men or straight people.
A comprehensive report issued a year ago called "Bisexual Invisibility: Impacts and Recommendations" by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission explores in detail the issues that bisexual people often face and the negative impact on mental and physical health that can occur.
I highly recommend this report to anyone who identifies as bisexual, who works with people who identify as bisexual or who knows anyone who identifies as bisexual.
www.sf-hrc.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=989
Well done, San Francisco Human Rights Commission!
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