Bisexual in the closet
The ‘Global Closet’ is Huge—Vast Majority of World’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Population Conceal Orientation, YSPH Explore Finds
The vast majority of the world’s sexual minority population — an estimated 83 percent of those who recognize as lesbian, gay or bisexual — keep their orientation hidden from all or most of the people in their lives, according to a brand-new study by the Yale School of Public Health that could have major implications for global public health.
Concealing one’s sexual orientation can lead to significant mental and physical health issues, increased healthcare costs and a dampening of the public visibility necessary for advancing equal rights, said John Pachankis, Ph.D., associate professor at the Yale Academy of Public Health. He co-authored the study with Richard Bränström, an associate professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and analyze affiliate at Yale.
Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study is believed to be the first attempt to quantify the size of the “global closet” in order to gauge its public health impact.
“Given rapidly increasing acceptanc
Why do bisexuals persist in the closet much longer than their gay and lesbian peers?
Being bisexual comes loaded with a host of stereotypes and myths, from being promiscuous and jumping between beds, to being unsure about their sexual orientation.
These stereotypes are not harmless labels; they can have serious consequences for bisexual people, who often experience that they don&#x;t belong in either heteronormative society or within the LGBTQIA+ society.
Despite society&#x;s gradual enlightenment toward the LGBTQIA+ community, bisexual people are more likely to linger in the closet than their gay and lesbian peers, out of apprehension of stigma and stereotypes, much of which comes from the LGBTI community itself.
According to US-based think tank, Pew Research Centre, just 28 per cent of bisexual people have &#x;come out&#x; to all their friends and family, compared 71 per cent of lesbians and 77 per cent of gay men.
The research project - which deeply interested almost 1, people - revealed that many bisexual people often have an unfair reputation for being promiscuous, &#x;double dipping&#x;
What Keeps Bi Men in the Closet?
Dr. Eric Schrimshaw, of Columbia University&#;s Mailman School of General Health, published an academic paper in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior , which explored why bisexually behaving men don&#;t verb their same-sex sexual behavior to their female partners, family members, and friends.
His findings revealed some unexpected reasons for bisexual nondisclosure and illustrated some of the specific challenges bisexual men face regarding stigma. I had the pleasure to converse to Dr. Schrimshaw to get a better sense of the results from his study and to find out what the far-reaching implications of his research are.
Dr. Eric Schrimshaw: My colleagues and I here at Columbia had a big federally funded research from the National Institute of Health (NIH), and its primary goal was looking at potential sexual risk behavior among bisexual men and their female partners, in essence, researching how bisexual men act as a bridge population for spreading HIV to women. But I approached the research from a different angle that matched my interests
A Leading Cause of Many Bisexuals Staying in the Closet: Other Queer People
In a profile of Dr. Brian Dodge, a lead researcher on bisexuality and the health disparities they face, the healer revealed that “the vast majority” of biphobia he has faced comes from gay and lesbian people. A adj other studies also suggest this sort of biphobia and discrimination contributes to bisexual people staying in the closet even though they outnumber gays and lesbians.
Numerous studies own pointed out that bisexual people watch over to have worse health outcomes than gay, lesbian or straight people, but fewer people recognize that bisexuals manage to stay closeted more often than gays or lesbians.
A Pew survey create that bisexual people come out at rates three times less often than gay men, verb four times fewer LGBTQ-identified friends than gay men and report higher levels of societal mistrust than gay men. They also reported feeling lower levels of social acceptance and progress in favor of their sexual identity.
There are several reasons for this. First, not all bisexual people self-identify as s