Has Bi organizing gone the way of TV Guide?

[curriedspam]

Once upon a time, every "tv watching" home needed a TV Guide. It told you what was on at what time. Without it, you were forced to stand by the tv and manually switch between channels until you found something good

Comments

[blackorchid1]

I believe you wrote that very, very well. As a person not in the USA, I can only watch and see what happens from the outside looking in. I hope that it will stir some of your country-folk to action.

[bi_dilemma]

I was directed here via a post by nyabn in bisxual_world. In an effort not to be too redundant, below please find a link to my response :)

http://community.livejournal.com/bisexual_world/1345235.html?thread=8043475#t8043475

[childofpsyche]

I agree with much of what bi dilemma wrote in her other comment. I am in my mid 20's and while I feel bisexuality is accepted in ways it never was 10 or 15 years ago I still think there is a long way to go. Unfortunately it seems a lot of activist groups are having trouble with getting new members right now. I don't have a solution but I say don't give up.

Are you or binet involved with Robyn Ochs' talk at Fenway Community Health in March? I am in Boston and would be interested in learning more about the community here. I know about the bisexual women's network in back bay and the women's center in cambridge, i just haven't been able to get involved in much of anything yet (grad school sucks away all my time).

good luck and keep working, it does make a difference

[rhonan]

I have been wondering this myself. I recently was drafted to take over as president for Seattle BiNet, and I almost turned in down because I did not want to take the risk of being the one to shut it down. We had at least 8 people at every meeting when I first started going to meetings 6 or 7 years ago. Then the weekly meetings went to biweekly, as we were not getting enough attendance. I hosted our monthly coffee social last Saturday, and had one new person show up, and none of the old-timers. That has been the case for the past year. I often make dates for the social just to have company when no one else shows up

[bi_ballerina]

maybe we should chat, I might have some thoughts/ ideas for you. . .

[nyabn]

please come join the new listserv Local_Bi_Group_Leaders, we are all brainstorming about just these kinds of issues

[bi_ballerina]

I would personally love to be more involved in the bisexual community in Seattle, and nationally. However, my attempts to attend both of the bi groups in seattle and become involved have been incredibly disappointing for the most part. Most of the members are at least 10 years older than me, which seems to be a big enough gap that we have very different ideas of what a group should look like and how it should be run. I have definitely enjoyed hearing perspectives of older members who were around when bisexuality really was completely unaccepted. However, I didn't feel as if the group was similarly open to my own experiences or willing to work with different ideas or topics. Also, I am definitely a minority in my age range- most of my friend identify only with the word 'queer'. I feel as if the bi community and the people who use the word queer as an identity label could be really powerful and radical together, but I don't see a willingness to come together.
I think there should be an adjustment of perspective before BiNet

[softfruit]

The bi-queer divide is one that interests me a lot too, if you kick off talking about bridging it anywhere I'd love to be part of it.

[nyabn]

meanwhile all heck has broken loose (especially on postqueer and bipolypagangeek) because some feel bisexuality is oppressive by it's very name + nature because it "promotes the binary" + leads 2 gender opression and not recognizing that gender as well as sexuality can be fluid

[loungechic]

I think this is a lot of where the issues lie now... in the terming of the sexuality.... which is unfortunate, because it may be keeping people from joining "Bi" groups or getting involved in Bi issues, JUST because it doesn't use the term they prefer, even though the issues are probably relevant... and I'm sure they could really bring amazing things to the existing Bi groups!

In my own opinion, I have NO issue with using Bisexual as a defining term for myself... For me, I generally like men because they are men and women because they are women, regardless of how they represent this (whether it fits stereotypical gender-identities or not), THUS I define as BI-sexual... It's not a 50-50 thing for me, and OF COURSE I recognize AND APPRECIATE the fluidity of gender-identity within those two categories, but Bi still fits... Pansexual is not accurate to how I feel, and neither is Queer.