bi health politics
Been pondering the politics of so-called "bisexual health", and looking at relevant research (such as it is, which isn't a lot when you come to specifically bi stuff).
1. a) It seems to me the short summary of current bi health, in terms of measurable outcomes, is "Very similar to lesbians and gay men in equivalent cultural/circumstantial situations, with a few differences in degree".
(E.g. referring to populations rather than individuals, the Mind report shows that LGB people have worse mental health results than straight people, and bi people's results are broadly similar to L/G people with some better scores and some worse. What I'm suggesting is that, for example, we're unlikely to find an area where behaviourally bisexual people as a group are healthier in some way than straight people, while gay people are less healthy.)
b) And the short summary of bi health needs is "Everything that (some) lesbians, gay men + straight people need, but without the biphobia and monosexism, please".
c) What do you think of this hypothesis, peeps?
2. How many behaviourally bisexual people might we estimate there are in the UK and based upon what evidence? esp. yer actual scientifically valid & preferably peer-reviewed & published type stuff. (And not simply reliant on Kinsey, who didn't start with a representative sample even of US people.)
Thanks in advance for comments on all of this, which would be most useful just at the moment.
1. a) It seems to me the short summary of current bi health, in terms of measurable outcomes, is "Very similar to lesbians and gay men in equivalent cultural/circumstantial situations, with a few differences in degree".
(E.g. referring to populations rather than individuals, the Mind report shows that LGB people have worse mental health results than straight people, and bi people's results are broadly similar to L/G people with some better scores and some worse. What I'm suggesting is that, for example, we're unlikely to find an area where behaviourally bisexual people as a group are healthier in some way than straight people, while gay people are less healthy.)
b) And the short summary of bi health needs is "Everything that (some) lesbians, gay men + straight people need, but without the biphobia and monosexism, please".
c) What do you think of this hypothesis, peeps?
2. How many behaviourally bisexual people might we estimate there are in the UK and based upon what evidence? esp. yer actual scientifically valid & preferably peer-reviewed & published type stuff. (And not simply reliant on Kinsey, who didn't start with a representative sample even of US people.)
Thanks in advance for comments on all of this, which would be most useful just at the moment.