Rochillic - Tumblr Posts

Well, we do have the words "Salietian" for bi women and "Rochillic" for bi men, but they're not as well known.. but we could start using them and helping them gain popularity! There are multiple flags for them, but these are my favorites

The first one is the Salietian flag, the second is the Rochillic flag

“It would be nice if we had another word, the way gays and lesbians can call themselves, well, gays and lesbians, instead of homosexuals.”

- Cheryl Dobinson, Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World

I read Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw and I was shocked at how much more severe the issue of biphobia and bimisogyny is than most people, even within the bisexual community, even realize. I’ve posted links to the relevant quotes from this book and organized them under these broad points:

bi men are targeted by both homophobia and biphobia; biphobia bi men experience is a materially distinct oppression than homophobia;

bi women are targeted by both lesbophobia and biphobia; bimisogyny, the intersection of misogyny and biphobia, is a materially distinct oppression from lesbophobia;

bisexuals of color, disabled bisexuals, and trans/nb bisexuals experience profound erasure from bi representation and scholarship, and access to necessary resources;

bi people experience "double discrimination"/biphobia from the straight and gay communities; bi ppl are at risk of discrimination for bisexuality specifically;

This biphobic discrimination in the gay community goes back decades;

the terminology used to describe gay rights is often exclusive of us to a damaging degree. this means in addition to specific biphobic struggles, bisexuals often must face generalized homophobia without the "buffer" of acceptance in the larger LGBT+ community and with some enhanced difficulties acquiring LGBT+ resources; and finally,

positive aspects of bisexuality and bi identity/nuance corner.

The most important information I found is that bi+ people have a higher rate of mental health issues, suicidal and self-harm issues, addiction, isolation, rape, IPV, stalking, abuse, and are less likely to be out as bisexual or to have strong connections to the larger LGBT+ community to act as a buffer against discrimination, as opposed to lesbians and gay men. They are also erased and denied access to LGBT+ spaces, resources, and legal protections. As opposed to gay men and lesbians, the particularities of the bisexual experience includes 1) experiencing double discrimination, 2) less likely to be out, resulting in mental health issues 3) bisexuals are more isolated on average than LG people, and 4) bisexuals struggle with internalized biphobia. I've broken down these arguments and sourced further information on the material affects of biphobia here on my Wordpress blog, since Tumblr won't let me post the full quote all at once, but you can find the quotes with the specific research and studies I'm basing these claims on in my tag for this book or under my general book quotes link, #education multiplies power