#Bi History

[queerasfact]

Happy birthday Mary Shelley!

Mary was born on August 30th, 1797. She is best known for pioneering the sci-fi genre when she wrote Frankenstein at just 19.

Mary was married to Percy Shelley from 1816 until his death six years later - she also described herself as “apt to get tousy-mousy for women” - in particular, her friend Jane Williams. Mary also provided support for other queer people in her life - in 1827, she obtained a false passport for her friend Doddy, who was assigned female at birth, to leave England and start a new life as a married man in France.

Check out our podcast on Mary to learn more!

[Image: Mary painted by Richard Rothwell c.1840]

[will80sbyers]

Bisexuality & discrimination by Lani Kaahumanu / 1985

[shuppyshup]

A violent reminder 💖💜💙

[starnosedmoles]

Bisexual Pride! 1990 🩷💜💙

[discworldwitches]

it is my profound belief that bisexual and intersex liberation and rights are deeply intertwined. not that their liberations aren’t intertwined with the broader lgbtq+ community—the same pseudoscience, legislation, and medical institutions are used to oppress us all—but i think the fact that bisexuals were called “psychic hermaphrodites” and “bisexual” originally referred to intersex people demonstrates that (atleast) discursively we are deeply interconnected in a unique way.

[genderqueerdykes]

"Honing in on bisexuality specifically, in the UK the LGBT+ charity Stonewall published its Bi Report in 2020 to summarize their recent findings on the experience of thousands of people who are bi in Britain. They found that 80 of bisexual people in their sample were not out to all of their family members, and 64 percent were not out to their friends. This meant that bi people were less than half as likely to be out as gay or lesbian people in the study.

Research conducted in the US by the Pew Research Center in 2019 found similar results, with 74 percent of bisexual people in their sample being closeted to most or all of the important people in their lives, compared to the 29 percent of lesbians and the 23 percent of gay men. Additionally, in 2013 Pew had found big differences between men and women. About a third of bisexual women said they had told the most important people in their lives that they were bisexual, but only 12 percent of bi men had done the same."

-- "Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality." - Dr. Julia Shaw.

[bidotorg]

🌈✨ Celebrating 25 Years of Bisexual Pride Flag! ✨🌈

Today marks a special milestone as we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Bisexual Pride Flag! 🎉🏳️‍🌈 Designed by the talented Michael Page in 1998, this vibrant flag has become a powerful symbol of visibility and recognition for the bisexual community.

For a quarter of a century, the pink, purple, and blue stripes have represented the diverse spectrum of attraction that bisexual individuals experience. Each color carries meaning — from same-sex attraction to opposite-sex attraction, and the beautiful blend of both in between.

This flag has played a crucial role in fostering a sense of identity and belonging within the LGBT community, breaking down barriers and challenging stereotypes. It stands tall at pride parades, events, and gatherings, proudly declaring that bisexuality is an essential and valid part of the rich tapestry of human diversity.

Let's take a moment to honor the resilience, courage, and visibility that the Bisexual Pride Flag has brought to countless lives over the past 25 years. Here's to continued progress, understanding, and celebration of all love! 🥳🎂🎊

[the-bi-library]

Download and read online link to those books is in the next tweet in the link. I highly recommend bisexuals to read the magazines!

[bisexual-coala]

hi there! fellow bi person here! i've seen your post about "butch" and "femme" *not* actually being lesbian-exclusive and i am really interested in learning more about this history. i don't know where to start though, so do you mind sharing links or giving pointers as what to search for? thanks so much in advance!

Hi! Of course! <3

Butch and femme identities come from a time where lesbian meant sapphic. Lesbian was an umbrella term back then as we didn't have the word bisexual used for people like us. If you liked women, you were a lesbian, didn't matter if you *exclusively* liked women or not. So, all sapphics used them and identified with them. Bisexuals were right beside lesbians building the butch and femme culture. Even after the word bisexual began being used, bisexual butches and femmes existed.

Here are some excerpts from historical queer books and videos. 1 2 3 (These books could be a good start)

Those identities are not even limited to only queer women. Even queer men use butch and femme.

From a New York Times article on butch existence by Kerry Manders, a butch writer, editor & photographer.

Selections from queer zines 'femmes unite!' (2007) and 'mutate' (1999)

The Butch Manual

I hope these help!

[forsapphics]

🩷💜💙

[bisexualfagdyke]

why do u say dyke as a bi person, weirdo lol

You're clearly not asking in good faith, so I doubt you actually care, but I'm gonna answer & link some resources anyway. You are uneducated on queer history!!

Bisexuals, particularly bi women, have identified as dykes for years. In the past the lesbian and bisexual community didn't have a huge clean cut line. Bi dykes have been a thing forever, always have been, and always will. In real life dyke spaces, they don't care if dykes are bisexual or exclusively attracted to women. Bigots who hurl the slur at people do not care if you're bisexual or exclusively attracted to women. Here's an article on bisexual dykehood by Kravitz Marshall.

carrds with many resources and explanations (don't "but carrds aren't reliable" me until you've actually read through them and the sources they have): one + two + three

The artist Leanne Franson has a comic series called Liliane, Bi-Dyke along with other works that discuss being a bi dyke, which I recommend. link + link + link

You can look through the #bi history, #queer history, or #⚢ tags on my account to find posts I have reblogged about this. Here's a good one.

I identify as a dyke because it is a word that I connect with, and it accurately describes my queer attraction to women in a way other words don't. It has been used against me in the past. I do not use it as a slur, I never have & never will, it's a queer identity that I identify with bcuz it includes me and I connect with it.

Finally, here's a bunch of images (I don't have the sources + dates for them all rn, but if you ask me I will find them for you):

[queerasfact]

Happy birthday Freddie Mercury!

Born on 5 September 1946, Freddie would have been 77 today. We often focus on public images of him as the frontman of Queen, but on his birthday today I thought I'd post some of my favourite pictures of him just hanging out with his partner, barber Jim Hutton. Freddie and Jim were together for seven years, and although gay marriage was illegal in Britain at the time, they exchanged rings to symbolise their commitment to each other.

Learn more about Freddie and Jim

[will80sbyers]

Extracts from “ Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl... A Bi Chronology” by M. S. Montgomery in the Issue n° 16 of ATM (1998)

[starnosedmoles]

Outlook, 1992

“Some gays and lesbians wonder at many bisexuals' angry emphasis on biphobia in the gay community: Don't we know who our real enemies are? The answer is yes, and the dismal truth is we expect homophobia. Bisexual anger has a simple genesis: We expected more of others who have faced homophobia.”

[meerawrites]

Pride, 2024.

[genderqueerdykes]

"To try to figure out how many people are out in the world, we can turn to research published in 2019 which estimated the size of the global closet. Researchers John Pachankis and Richard Bränström wanted to know the amount of people in the world who are LGBT+ and conceal their sexual orientation. They used the largest known dataset of sexual minority men and women in the world, the European Union Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Survey. The dataset included over 85,000 people who identified as part of a sexual minority, living in the twenty-eight countries of the European Union.

The researches estimate that, globally, 83 percent of LGBT+ people are in the closet. Their model also found large differences between geographic areas. To give some examples, they estimate that 94.8 percent of sexual minorities in the 'Middle East' and North Africa are closeted, 35.4 percent of people in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 36.5 percent in Northern/Western Europe. Unfortunately, the researches didn't give specific insights on different sexual identities, but it is likely that factors that affect the LGBT+ population in a country as a whole are also going to affect bisexual people."

-- "Bi: The hidden culture, history, and science of bisexuality." - Dr. Julia Shaw.