by Paige Listerud
aka Max the Communist
 It was a pleasure to be able to hear Wendy Bostwick and Grady Garner's presentations at the 2009 Bi Health Summit once again during the first day of the LGBTI Health Summit, since it allowed for more discussion from those attending and the presenters did not have speed through their findings. Convenience studies--smaller studies done to target a specific group who are usually accessed through community resources or settings, or learn of the study by word-of-mouth or referral--are not the studies of choice for a lot of researchers. Large population studies provide more reliable data and more diverse participants across social, economic, racial, and education backgrounds. But smaller convenience and pilot studies are more affordable for researchers (no small factor when one is competing for research funding) and can point the way toward further research. Plus, when done qualitatively with in-depth interviews, rather than respondents just checking off pre-formed answers, the responses can humanize statistical reality. A study on the impact of biphobia on bisexual women, conducted by Wendy Bostwick, Assistant Professor of Public Health at Northern Illinois University, has many of the typical drawbacks of a convenience study--being overwhelmingly weighted toward white, highly educated women. But its findings in mental health for bi women are fairly similar. 50% of her respondents met the criteria for depression set by the CES-D*, while larger national surveys found bisexual women at the highest of all other sexual orientation groups for mood disorders--a whopping 58.7%. (Depression for straight women stands at about 20%) Bostwick analyzes her findings within the context of stigma, as defined by Erving Goffman (1963): "Stigma is a process of naming differentness." She also relies on the framework for establishing stigma--or a group as stigmatized--developed by Bruce Link and Jo Phelan (2001). Naming difference and singling out people for separation and status loss is always about power. Her preliminary analysis finds that the higher degree of consciousness regarding bisexual stigma correlates with her respondents' higher levels of depression. Regrettably, she still had to analyze levels of "outness" in her respondents to reveal if disclosing bi identity or activity had any impact on bisexual stigma consciousness. By far, most agreed strongly with the following statements: "Bisexual stereotypes affect me," "I fear lesbian women will reject me," "I fear others view my identity as unreal." Interestingly, the respondents agreed least with the statement: "I wish I wasn't bisexual." The fear of rejection by lesbian women was the highest, while fear of rejection by straight women was around the middle, and fear of rejection by straight men ranked the lowest in the respondents' concerns. The theme of isolation came up frequently for bisexual women. While all the quotations from in-depth interviews with them were poignant, this one spoke to the issue of isolation: "It sort of puts a moat between you and other people. Where you cannot become intimate or make good friendships if you feel like you have to explain to someone who's not gonna get it . . . And it does, I think it does isolate me." --Stella, 36 Stella (not her real name) has a rather interesting story. Raised in a strict religious family, her mother, a Roman Catholic, told her to "stay away from boys," so she did. She started having relationships with women at 15 and remained identifying as lesbian until she began sexually experimenting with men in her 20s. Now married to a man, she finds it difficult to find people to disclose her past to who will understand. Whenever friends make remarks about lesbians and gay men, she would rather say, "Well, I used to be a lesbian . . ." but refrains from saying it because it sounds all wrong. She is not ex-gay and doesn't want to give that impression to straight people. I make mention of this one study that shows student bisexual women are not doing so well academically in higher education, because of the demographic Bostwick is studying and because, on a personal note, college got psychologically harder for me once I came out bi. I needed so many answers that no one around me was giving. But that's a story for another day.
My impression from the Bi Health Summit overall was that studies focussing on bi women still outnumbered studies of bisexual men, unless those bi male studies are exploring factors regarding HIV/STDs. That's really a shame, since bisexual men have been receiving negative attacks in the media over the last few years, from both straight and gay sources, and even so-called "positive" articles on bi men still manage to work in the opinion that they may not really exist, let alone whether someone should date them. If it's that bad for bisexual men in general, bisexual men of color may be receiving the least non-judgmental, non-stereotypical treatment. Grady Garner's convenience pilot study on the impact of biphobia on bisexual black men drew from an even smaller sample than Bostwick's for bi women. Garner, from DePaul University, has been working in LGBT health for 15 years and is on the Board of Directors for the Illinois African American Coalition for Prevention and the Brothers Health Collective. Because so little research has been done on being black, bi, and male, Garner wants to find how such men are dealing with multiple oppressions. His study is also designed to understand the coping strategies of black bi men and whether they are influenced by the tactics they have learned in dealing with racism. Is there in fact, a certain resilience born of coping with racism that teaches them how to deal with heterosexism and biphobia? Grady himself emphasized the need to locate the office in which he took the interviews in a quiet, unremarkable office space, with no signage or any indication that the spot was LGBT-related. He noted that black bi men are not quick to come out about their identity and that discretion was the most talked about aspect of their coping strategy--coming out only to very close friends or not at all. In fact, some respondents directly said that there was no need to come out, that it was no one's business. 33% of respondents had experienced heterosexism and/or biphobia, while 67% reported not experiencing discrimination regarding their bisexuality. The respondents who had no run-ins with heterosexism and biphobia reported having supportive family, peers, work environment and supportive experience in the gay community. The study, however, does not measure for "outness" or degrees of outness, which in my opinion, is a critical omission for assessing the reality for multiple oppressions in this group. Garner did mention the primacy of race for his respondents and their coping strategy of putting race first as a concern and bisexuality next. Garner discussed the value of not coming out, or avoidance, as a worthwhile strategy for individuals in the short term, while long term consequences may be more suspect. Garner also discussed negative coping mechanisms, such as role-flexing--being hard and masculine to divert suspicion, or engaging in homophobic or biphobic behavior. I appreciate that Garner's study is trying to do a lot in measuring multiple oppressions, but there were times when I felt his analysis was so preliminary, its presentation to the Bi Health Summit was somewhat premature. I am glad there was time for a discussion on the impact of notions of masculinity on black men. I'm grateful to ednpride (I know you, Ed) for posting these video clips of a performance of black bi men's concerns regarding acceptance and health during the break-out session of the Bi Health Summit. Presentation "Bi Cultural Competency and Men of Color" from Jeffrey McCune of the University of Maryland and Alexander Sewell (contributing performer/scholar, Alcolu Lymon was unable to attend):
I want to add on these two gems of black bi male expression because there is such a dire need for visibility. I found their personal stories and personal expressions of faith, since that is such a profound element of African American culture, to be deeply humanizing. Just tryin' to make it in this world--that's what it's all about. *Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale--one of the most common screening tests used to help determine an individual's depression quotient.
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To whom it may concern at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center,
Carol Queen 
