Everything Your Need To Know About Bisexuality

Binary thinking often mars bisexual persons from getting acceptance. Anindita Ghosh tells you all that there is to know about the orientation. PS: knowledge is power

- Anindita Ghosh

Has the thought of making out with someone of your own gender aroused you? Have you enjoyed lesbian porn? Have you made out with a woman and enjoyed it?

If the answers to the questions above are in the affirmative, chances are, you identify as a bisexual. However, human sexuality is far more complex and fluid and cannot be slotted in narrow boxes. Thus, even though the above signs may point you in a certain direction, it’s uncertain that you are bisexual. Here, we spell out details about the orientation, the lack of knowledge surrounding it, and the challenges bisexual people face.

First things first

Simply put, bisexuals are individuals who are attracted to both men and women. According to Dr Shanu Shrivastav, consultant psychologist, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (New Delhi), “Being bisexual does not necessarily mean that you will be equally interested in both the sexes; it merely involves a ‘capacity’ to do so. While some bisexual people may be equally drawn to both men and women, it’s not a defining feature of bisexuality.”

Delhi-based marketing and communications specialist Dipalie Mehta went through a gamut of sexual feelings, growing up, before she could identify herself as bisexual in adulthood. Having had relationships with both men and women, she is in a same-sex relationship for the last two years. “In Indian families, conversations around sexuality/sex/ menstruation don’t happen. My first understanding of my own sexual leanings came from my reactions to characters in books and people I met in real life. I felt attracted to men, women, transsexuals— almost everyone who seemed interesting. More so, I grew up thinking that it is the norm, and one marries the opposite gender for making babies. I discovered homophobia in my late teens, and it was shocking,” she says.

Bisexuality is real