In Defence of Male Bisexuality: Exploring How South African Bisexual Men Negotiate and Perform Their Gender and Sexual Selves.

Long overdue, the Journal of Bisexuality was created in the year 2000 and for the past 24 years bisexuality-focused research has been presented in this journal. In the early 2010s criticism arose of the journal for lacking context specificity and intersectionality. Highlighting the dangerous act of invalidation of bisexuality by being studied separately from human experience. This completely changed the direction of bisexuality-focused research, and a paradigm took place to promote research on bisexual individuals' coming out and lived experiences. However, bisexual individuals still report biphobia, bi-negativity, and an invalidation of their sexual orientation. Unexpectedly in a time of heightened LGBTIAQ+ acceptance and bisexual visibility. The visibility and representation of bisexuality in media along with many celebrities who identify as bisexual make it somewhat unfathomable for these biphobic beliefs to persist. Monosexism, a belief that monosexuality (heterosexuality and homosexuality) is more valid than a multi-gender attraction sexuality (e.g. bisexuality) is the biggest proponent of biphobia and can even lead to double discrimination. Discrimination from both heterosexuals and homosexuals. Therefore, bisexual individuals must negotiate their gendered and sexualised selves. Thus, coming out for bisexuals becomes a repetitive action in defense of their sexual orientation. To this end, this study will explore how bisexual men negotiate their gendered and sexualised selves in South Africa. Through how they define their sexual orientation, their coming out experience, evaluation of the benefits and challenges, other people’s perceptions of their sexual orientation and the importance and meaning bisexual men attach to their sexual identity.