| What
do people think when they hear the word
"bisexual?"
"Gay male"
or "lesbian" are the first two
choices. Adjectives that follow include:
confused, weird, fag, indefinite, sick,
indecisive and disgusting.
These are the findings
of a study by the Mexican Institute of Sexology
in three Latin American countries.
The survey of semantic
networks (meanings automatically associated
with words), which started in 2003 and included
some 500 adult men and women in Colombia,
Guatemala and Mexico, was led by researcher
Paulina Millan.
She claims it is difficult
to conceive of bisexuality by itself, separate
from homosexuality, because people tend
to think the words have the same meaning,
and because they also suppose one must choose
to be attracted to one gender or the other,
but not to both.
"My own clients
think they are confused, and I need to explain
to them that there are people who are actually
attracted to men and women." she says.
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Sadly,
nevertheless, most therapists are not really
aware of what bisexuality is, and think
of it as a disease they need to get rid
of, without any respect for the client's
options.
But the news is not
all bad. While there are several negative
concepts linked to the word "bisexuality",
there are others that could be interpreted
positively.
Some people also link
the word "bisexuality" to "love"
and "freedom", maybe because they
recognize bisexuals as people who act according
to their desires, as free spirits, even
if it means breaking away from traditional
prescriptions, according to Millan.
The study included both
high- and low-income people. Millan can
be reached at:
invest@imesex.edu.mx
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