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5.5% of American women and 2% of men identify as bisexual.
Young bisexual men are finding it the hardest to come out compared to their female and their gay and trans peers.
A survey of 11,000 people aged 18 to 29 has found gay men are twice as likely to have come out.
The survey also found women are twice as likely to identify as LGBTI and be open.
Bisexual men are finding it hard to come out
Bisexual flag. | mary / Flickr
Julia Taylor, from the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, led the study.
‘Research shows there are certain issues that are present for gay and lesbian people as well as bisexual people,’ she told Hack.
‘But there are particular protective factors for gay and lesbian people that bisexual people aren’t privy to.
‘If gay and lesbian people come out and things don’t go so well for them… they do have a big vocal community to find support and that’s something bisexual people don’t have.’
‘More and more so bisexual women are depicted in television and literature… although it’s still minimal,’ she added.
‘But for bisexual men it’s completely invisible… there’s a lack of role models.
‘When you’re deciding something as difficult and personal as coming out, looking up to people who have lived through it is a really important thing. When there’s no role models for bisexual men, that’s a real hindrance to the coming out journey.’
‘Lack of role models’ for bisexual men
2015 San Francisco Pride Parade: Bisexual contingent
Bisexual men have agreed that it can be harder for them to come out.
Corry Wiseman told GSN: ‘Bi men struggle to come out because they worry about not being accepted by either community. There is the near-constant battle against bi erasure.
‘I can’t lie and say these problems completely disappear if you’re “out”. However, the freedom of living without having to hide any part of yourself more than makes up for that.’
William Shillibier, a journalist, wrote a column for Gay Star News about his coming out.
He wrote: ‘It just feels like as a man, all the stereotypical negative responses to someone being bisexual – it’s a phase, it’s a stepping stone to being gay, you can’t like both, which one do you prefer – are amplified.
‘It’s also quite difficult to put your own bisexuality into words sometimes and even something as simple as that can rattle around inside your head and make it seem like you’re doubting yourself.’
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