Although a study in 2005 said that there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove the existence of bisexual men, new research has been put forth to suggest that they do, in fact, exist.
It took six years, sure, but it's good to know that science no longer erases the sexual orientation of very real men.
In Marcus C. Tye's essay "Bye-Bye Bi? Bailey, Biphobia, and Girlie-Men", the writer notes the shortcomings of the 2005 study and its media coverage. The media seemed rather keen on shoving the straight-gay binary and completely ignoring the fluidity of sexuality.
Okay, it's 2011, a new study has been released and NYT has published an article that addresses the existence of bisexual men. All good, yes? Perhaps. But the scientific method of gauging one's sexual orientation by how the subject tests' penises react to different types of porn is still limiting.
The president of the Bisexual Resource Center in Boston, Ellyn Ruthstrom, says it best with her quote in the NYT article:
“This unfortunately reduces sexuality and relationships to just sexual stimulation. Researchers want to fit bi attraction into a little box — you have to be exactly the same, attracted to men and women, and you’re bisexual. That’s nonsense. What I love is that people express their bisexuality in so many different ways.”
It's great that bisexual men exist, scientifically speaking. Nonetheless, we still might want to reevaluate how we quantify or measure sexual orientation.
Perhaps in another experiment, we can study the existence of Women's Studies majors. I've already got a great headline: Philosophy, Political Science, or Lying?
Bahaha. Awesome last line!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/user/RitchandFamous#p/a/u/2/DaZkz8l3Cg0
ReplyDeleteThis guy is really great in addressing issues of masculine identity and bisexuality. Ya'll should totally check him out.