By Maya Kurland (she/her)17, Employees Author
September 14, 2025
From September sixteenth to the twenty third, we have a good time Bisexual Consciousness week, or BiWeek. BiWeek, which started in 2014, goals to advertise acceptance and visibility of bisexual individuals like me. Bi of us make up 56.3 % of LGBTQ+ individuals within the U.S., in accordance with a 2022 Gallup ballot. But they proceed to face discrimination and erasure—the invalidation of their id—even from different queer individuals.
For bisexual teenagers determining who they’re, erasure could make what is commonly a complicated expertise really feel much more troublesome. My experiences with erasure within the media and every day life have typically made me really feel insecure in my id or misunderstood by the individuals round me.
When Media Will get It Unsuitable
A 12 months in the past I sat in entrance of my TV, hours deep right into a marathon of the traditional late Nineties/early 2000s present Intercourse and the Metropolis. A lot to my shock, an episode got here on the place the principle character, Carrie Bradshaw, begins courting a bisexual man named Sean. Whereas Carrie is initially head over heels for Sean, she turns into more and more involved by his sexual orientation. In the end, she breaks it off with him, at one level saying, “I’m not even positive bisexuality exists. I feel it’s only a layover on the way in which to Gaytown.”
Watching the episode, I grew to become actually uncomfortable. Whereas Intercourse and the Metropolis might really feel a bit dated, it’s onerous to look at components of your id invalidated within the locations you search leisure. Greater than something, it was troublesome to listen to a line from a decades-old present be so paying homage to issues I’ve typically heard in my very own life. The concepts expressed in Intercourse and the Metropolis have been round for a very long time and, frustratingly, are nonetheless round right this moment.
Erasure from Inside the Neighborhood
I noticed I used to be bisexual in seventh grade. I got here out across the identical time as a lot of my pals and was fortunate to undergo the ups and downs of that have alongside them. As I’ve gotten older, although, and turn into extra comfy expressing my sexual orientation, I’ve had many experiences the place pals—even pals who’re additionally queer—invalidate my id as an alternative of supporting it.
Among the many issues I’ve been informed are:
● I’m homosexual as a result of I’ve solely gone on dates with ladies.
● I’m mendacity to myself about being drawn to males.
● Once I become old, I’ll “develop out” of my bisexuality.
● I must “choose a aspect.”
Simply a few weeks in the past, a good friend referred to me as a lesbianregardless of realizing that I’m bi. There’s nothing mistaken with being homosexual or heterosexualbut it surely is mistaken to be informed that it’s a must to be one or the opposite.
From Invalidation to Celebration
Bi-erasure is dangerous as a result of it seeks to affirm a binary—a system through which there are solely two choices; on this case, totally homosexual or totally heterosexual—that doesn’t exist. Sexual orientation is on a spectrum, and whereas many individuals really feel attraction at one finish of the spectrum or the opposite, others lie someplace in between.
You could be bisexual and have a stronger attraction to 1 gender. You could be bisexual and have solely dated individuals of 1 gender. You could be bisexual and have by no means dated anybody.
The reality is, our identities are ours and ours alone. Nobody else ought to be capable of say who you’re or who you may love. So, this Bisexual Consciousness Week, it’s time that we are saying goodbye to bi-erasure and have a good time bisexual individuals as an alternative.