My experience of bisexuality

Hello! My name is Cerys; I’m one of the Bi Officers of the LGBTQ+ Staff Forum. One of the things I want to do while in post is raise awareness of bisexuality and what better way to start than with a blog for Bisexual Awareness Week (16 to 23 September)?

Strangely enough, I only started to identify as bisexual in the last couple of years. As silly as it may sound, it never seemed like an option. I remember going through several ‘gay-panic’ phases at school where I wasn’t sure whether I was a lesbian – because a certain female celebrity got me interested – or straight because I was attracted to men.

I have always been in hetero-presenting relationships so, as far as I was concerned, I was heterosexual. At least, when lesbian or heterosexual were the only options. Bisexuality wasn’t something I had ever heard of as a child; I never saw bisexual representation in books or media or met anyone who identified as such. As an adult, it was always discussed as the option that people chose when they hadn’t quite made up their mind. This narrative delayed what would have been quite a simple acknowledgement in my teenage years and turned it into years of confusion and self-questioning.

I know that things have changed quite a lot since I was at school, but we still have quite a way to go before people are as comfortable talking about non-heterosexual sexualities as they are with heterosexual ones, and until we see better representation of the spectrum of sexualities in the media.

There are a couple of simple things that anyone can do:

1. try not to make assumptions about people’s sexuality, and;
2. engage with, and share, media which features characters that break current social norms.

Diversity is something for us to celebrate, together.