bisexual chic

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Bisexual chic is a phrase used to describe bisexuality. One usage of the phrase describes increased public interest in bisexuality, or increased social acceptance of bisexuality. This usage is usually associated with a celebrity coming out as bisexual or being labeled as bisexual, or with a high-profile reference to bisexuality in popular culture media, like a cover article of a magazine. The other main usage describes a faddish attention towards bisexuality. This usage is also limited in scope, as it fails to provide relevant content of what it means to be bisexual, to give context to the legitimacy of bisexuality as an orientation, and even to convey a full understanding of bisexuality.^[1]

The phrase came into usage in the 1970s, on the tail end of the hippie movement, which extolled free love. This era ushered in the emergence of glam rock, and British artists like Elton John and David Bowie. In 1980, TIME Magazine referred to Bowie's persona Ziggy Stardust as "the orange-haired founder of bisexual chic."^[2] A media-generated “wave” took place, focusing “on "bisexual chic" in the club scene, and among celebrities such as Elton John, David Bowie and Patti Smith.”^[3] At the same time, bisexual groups formed in several large US cities, heralding the birth of the modern bisexual civil rights and liberation movements.^[4]

The phrase can be used to imply someone is only pretending to be bisexual because it’s fashionable at the moment.^[5] Alternatively, it can be used to assert that someone is free of taboos, experimental, in touch with both masculine and feminine aspects of themselves, and therefore potentially a better lover or even a better person.^[6]

Members of the bisexual community, although usually in favor of bisexual visibility, see “bisexual chic” as an informal form of bisexual visibility that, while potentially helpful, glosses over issues of sexual health and orientation, as well as self-determination and identity politics.

See also

• Sexual identity
• Sexual orientation
• Sexual preference

References

1. ^ US girls embrace gay passion fashion, The Observer, by Richard Luscombe, January 4, 2004
2. ^ Time magazine, Monday, Aug. 04, 1980
3. ^ Bisexuality in the United States: A Social Science Reader by Paula Claire Rust, 2000, pg 538
4. ^ A Brief History of the Bisexual Movement
5. ^ San Francisco's Bisexual Center and the Emergence of a Bisexual Movement by Jay P. Paul
6. ^ Sex in Public: Austrialian Sexual Cultures by Jill Julius. Matthews; 1997, pg 75

Related reading

• Beemyn, Brett and Erich Steinman. Bisexual Men in Culture and Society (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2001).
• "The New Bisexuals." Time, May 13, 1974.
• Reichert, Tom, Kevin R. Maly & Susan C. Zavoina. “Designed for (Male) Pleasure: The Myth of Lesbian Chic in Mainstream Advertising." Meta Carstarphen and Susan C. Zavoina (eds.), Sexual Rhetoric: Media Perspectives on Sexuality, Gender, and Identity (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999).
• Risman, Barbara and Pepper Schwartz. "After the Sexual Revolution: Gender Politics in Teen Dating," Contexts (Berkeley: U California Press, 2002).

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