Bisexuality

Bisexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by the capacity for attraction (romantic, sexual, or both) to more than one gender. The classical definition, "attraction to both men and women," has broadened in contemporary usage: major advocacy and health organizations now describe bisexuality as attraction to more than one gender, not necessarily to all genders, and not necessarily in equal measure, at the same time, or in the same way (GLAAD; Human Rights Campaign). HRC's glossary phrases this precisely, defining bisexual people as attracted to more than one gender "though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way or to the same degree." Bisexual people may experience their attractions in different proportions across their lives, and that fluidity of degree does not make the orientation transitional or undecided.

The American Psychological Association treats bisexuality as one of the normal variants of human sexual orientation, alongside heterosexuality and homosexuality, and describes sexual orientation generally as an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction rather than a chosen behavior (APA). As with other orientations, bisexuality names a pattern of attraction rather than a behavioral requirement: identity does not depend on relationship history, current partnership, or demonstrating "equal" attraction to more than one gender, and it can be claimed regardless of romantic or sexual experience.

Examples

Bisexuality is defined by a capacity for attraction rather than by a record of acting on it, which is where most of the arguments about who counts come from.

What the term covers. Attraction to more than one gender, in any proportion: strong toward one and faint toward another, or shifting in emphasis over a lifetime. It covers a bisexual person in a different-gender marriage, one who has never dated at all, and one whose attractions have never been equally balanced. "Bi+" is the umbrella that gathers bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual and fluid identities together.

What the term does not cover. It is not bicuriosity, which is exploration rather than settled attraction, nor biromanticism, which names the romantic axis only. Monosexuality is the complementary term for attraction to a single gender. And it is not a relationship structure: GLAAD identifies the claim that bisexual people are inherently non-monogamous as a false stereotype, since orientation describes attraction, not how relationships are arranged.

How the word is used. It entered English in 1892 through Charles Gilbert Chaddock's translation of Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis, inside a pathologising frame it took most of a century to escape. Kinsey's 0–6 scale (1948, 1953) established the continuum empirically; organised bisexual activism separated from the gay and lesbian movement in the 1970s; and Michael Page unveiled the magenta-purple-blue flag on 5 December 1998, released for free public use.

History

The word bisexual entered English in 1892 through Charles Gilbert Chaddock's translation of Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis, initially used within the clinical, pathologizing framework typical of nineteenth-century sexology rather than as a self-chosen identity term. Empirical study of the concept began in earnest with Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and its 1953 companion volume on female sexuality; Kinsey's 0–6 scale modeled orientation as a continuum running from exclusively heterosexual (0) to exclusively homosexual (6), and found a substantial share of respondents distributed between the two poles rather than clustered at either endpoint (Kinsey Institute). Organized bisexual activism took shape as a movement distinct from the broader gay and lesbian rights movement from the 1970s onward, developing its own periodicals and support networks and, by the late 1990s, its own visual symbol: on December 5, 1998, activist Michael Page unveiled the bisexual pride flag (magenta, purple, and blue horizontal stripes adapted from the earlier "biangles" symbol, and explicitly released for free public use) at an anniversary event for the early online community BiCafe (Wikipedia).

Demographics & research

Survey data consistently identifies bisexual people as the largest subgroup within the LGBTQ+ population, while also showing they are less likely than gay or lesbian people to be open about their orientation. In Gallup's 2024 U.S. tracking poll, 4.4% of all adults identified as bisexual, accounting for 57.3% of the 7.6% of adults who identified as LGBTQ+ overall, the single largest sexual-orientation subgroup within that population (Gallup). A Pew Research Center analysis published for Pride Month 2024 found a comparable pattern: roughly 4% of U.S. adults identify as bisexual, making up about 60% of adults who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, with pronounced gender and age differences. Overall, 5% of women versus 2% of men identify as bisexual, rising to 16% of women and 5% of men under age 30 (Pew Research Center). The same Pew analysis found bisexual adults markedly less likely to be openly out than gay or lesbian adults: only 19% reported being out to all or most of the important people in their lives, compared with 75% of gay or lesbian adults.

Research on bisexual youth documents disproportionate mental-health risk relative to both heterosexual and other LGBTQ+ peers. The Trevor Project's national survey research found that 66% of bisexual youth reported persistent sadness or hopelessness in the prior year, compared with 27% of heterosexual youth and 49% of gay and lesbian youth, and that 48% of bisexual youth had seriously considered suicide in the past year (The Trevor Project).

Terminology & related identities

Bi+ is an umbrella shorthand covering bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual, and fluid identities: people whose attraction spans more than one gender, however they individually label it. The relationship between bisexuality and pansexuality is a matter of self-identification rather than a fixed taxonomic line: HRC's glossary defines pansexual attraction as extending to people "of any gender," phrased with the same qualifiers used for bisexuality ("not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way or to the same degree"), and notes that the two terms are "sometimes used interchangeably" (HRC). In practice, some people use bisexual and pansexual as synonyms; others reserve pansexual to foreground attraction regardless of gender, or keep bisexual for its longer history and community continuity. Monosexual is the complementary term for orientations directed at a single gender (heterosexuality and homosexuality), used mainly within bi+ and asexual-spectrum discourse to name that contrast. The romantic-only counterpart, biromantic, describes romantic attraction to more than one gender and is used, particularly within asexual and aromantic communities, to separate romantic attraction from sexual attraction.

Common misconceptions

GLAAD's media reference guidance cautions against several recurring claims about bisexuality: that it is a phase or a step toward eventually identifying as gay or lesbian; that bisexual people are confused, indecisive, or being dishonest about their orientation; and that bisexual people are inherently non-monogamous or incapable of monogamy, a stereotype GLAAD identifies as false, since bisexuality describes a pattern of attraction, not a relationship structure (GLAAD). A related misconception is that bisexuality requires equal or simultaneous attraction to all genders; institutional definitions from GLAAD, HRC, and the APA instead describe attraction that can vary in degree, timing, and expression over a person's life without ceasing to qualify as bisexual.