Category: Uncategorized
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Who is capable of dreaming of a better future?
One of the things I’ve been thinking about in the week plus since I saw the Barbie movie is how — this is not really a spoiler — for all the discussions of its feminism, it never really offers any exciting vision of what a feminist utopia might look like. I mean, yeah, there’s Barbie…
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Things that don’t matter
There are many reasons to mourn the loss of Shuhada Sadaqat (professionally known as Sinéad O’Connor), and many things that are worth exploring in her obituary. Her refusal to temper her beliefs to placate a mass audience, her brave willingness to call out abuse within powerful institutions like the Catholic Church, her commitment to social…
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Monosexual or bi in a bad relationship
In the opening of the classic queer film But I’m A Cheerleader (it’s great, absolutely holds up, watch it whenever you get the chance), viewers are introduced to Natasha Lyonne’s Megan through a series of queer tells. I don’t remember all of them; the two that stick in my mind are that we see her get distracted…
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This is not about the Barbie movie.
Trust me, I would have loved nothing more than for there to have been some bisexual themes within the Barbie movie that we could break down, but alas! While I think there’s an argument that there was queerness within the film (Barbie and Ken seemed to be, uh, kinda forcing their relationship and waaaaay more interested in…
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Well it’s *slightly* better
So last week my inbox was blowing up with headlines about a research paper that analyzed whether you can tell a man is bisexual just by the sound of his voice (which… who gives a shit). Now I’m overwhelmed by headlines about how bi people — and bi women in particular — have shitty health, both mental…
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The hunt for bidar, and other misuses of science
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you are likely familiar with the fact that it has only been in recent years that many researchers have begun considering bisexuals to be a separate and distinct demographic category worth considering on our own — as opposed to, say, just lumping us in with gays…
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Better out than in
Is there any queer experience more universal than coming out? It is foundational, right, the thing that allows one to identify as openly queer. And yet I have to admit I just find it kind of weird as a concept. I mean for starters: what exactly do we mean when we talk about “coming out” in…
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If a bisexual isn’t getting laid…
A few months ago, I wrote in this newsletter about the idea of the “the formerly bi” — a common category prominently represented by people like Ani DiFranco and Billie Joe Armstrong; publicly bisexual celebrities who’ve grown more shy about owning the bi label as they’ve spent years in monogamous heterosexual relationships. You don’t have…
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On “icons.”
I have this joke about queer icons: the easiest way to become one is by being a straight woman who thinks gays are kind of neat! I kid, I kid. I mean, not really, though. How many Pride parades have been grand marshaled by straight women, you know? Quite a few! It sometimes feels like…
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What’s in a name?
It is a little depressing that — outside of people just saying straight up biphobic shit — one of the most common discussions about bisexuality seems to be an obsession over why people call themselves “bisexual,” why that word, rather than, say, pansexual or queer happens to appeal to certain folks. For instance: A few…