This is exactly the problem I have with "research" that asks the participants to give their orientation or gender by *identity*, not by practical application, and those that do not make allowances for the differences between desire & practice.
In other words, IMO, a bisexual is someone who is *attracted* to both/all genders to some degree, not necessarily someone who has had sexual relationships with both/all genders. That leaves out all the bisexuals who just haven't had a chance yet, and counts unfairly all the people who have experimented or had other reasons for having a sexual relationship with a gender they ultimately decided was not a gender they were attracted to (i.e. gay men who "pass", particularly in the more fatal years of discrimination).
This was actually the basis of some of my tweets recently about being called "transphobic". I objected to a survey's use of personal identity as the marker for either gender or orientation on the basis that it does not accurately describe what people *really* do or think because there are cultural reasons for choosing labels, including the misunderstanding of what the label means, like the ones you're talking about here.
But suggesting that a survey ask what people *like* rather than what they *do*, and refusing to let them fill in their own identity label instead of describe themselves without an identity label was considered "transphobic" because trans people want to be able to give their own identities and not be forced into boxes by people who don't understand the trans community. Or something.
Wanting accurate results in research instead of catering to personal identity labels that are rife with misunderstandings and that contradict reality apparently makes me insensitive to marginalized people (yes, they said that).
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Date: 2010-07-16 06:04 pm (UTC)In other words, IMO, a bisexual is someone who is *attracted* to both/all genders to some degree, not necessarily someone who has had sexual relationships with both/all genders. That leaves out all the bisexuals who just haven't had a chance yet, and counts unfairly all the people who have experimented or had other reasons for having a sexual relationship with a gender they ultimately decided was not a gender they were attracted to (i.e. gay men who "pass", particularly in the more fatal years of discrimination).
This was actually the basis of some of my tweets recently about being called "transphobic". I objected to a survey's use of personal identity as the marker for either gender or orientation on the basis that it does not accurately describe what people *really* do or think because there are cultural reasons for choosing labels, including the misunderstanding of what the label means, like the ones you're talking about here.
But suggesting that a survey ask what people *like* rather than what they *do*, and refusing to let them fill in their own identity label instead of describe themselves without an identity label was considered "transphobic" because trans people want to be able to give their own identities and not be forced into boxes by people who don't understand the trans community. Or something.
Wanting accurate results in research instead of catering to personal identity labels that are rife with misunderstandings and that contradict reality apparently makes me insensitive to marginalized people (yes, they said that).