this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2026
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Two-thirds of straight women and one-third of straight men are unwilling to date a bisexual person of the opposite sex, according to a YouGov poll published today, during Bisexuality Visibility Week. The poll illustrates how lingering stereotypes negatively affect people’s impressions of bisexual individuals.

The poll — which surveyed 5,983 Britons during late March, including 2,031 straight women and 1,517 straight men — found that 48% of all respondents had positive views of bisexual people and only 8% had negative views. The remaining percentage had neither a positive nor a negative view of bisexuals.

...

When the survey asked straight women and men why they were unwilling to date a bisexual person of the opposite sex, most (16% and 19%, respectively) said they “just don’t” or claimed, “It’s just a preference.”

A nearly similar portion, 17% of straight women and 16% of straight men, said they felt like bi people are more inclined to cheat, or that they themselves would feel insecure that they’d be unable to provide a bi partner whatever they get from a same-sex partner.

Interestingly, 9% of straight women said they feel disgust or discomfort towards men with same-sex experiences, 8% worried about possible sexual health risks, and 10% of straight men said they considered bisexuality to be either religiously or morally “wrong.” Approximately 12-13% of all straight respondents said they just wanted their dating partner to be heterosexual.

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[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And they, too, are engaging in biphobia with that logic.

[–] potustheplant@feddit.nl 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Not sure that's how a "phobia" works.

[–] untropvertimide@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (19 children)

Sociology concepts named "something-phobia" are not the same thing as the similarly named concepts (classified in the "phobia" family) in psychology and psychatry.

Usually, meaning can vary with context. The discussed field in such a context.

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[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

It's biphobic to assume that bisexual women all want threesomes.

We can debate about if there's a better word for leaning into harmful stereotypes of bisexual people, but the closest term we have currently is biphobia.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It’s biphobic to assume that bisexual women all want threesomes.

would downvote if i could. potustheplant didn't say that "all women want threesomes", only that some men hope that some women want threesomes.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

His argument is that it isn't biphobia to assume bisexual women want threesomes because "phobia" means fear of.

Those men are being biphobic if they are dating a bisexual person with the express interest of them being a sex doll willing to do threesomes with them because of their sexual orientation.

[–] untropvertimide@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Those men in the example are also misogynistic at the same time.

Nothing surprising, since different kinds of scorns, hates, discriminations, etc often come together.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

According to some of these comments, it's not discriminatory as long as it's a man desiring his partner to perform threesomes because it's positive discrimination or some shit like that.

From what I know of the word "discrimination", potustheplant probably is pedantic about one specific definition of this word, which is the legalese one in some places : take the #2 definition in https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discrimination, then require that the author is a company or an administration (or any of their representatives).

I looked at their post history, and they seem to often post condescending comments.

Anyway, when responding to a critic of harmful behaviours, one should not forcefully displace the focus from said harmful behaviours to the pedantics of the vocabulary used to describe them. That's just a diversion tactic to avoid discussing the subject's core. Those who do it, like potustheplant : cease !

[–] potustheplant@feddit.nl 2 points 1 week ago (33 children)

That's stereotyping or prejudice. Phobia (in its origin) means fear or dread. Maybe prejudice too but specifically in a negative way (no, prejudice doesn't always have a negative connotation).

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