She said that nearly half of bisexual women are survivors of rape, compared with 17 percent of heterosexual women and 13 percent of lesbians. It was incredibly validating to see Shiri’s lecture locate bisexuality at the heart of queerness rather than at its periphery.”Įisner said that society is afraid of bisexuality because many people think bi people are really gay or can choose to be either gay or straight, are confused or going through a phase, are promiscuous, or are carriers of sexual diseases.Įisner, an activist, writer, and researcher who resides in Tel Aviv, said, “Monosexism … creates multiple disparities between bisexual and monosexual people.” For example, in the United States, she said, more than 40 percent of bisexual people have considered suicide, compared with 8.5 percent of heterosexuals and 27 percent of gay people. “Too often, bisexuality is marginalized within the world at large, and within LGBT communities as well. “The choice of this year’s lecturer reflects the Office of BGLTQ Student Life’s commitment to bisexual students at Harvard, and to recognizing the full diversity of the queer community,” said Joshua Blecher-Cohen ’16, senior intern in the Harvard College Office of BGLTQ Student Life, which presented Tuesday’s lecture. It would not seek to assimilate, but rather to multiply and expand,” said Shiri Eisner, author of “Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution,” in delivering the annual Nicholas Papadopoulos Lecture. In fighting for its goals, it would not forget how all forms of oppression are interlinked.

A successful bisexual movement would lead not only to more freedom for bisexuals, but to “liberation of all other groups.

Bi notes for a bisexual revolution