This sounds like an amazing camp! I wanted to leave a little note letting you know that your glossary definition of the word “bisexual” is alienating to me as a bisexual identified person. I hope this is helpful and doesnt sound antagonizing.
Let’s start with this…not all people who identify as bi/bisexual define it to mean “I’m attracted to men and women and that’s it”. Each person defines their own identity differently. I define my bisexuality to mean, “attracted to all genders”. Telling people I’m bi and what it means to me gives me many opportunities to talk about the fact that there aren’t just two genders.
In terms of the words pansexual and queer, I think they’re both beautiful terms. I identify as queer in addition to bisexual, but it doesn’t quite describe me closely enough, so I use both. The word pansexual has not been accessible to me or the people I come out to and hasn’t been a realistic choice for me. Telling people I’m bi is confusing enough for my family and coworkers. More power to people who do identify as pansexual.
For me, the biggest reason I identify as bi is that it connects me to other bi people. It connects me to books, to films, to history dating back to the 60s (and probably before), to support groups, and to community. I reject the transphobic, racist, sexist, classist aspects of all those mediums. There is still a ton of biphobia in gay and straight camps, and I need a bi community to get away from that.
My last question is, how do you all define “lesbian” and “gay”? Just curious because they’re not defined in your glossary. These terms don’t seem any different to me because in their most simplistic colloquial descriptions, they mean, “boys who are attracted to boys” and “women who are attracted to women”. They’re very gendered terms too if you’re looking at how they’re universally understood. Does this mean that all lesbians are transphobic? No, we should give each lesbian identified person the room to determine what their sexual identity means to them.
Most important point: Transphobia is rampant and violent and should always be called out! There is a lot of transphobia from all sexual orientations, including bi people, but its about the prejudices the individual holds, not an inherent quality in someone’s identity.
Im SOO Excited for this event! How can I get more ingfo?
Dear TWAC Committee and Coordinators,
This sounds like an amazing camp! I wanted to leave a little note letting you know that your glossary definition of the word “bisexual” is alienating to me as a bisexual identified person. I hope this is helpful and doesnt sound antagonizing.
Let’s start with this…not all people who identify as bi/bisexual define it to mean “I’m attracted to men and women and that’s it”. Each person defines their own identity differently. I define my bisexuality to mean, “attracted to all genders”. Telling people I’m bi and what it means to me gives me many opportunities to talk about the fact that there aren’t just two genders.
In terms of the words pansexual and queer, I think they’re both beautiful terms. I identify as queer in addition to bisexual, but it doesn’t quite describe me closely enough, so I use both. The word pansexual has not been accessible to me or the people I come out to and hasn’t been a realistic choice for me. Telling people I’m bi is confusing enough for my family and coworkers. More power to people who do identify as pansexual.
For me, the biggest reason I identify as bi is that it connects me to other bi people. It connects me to books, to films, to history dating back to the 60s (and probably before), to support groups, and to community. I reject the transphobic, racist, sexist, classist aspects of all those mediums. There is still a ton of biphobia in gay and straight camps, and I need a bi community to get away from that.
My last question is, how do you all define “lesbian” and “gay”? Just curious because they’re not defined in your glossary. These terms don’t seem any different to me because in their most simplistic colloquial descriptions, they mean, “boys who are attracted to boys” and “women who are attracted to women”. They’re very gendered terms too if you’re looking at how they’re universally understood. Does this mean that all lesbians are transphobic? No, we should give each lesbian identified person the room to determine what their sexual identity means to them.
Most important point: Transphobia is rampant and violent and should always be called out! There is a lot of transphobia from all sexual orientations, including bi people, but its about the prejudices the individual holds, not an inherent quality in someone’s identity.