Awareness
This March is the 12th Bisexual+ Health Month, an occurrence intended to remind us all of the inequities Bi+ folks face not only with their physical and mental health but also with the medical systems they navigate.
Bisexual+ Health Month was first initiated in 2014 and is the brainchild of the Bisexual Resource Centre—an organization which has been around since 1985 and is dedicated to providing support, resources, and community for Bi+ folks around the world. The idea for a month dedicated to the unique health-related challenges Bi+ people experience first began to sprout when, for the first time, 2SLGBTQIA+ people were not treated as a monolith in data. Statistics are crucial tools to inform and educate us and are of incredible use in the fight for human rights, but a lack of representation or accurate categorizing, as well as bias and wilful misinterpretation of the statistics themselves, can mean that statistics do more harm than good. Thankfully, those in the field of statistics have made a lot of progress in recent years to ensure a fair and accurate picture of whatever it is they’re representing, thanks to campaigning by activists across the world. Part of that development was recognizing that different identities within the 2SLGBTQIA+ community have very different experiences, and as such it’s irresponsible to lump them all together as a single category for data representation.
Thanks to this growth in the field of research and data representation, people were finally able to get a proper picture of 2SLGBTQIA+ health, including that of Bisexual+ folks. This, in turn, brought to light the fact that Bi+ people experience a very different relationship to health than other people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Current estimates claim that over half of the entire 2SLGBTQIA+ community identifies as Bi+, and yet they face a massive disparity in physical and mental health when compared to not only heterosexual people but Gay and Lesbian identified folks as well. Further complicating this is the fact that even with the promising developments in accurate representation of research, many studies still don’t treat Bi+ people as a community unto themselves. As such, even though the statistics as they are paint a terrible picture, it’s possible they could be even worse in reality.
The inequalities in Bi+ health can be found in a massive variety of areas, including both physical and mental health. Bi+ people are prone to higher cholesterol and higher rates of asthma than heterosexual adults, and the higher rates of substance abuse in the community can cause further health problems down the line. In terms of mental health, Bi+ people report double the rate of depression compared to heterosexuals and are more likely to engage in self-harming behaviours. Even worse, Bi+ people were three times more likely to report thoughts of suicide, which is a truly horrifying statistic. In terms of sexual health, Bi+ people—especially men—are much less likely to get tested for HIV, leading to their community as a whole being disproportionately affected. Intertwined with all of these statistics are the conditions that Bi+ people can face when seeking care. Biphobia runs rampant across the globe, and half of Bi+ women in the UK say they’ve faced it while in a medical setting. According to the Williams Institute, thirty-nine percent of Bi+ men and thirty-three percent of Bi+ women choose not to disclose their identity to a medical practitioner, compared to thirteen percent of Gay men and ten percent of Lesbians, which encapsulates just how unsafe many Bi+ people feel when trying to seek care.
Of course, as is the case with just about any human rights issue, intersectionality must be taken into account when discussing Bisexual+ health. Trans people and racially marginalized folks make up an integral part of the Bi+ community, and they already deal with a medical system that can be rife with discrimination, bigotry, and dangerous misinformation, while also being statistically more likely to face certain health challenges in the first place. Dealing with the current realities of Bi+ health on top of that only compounds the inequalities they face. AFAB people likewise deal with health challenges based on their sex on top of those based on their identity. Bisexual+ AFAB people experience higher rates of breast cancer—and many other cancers—than the general AFAB population, as well as higher rates of heart disease and obesity. Bi+ AFAB people are also much more likely than both heterosexuals or lesbians to develop substance use issues or eating disorders. Complicating this further is the fact that Bi+ AFAB people are less likely to seek preventative care such as mammograms and pap tests, which can be attributed at least in part to the chance of facing implicit or explicit discrimination when seeking such care.
Improving Bisexual+ health is a long, multi-faceted journey, but there are things that we can do to help, and the simplest one of all is raising awareness and educating ourselves. A lack of discussion about Bi+ health directly leads to a lack of interest in both developing programs and supports, as well as researching Bi+ health. Speaking on and educating about Bi+ health not only in March but throughout the year, is a crucial step in the right direction. If you want to learn more about Bi+ health, the Human Rights Campaign has a great brief about all the different health disparities in Bi+ people when compared to straight, Gay, or Lesbian folks. They also have resources for finding culturally competent healthcare providers, as well as strategies for allies, advocates, and healthcare workers so they can better support Bi+ folks.
This year, the theme of Bisexual+ Health Month is “Navigating Bi+ Health in an Uncertain World.” It’s no secret that in the past months, the world has seemed to grow ever darker for all of us who claim any sort of 2SLGBTQIA+ identity, but it can be even worse for those seeking the healthcare they need in places such as the US, or even parts of Canada. This year’s theme serves to highlight this reality and call to attention how crucial it is that we remember and advocate for the health needs of Bi+ people, especially considering the state of Bi+ health even before things started to go downhill. This Bi+ health month, it’s important to recommit ourselves to pursuing a world where everyone has equal access to the critical human right that is health.
