The Pew Research center says that bisexual people are having a tough time coming out to loved ones.
A new analysis from the Pew Research Center is giving us an inside look into the issues that the four-in-ten LGBTQ adults who identify as bisexual experience. The analysis is based off survey data from Standford University about how couples meet and stay together.
First, the study found that bisexual adults are less likely to be out to close friends and family. Specifically, 19% of bisexual respondents reported being out to all or most of the people in their lives. Meanwhile, 75% of gay and lesbian adults said the same. Then for the rest of bisexual respondents, 26% say they are not out to any of the important people in their lives, then 54% says they are out to at least a few people.
But why have so few bisexual people come out to parents and loved ones? Respondents felt it wasn’t important to bring up or they say there was never the right moment.
But back to the statistics. 43 percent of bisexual respondents say that they are sexually attracted to men and women equally. Then 40% say they are attracted to primarily the opposite sex while 12% report being mostly attracted to the same sex. Then, 4% report being only into the opposite sex while only 1% say they are only attracted to people of the same gender.
Lastly, the analysis, which again was based on data about couples, found that 88% percent of bisexual respondents were in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex.
As Pew wrote:
“This is likely due at least in part to the fact that LGB adults make up a small share of the overall adult population, so the pool of potential same-sex partners is much smaller than the pool of opposite-sex partners.”
We already know that the bisexual experience is rarely discussed and often ridiculed, but it seems we need more data to fully understand it. This analysis alone, however, shows more of the hidden experience that is being bisexual.
