📁 EDUCATION TIME! <3

LET’S TALK ABOUT MONOSEXUALITY!

— is “monosexual” an offensive word? —
since a lot of people have been spreading misinformations about the word monosexual, we will address each and everyone of them in this carrd to educate and protect eachother but also to make sure bisexual history isn’t getting erased.

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📁 GO BACK <3

“monosexuality excludes nonbinary people.”
bisexuality is attraction to genders like and unlike your own. monosexuality is attraction to genders either like or unlike your own. these can encompass as many genders as you identify with being attracted to. as a nonbinary bisexual, nonbinary is not a third gender so stop treating it like one.

“it groups us with our oppressors.”
some other terms that do this:
— cisgender = cis lgbt people & cis straight people
— allo = lgbt people with sexual & romantic attraction & cishets with sexual & romantic attraction
— nonlesbian = non lesbian lgbt people (usually bi sapphics) & cishets
— woman = trans women & cis women
— man = trans men & cis men
— white = white lgbt people & cishet people
=> monosexual was made to distinguish bisexuals from others! it’s the same as nonbisexual, but it holds way more meaning & is really important to us bisexuals! it’s a big part of our history. if you’re fine with nonbi, you should also be fine with monosexual! (unless you’re biphobic)
it’s very common for words to group you with your oppressors, so what’s wrong about monosexuality in particular ? you’ll survive.

“why cant you just say nonbisexual?”
first of, nonbisexual would exclude pan/omnisexuals [etc]. whether or not you agree on those labels, they still go through similar experiences as us bisexuals, and aren’t monosexual.
secondly, monsexuality is a big part of bisexual history. it is very important to us as it holds great meaning. we shouldn’t have to erase such a meaningful part of our history because of your ignorance. and again, if you dont have a problem with nonbi but you have one with monosexual, you’re most likely ignorant.

“it’s offensive/derogatory.”
bisexuals did not make this word to talk down on you for not being attracted to all genders. it holds no negative meaning. we made it to talk about our experiences.

“it says in the bi manifesto that monosexuality oppressed homosexuals”.”
that refers to the concept of monosexuality which you can read about here, not the word itself.

“does it imply that lesbians and gays have a ‘monosexual’ privilege ?”
monosexual privilege is not real and anyone who says it is is homophobic. the word itself doesn’t imply that. “bisexuals have issues that monosexuals don’t have to deal with” ≠ “monosexuals have privilege over bisexuals.”

“why just not say lesbians/gays/hets or etc instead of using monosexual?”
the word was made by bisexuals (decades ago) to talk about their experiences overall, not just to pin point biphobia, ignorance & such. monosexual = nonbisexual. yes in some cases it’d be better to call out a certain community for their biphobia, but when talking about general experiences, monosexual is the word to go for.

“it just makes me uncomfortable.”
if after realizing that monosexual just means nonbisexual, but that it holds a very important place in bisexual history & is really meaningful to us, i don’t see why would you would be uncomfortable by it. again monosexual = nonbisexual. either way, your feelings are valid. you can be uncomfortable by it. but it doesn’t mean you can police what terms bisexuals use to talk about our experiences, especially knowing that they hold an important place to us historically. doing so would be really harmful to bisexuals, and also really hurtful. please respect us as a community:)

FINAL NOTE:
monosexuality was solely made up for bisexuals/pansexuals to talk about their experiences. it’s not pejorative, it’s not to insult, it’s not to divide the community. it is just as neutral as nonbisexual. this word is just really meaningful for us, and is part of our history. respect that.