Pride Month - Bisexual

For Pride Month, I have decided to create pieces of art that represent LGBTQ+ identities using my characters and butterfly wings that correspond with each pride flag. Butterflies symbolize transformation, renewal, and rebirth. I feel that this meaning applies to the LGBTQ+ community, as coming out, changing, and being true to oneself are significant components of the culture.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bisexual pride flag is represented by Marta and the white peacock butterfly.

Bisexual

Flag: In 1998 Michael Page designed the bisexual pride flag to give more visibility to people who identified as bisexual. The flag is comprised of two wide stripes of pink and blue at the top and bottom with a smaller lavender stripe running between them. Page stated that the pink represents same-sex attraction, the blue represents opposite-sex attraction, and the lavender overlap represents attraction to multiple sexes.

History: “Bisexual” is the term used for sexual attraction to more than one sex or gender. The concept of bisexuality has existed throughout history, although not in the way that it is seen today. Additionally, most accounts of bisexuality in ancient history are in reference to men. In Ancient Greece and Japan, young unmarried men would commonly engage in relationships with older married men to gain knowledge and experience. In Ancient Japan, this came in the form of samurai, in which the younger men would be trained by older men, with whom they would become lovers until the young man came of age and sought a wife. Bisexual men were regarded with similar disdain as gay men, with laws against sodomy which were punishable by death.

Homosexuality, and therefore bisexuality, was considered a mental disorder until 1973 and was “treated” with conversion therapies, including electric shock, to turn the individual heterosexual. It was until the 2000s in Western culture that bisexuality became more widely viewed and accepted. Even still, stigmas persist against bisexual people. By many people, lesbians and gay men included, bisexuals are viewed as greedy, unfaithful, and confused. The idea remains in Western culture that people can only be gay or straight. In reality, sexuality is not black and white, but is more of a grey area of fluidity.

The term is derived from the prefix “bi,” which means “two.” It was first use in the 1800s in reference to hermaphroditic species (species with fully developed male and female organs). In the early 1900s, the term began to refer to sexual orientation. Alfred Kinsey’s development of the Kinsey Scale in the 1950s was an enormous step forward for bisexual recognition. The scale measures sexuality on a scale of 0 to 6, with 0 being exclusively heterosexual and 6 being exclusively homosexual. The values of 1-5 all measure bisexuality.

Notable people: Oscar Wilde (writer), Frida Kahlo (artist), John Nash (mathematician) Rebecca Sugar (animator), Aubrey Plaza (actress)