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The Connection Between Bisexuality and Dichotomous Thinking
Errors in thinking can diminish a whole identity
When you identify as Bisexual, you have to come out over and over again. If you’re dating a same-sex partner, you’re automatically gay, and if you’re dating an opposite-sex partner, you’re automatically straight. If you’re dating someone who doesn’t fit into the binary of gender, others are perplexed. The way other people perceive you diminish your identity.
There are many struggles of Bisexual identity that don’t relate to coming out. Dichotomous thinking, otherwise known as all-or-nothing thinking or black-and-white thinking, is when you can’t see the in-between. Many individuals who struggle with dichotomous thinking patterns can’t understand Bisexuality, and some don’t believe it exists.
Bisexuality has had ever-changing definitions over time. Prominent Bisexual Activist Robyn Ochs defines it like this:
“I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge in myself the potential to be attracted, romantically or sexually, to people of more than one sex, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.”
If you follow the patterns of Dichotomous thinking, you’re either gay or straight, and there is no middle. If you identify as Bisexual, this…
