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[–]cryptoterfthrow 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

When people think that you need to be consistently open to dating both sexes to be bisexual. I think this partly gave way to a group of bisexuals who are mostly same-sex attracted/only currently dating their current sex/can never see themselves dating the opposite sex long-term, who just call themselves lesbian or gay. I understand why they do this, and almost did it myself at one point, but it does homosexuals a disservice as you're claiming their label without having the exclusively homosexual attraction - and therefore prejudice etc. - and it also downplays the fact that choosing not to date the opposite sex and only going for your own is a uniquely bisexual experience.

This can obviously work the other way round with bisexuals claiming to be straight, but the erasure mostly only affects them.

The time I realised it was important to be open when possible was when a lesbian I was talking to on a dating app brought up that she didn't like to date bisexual women for personal reasons. I was annoyed because my profile clearly stated that I'm bisexual (this was after a week of talking) so it felt as thought she had wasted my time, but I realised that I needed to stop comparing the degree of my same-sex attraction to lesbians and thinking if I could ever be as 'good' as a lesbian when dating other women.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I realised that I needed to stop comparing the degree of my same-sex attraction to lesbians and thinking if I could ever be as 'good' as a lesbian when dating other women.

That's a really interesting and good thing to share! How we compare our same-sex attraction to homosexuals, and judge ourselves as unworthy or needing to measure up.