GC: If two bisexual people are in a "relationship", are they in a "bisexual relationship" because they are bisexual? Would the terms "gay relationship" and "straight relationship" invalidate their bisexuality and be bierasure?

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[–]grixitperson 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Changing the words doesn't change the reality.

[–]MarkTwainiac 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yes, I agree that changing the words doesn't change the reality!

But already in the 80s during the AIDS crisis, private and public health authorities were bending over backwards to accommodate men who didn't want to be "identified" in ways that reflected reality but contradicted with the image they had of themselves and the lies they were telling themselves.

BTW, my view is that to describe sexual relationships in the most straightforward way - which is, as you say, "by the sexes that are involved" - it's best to use such plain and factual descriptors as same-sex, opposite-sex, homosexual and heterosexual - and to eschew slang terms as straight and gay.

Which reminds me, I often wonder when and how it came to be that it's still OK to use the term "straight" for heterosexual relations but it's not OK to use "bent" for homosexual relationships.

[–]grixitperson 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Perhaps since the brits started saying "get bent!".