Bisexual erasure

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Bisexual erasure (or bi erasure), also called bisexual invisibility, is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources.^[1][2][3]

In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can include the belief that bisexuality itself does not exist.^[1][3] Bisexual erasure may include the assertion all bisexual individuals are in a phase and will soon "choose a side", either heterosexual or homosexual. Another common variant of bisexual erasure involves accepting bisexuality in women while downplaying or rejecting the validity of bisexual identity in men.^[4] One belief underlying bisexual erasure is that bisexual individuals are distinctively indecisive.^[5] Misrepresentations of bisexual individuals as hypersexual erases the sexual agency of bisexuals, effectively erasing their true identities as well.^[6]

Bisexual erasure is often a manifestation of biphobia,^[1][2][3] although it does not necessarily involve overt antagonism. Erasure frequently results in bisexual-identifying individuals experiencing a variety of adverse social encounters, as they not only have to struggle with finding acceptance within general society but also within the LGBTQ community.^[7] Bisexual erasure is a form of stigma and leads to adverse mental health consequences for people who identify as bisexual, or similar, such as pansexual.^[8][9]

There is increasing inclusion and visibility of bisexuals, particularly in the LGBTQ community.^{[10][11][compared to?]}