Caught in a double bind : young bisexual women's sexual identity narratives in Aotearoa (New Zealand) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2020
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
Although research on sexual identity and LGBTIQ+ issues have produced valuable knowledge about gay and lesbian populations, research about bisexuality remains minimal. This oversight reflects the wider erasure of bisexual identities in general. Organised around binary conceptualisations of gender and sexuality, Western understandings of bisexuality typically degrade and invalidate the legitimacy of bisexual identities, leading to the marginalization of bisexual individuals and their stories. Responding to this gap, I explore the narratives of young bisexual women in Aotearoa (New Zealand), drawing on the theoretical notions of spoiled identities and cultural (un)intelligibility. The aim of this research is to explore the possibilities of young women’s construction of intelligible bisexual identities. Ten bisexual women (aged 18-24 years) living in Aotearoa were interviewed and their narratives were analysed using Taylor and Littleton’s (2006) narrative-discursive method. This approach allows for a synthesis of macro and micro level analyses and consideration of personal identity work, as well as collectively held narratives that may shape identity construction. In the analysis I identify the discursive resources and positions available to participants and examining how these enable and constrain their sexual identity construction. The narratives of the young bisexual women in this study reflect how they must navigate heteronormativity and monosexism to construct their identities. Caught in a double bind, participants negotiated claiming the spoiled identities (i.e., the hypersexual bisexual, either straight or gay, just a phase, fraudulent) offered by discourses of bisexuality and modifying gay/lesbian discourses (i.e., the coming out story, normalisation, visual identities) to construct an intelligible identity. The findings of this study highlight the complexities of bisexual identity construction and the lack of alternative discourses available to these young bisexual women.