Throughout the first decade of the 2000s, LGBTQ+ visibility has steadily increased in North American popular culture, allowing for not only more LGBTQ+ characters/figures to surface, but also establishing more diverse and nuanced representations and storylines. Bisexuality, while being part of the increasingly popular phrase of inclusivity (LGBTQ+), however, is one sexuality that not only continues to be overlooked within popular culture but that also continues to be represented in limited ways. In this doctoral thesis I examine how bisexual women are represented within mainstream popular culture, in particular on American television, focusing on two, popular programs (The L Word and the Shot At Love series). These texts have been chosen for popularity and visibility in mainstream media and culture, as well as for how bisexual women are unprecedentedly made central to many of the storylines (The L Word) and the series as a whole (Shot At Love). This analysis provides not only a detailed historical account of bisexual visibility but also discusses bisexuality thematically, highlighting commonalities across bisexual representations as well as shared themes between and with other identities. By examining key examples of bisexuality in popular culture from the first decade of the twenty-first century, my research investigates how representations of bisexuality are often portrayed in conversation with hegemonic understandings of gender and sexuality, specifically highlighting the mainstream "gay rights" movement's narrative of "normality" and "just like you" politics. Finally, it is in recognizing how representations of bisexuality are framed by specific reoccurring themes/tropes, as well as how these themes/tropes work together within larger social, cultural, and political climates, that it becomes possible to challenge existing gender and sexuality norms and ideals and create a more nuanced and complex understanding of bisexuality.

Monogamy is considered the romantic norm for establishing family and kinship. Alternative relationships such as polyfidelity, that is, a group romantic relationship, often face prejudice and social stigma resulting in a greater need for mental health counseling services compared to those who are not stigmatized. Yet counselors and counselor educators lack both understanding and cultural competency for serving this population. The purpose of this study was to better understand the dynamics of a polyfidelity relationship, as well as how a counselor might better serve the needs of individuals engaged in this type of relationship. In this study, 14 participants described what it was like to be in a polyfidelitous relationship. A combined theoretical framework-based on relational cultural theory, social constructionism, and queer theory was used to reveal the challenges, as well as the strengths, of such a relationship. It was discovered that there are an exponential number of relationship combinations when introducing an additional member into an existing 2-person relationship. As a result the relational component in counseling becomes compounded. For example, a 3-person relationship has 4 unique relationships, a 4-person relationship has 11 unique relationships, and a 5-person relationship has 26 unique relationship combinations. In addition, members of group relationships often use their group dynamics to check and balance one another, resolve conflict, and better express aspects of each partner's personality. The implications for social change are multifold in both furthering mental health professional's understanding of alternative families, as well as identifying the advantages and pitfalls of engaging in a polyfidelitous relationship.

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<p>A research review of 46 peer-reviewed articles with bisexuals as a target group was conducted with the objective to investigate methods of finding bisexual participants in empirical Social Sciences studies. The aim was to examine occurring definitions of “bisexual”, sample types, and sources of data. Results indicated that a self-identification definition was most frequently used, that sample type was seldom reported with an even distribution between probability and non-probability sample types when occurring, and that sources of data varied with media as most frequent. Some of the conclusions drawn were that bisexuals often occur in the same studies as lesbians and gay men, and that bisexual women have a poor representation in studies.</p>

It is widely accepted that the LGB (Lesbian, gay and bisexual) population have a higher risk of psychological distress compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Meyer (2003) proposed the minority stress model to explain this increased prevalence. This model proposed that the LGB population are subjected to additional stressors due to their minority status which results in the increased psychological distress observed. The purpose of this study was to investigate some of the risk factors proposed by this model, specifically experiences of sexual prejudice, negative internalised beliefs about homosexuality/bisexuality, coping strategies and how these factors interact to influence the development of psychological distress. This study included 542 LGB individuals who completed measures of sexual prejudice, internalised homophobia, coping strategies and current levels of psychological distress using an online survey. The study found a high prevalence of sexual prejudice within the sample, with 84% of the sample reporting at least one experience of sexual prejudice. 67% reported being verbally abused and 17% reported being physically assaulted. A high number of participants scored above the cut-off for a diagnosis of depression (27%) and anxiety (19%). Regression and path analysis revealed that maladaptive coping had the strongest effect on psychological distress. Sexual prejudice and internalised homophobia, also both had a significant direct impact upon psychological distress, and they were also partially mediated by maladaptive coping. Problem-focused coping was found to be a protective factor with a direct, albeit weak, effect on psychological distress. Problem-focused coping also partially mediated the relationship between sexual prejudice and psychological distress, slightly reducing the negative impact of sexual prejudice. The results suggest that maladaptive coping was the greatest risk factor, out of the ones measured, in the development of psychological distress in the LGB population. The outcomes suggest that clinical psychologists may wish to target their interventions at the development of more adaptive coping strategies, and the reduction of internalised homophobia. They should consider ways to reduce experiences of sexual prejudice by working at a community level to reduce the stigma of homosexuality/bisexuality.

M.A. / The aim of this study was to generate hypotheses concerning personality functioning of androgynous individuals, and more specifically within the context of marital relationships. Ideally, a holistic view of a person in his/her unique life situation should be taken into account in scientific research. In order to limit this study only two personality concepts were studied, self concept and locus of control. it must be kept in mind , however that there is an ecological interaction between many more and unknown factors and granting that it is artificial to isolate only two factors from encompassing whole.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att studera hur bisexuella personer förhåller sig till sin identitet i en binär värld. Fem personer (en med icke-binär könsidentitet, en man, två kvinnor och en queer kvinna) har intervjuats, och intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån tolkande fenomenologisk analys, även kallad IPA. I resultatet framkommer mycket som bekräftar tidigare forskning gällande identitetsutveckling där de genomgår faser av förvirring, behov av stolthet/komma ut, kulturell gemenskap och syntes. Deltagarna upplever också att det ställs vissa särskilda krav på bisexuella personer och har upplevelser av olika former av stigmatisering som riktas mot bisexualitet, såsom hypersexualitet, sexualisering och monosexism. / The aim of this thesis was to study how bisexually-identified people relate to their identity in a binary world. Five persons (one non-binary identified, one male-identified, two female-identified and one queer female-identified) have been interviewed, and the interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, also known as IPA. The results confirm much of earlier research concerning sexual identity development where the participants went through phases of confusion, need of pride/coming out, need of cultural immersion and synthesis. The participants also experienced that there was particular demands on bisexual-identified people and how they experienced attraction, and they had several experiences of different forms of stigmatisation aimed at bisexuality, such as prejudices about hypersexuality, sexualisation and monosexism.

A research review of 46 peer-reviewed articles with bisexuals as a target group was conducted with the objective to investigate methods of finding bisexual participants in empirical Social Sciences studies. The aim was to examine occurring definitions of “bisexual”, sample types, and sources of data. Results indicated that a self-identification definition was most frequently used, that sample type was seldom reported with an even distribution between probability and non-probability sample types when occurring, and that sources of data varied with media as most frequent. Some of the conclusions drawn were that bisexuals often occur in the same studies as lesbians and gay men, and that bisexual women have a poor representation in studies.

This study analyses The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter, Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin from the perspective of &eacute / criture f&eacute / minine. After a thorough discussion of the roots of &eacute / criture f&eacute / minine, the theory of the French feminists is put into practice in the analysis of the novels. The study asserts that the concepts of bisexuality, the other and the voice are common elements in novels of &eacute / criture f&eacute / minine, thereby the novelists mentioned in the study follow the propositions of H&eacute / l&egrave / ne Cixous, Julia Kristeva and Luc&eacute / Irigaray. The argument of the study is that the use of &eacute / criture f&eacute / minine as portrayed with reference to the novels, can be an efficient way in deconstructing the patriarchal system of language. Literature has a significant influence on social life, however women cannot make themselves heard using the language of patriarchy. Therefore an alternative such as &eacute / criture f&eacute / minine is essential. This study shows how this alternative can be practiced in various ways and it also creates the opportunity to consider the possibilities of alternative lives if this kind of thinking is widespread.

Three-hundred eight students from the Introductory Psychology participant pool at Ball State University took part in a preliminary investigation of heterosexuals' attitudes toward bisexuality. The study found that heterosexual men and women expressed more positive responses toward heterosexuals than toward lesbian, gay male, and bisexual individuals, but did not distinguish between homosexual and bisexual persons. Sex differences were found for acceptance of lesbians, gay men, and bisexual men and women but not for affective responses to these individuals. More specifically, male and female participants' affective responses to homosexual and bisexual target individuals were similar; however, on questions pertaining to acceptance, female participants rated all persons similarly whereas male participants rated heterosexual men more favorably than homosexual or bisexual men. It was also found that beliefs about bisexuality as a real orientation or as homosexual denial were in fact related to participants' responses to the bisexual target individual, whereas beliefs that bisexuality is a transitional or transitory orientation were not. / Department of Psychological Science