As an academic librarian who has been working in college/university libraries since 1988, over the decades I have used standard library research tools to identify useful studies and new publications on bisexuality. Early on, there were relatively little resarch focused primarily on bisexuals. For example, most studies which listed bisexual men as a subject heading were actually primarily focused on gay men, but included some bisexual men in their research population. Some scholars debated the existence of bisexual men and highlighted significant negative perceptions of bisexuality (binegativity/biphobia) from the late 1990’s into the 2000’s. I found the research world slowly changing when studies around 2010 documented significantly worse health outcomes for bisexuals compared to gay men and lesbians. Over the last decade, I have seen an uptick in research on bisexuality, and the publication output has reached a point where I see a need to highlight important/new research.
I am a bi+/pan male who has identified as bisexual since 1986 (and have felt relatively equal attractions to male and female throughout my life, starting in early adolescence).
As part of the earliest GenX generation (as of this writing I’m late middle age and can see retirement a few years down the line), I live through the worst of negativity and biphobia regarding bisexual men, including plenty of societal derision during the AIDS epidemic as well as plenty of phobic/erasing from gay men. As part of a male/female marriage, my wife and I have seen plenty of exclusion and push back from lesbian and gay members of the LGBT+ community, and discrimination, stereotyping, and erasure of bi negativity and biphobia influence us to this day. However, as a librarian and academic, I also try to be as objective as possible.
I hope my selection of studies will reflect a background striving for scholarly curiosity and objectivity regarding research on bisexuality and my comments also be informed by my lived truth as a bisexual man who has lived through late 20th and into early 21st century society.