ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the stigmatization of bisexual men. First, the Bisexual Men Stigma Scale is examined. Second, Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST) is utilized to explore the relationships among the Bisexual Men Stigma Scale, the Hetero-cis-normativity Scale (HCN Scale), gender, sexuality, additional gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity, and basic needs. Third, bisexual men’s experiences with gender- and sexuality-based discrimination, harassment, and violence (DHV) are investigated. In line with the three tenets and hypotheses derived from NCST, there are six patterns found in this chapter: (1) bisexual men are largely stigmatized by both hetero-cis and LGBTQ people due to negativities about their sex acts including stereotypes that bisexual men are unfaithful and too sexual/hypersexual in their romantic partnerships; (2) the stigmatization of bisexual men by both hetero-cis and LGBTQ people is also situated within the stereotypes that bisexual men’s identities are temporary/experimental and that they are not masculine enough; (3) hetero-cis-normativity is positively related to bisexual men stigma for both subsamples—however, the interaction effects between the HCN scale and social power axes that moderate these relationships differ for the hetero-cis and LGBTQ subsamples. In addition, there are more significant interaction effects between the HCN Scale and social power axes for the hetero-cis subsample than there are for the LGBTQ subsample; (4) individual social power axes are significantly related to bisexual men stigma for both subsamples. However, the interaction effects between the social power axes only moderate these relationships for the LGBTQ subsample; (5) bisexual men have nearly twice as many experiences with sexuality-based DHV as compared to gender-based DHV—however, in comparison to the all men and all LGBTQ subsamples, bisexual men experience significantly less DHV, and (6) being a bisexual man is not in and of itself related to the likelihood of gender-based DHV—however, being a bisexual man increases the likelihood of sexuality-based DHV. Also, bisexual men’s intersecting experiences with queer identity decrease the likelihood of sexuality-based DHV while White identity among bisexual men increases the likelihood of sexuality-based DHV.
