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[–]mvmlego 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Honestly, I'm not a fan, at least given the way that the article presents it. The article seems to be written sole purpose of making bi people feel special, facts and the English language notwithstanding.

Take the entry on "unicorns", for example. While I'm not very well-versed in hookup lingo, I'm having quite a bit of trouble believing that straight couples intend the term "unicorn" to be "degrading", "gross", and "demeaning". The obvious plain-English connotations of the word denote something that is wonderful, highly sought-after, and exceedingly rare. Bisexuals don't need to "reclaim" the term to mean something good, because it never meant something bad--or at least bad for bisexuals. In fact, most times that I've heard the term, it's been in the context of someone chastising straight couples for their unrealistic expectations in searching for unicorns.

A few of them are fine, I suppose, but others just feel like they're creating more unhelpful stereotypes. Take the "bisexual bob", for example. People have associated certain hairstyles with lesbians for a long, long time, and I've heard from plenty of straight women with the "lesbian" haircuts who get annoyed with people for assuming their sexual orientation. I don't think that certain identity groups should be trying to monopolize hairstyles (or most other aspects of appearances), both for the sake of people outside the group who don't want to be mistaken for being in the group, and for the sake of people inside the group who don't want to be pressured into acting a certain way in order to feel like they belong.

Altogether, I don't think the author understands the relationship between a culture and the people who hold it. One of the important points about culture that the article misses is that culture creates things; it doesn't simply take existing things wholesale and arbitrarily attach a group identity label to it. For example, jazz music is part of black culture because black people were central to the development of jazz. In contrast, bisexual people have no organic and unique connection to Converse sneakers.