There was an article published for the first time on July 20, 2020 by the Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences saying that biseuxal men exist. Imagine that! "Robust evidence for bisexual orientation among men" and is the work of 13 authors and one editor with more than 500 cisgender men during almost 20 yeras. All of this people and work to prove that we exist. It seems... yeah, stupid, but it is not.
Let's start with the important part, which is the conclussion of this study. I'm still reading all of it, but the one paragraph I need is the one where Jabbour et al. (2020, pp: 18373) say that:
In general, results suggested that bisexual men’s arousal patterns were markedly more bisexual than monosexual men’s, and that bisexual men were typically more aroused by one sex than by the other. The combination of our results and the fact that male sexual orientation is bimodally distributed (21) suggests that men with similar high degrees of sexual arousal to both men and women may be especially uncommon.
What does it mean? That bisexual arousal is real, that there could be a preference in most cases, maybe not in other, but the arousal is real, ergo, men who identify as bisexual are real. Thank you, science, thak you to all 14 people who made it possible for me to say that I exist, and I don't mean any of this with sarcasm, because again, this is important. Here's why.
Knowledge is power. I was one of those who said that it doesn't matter at all what science says as long as you are okay with who you are. Fuck the academy. But the truth is that the academy is a powerful tool, and a devastating weapon for those who are agaisn't it. History has proved many times. Just take a glympse at what conversion therapy has done, maybe learn about the treatments of homosexuality in Britain since the 1950s, or about conversion therapy against LGBT people in China. Hint: Not pretty, at all. All of that because people thought and still think they know what LGBT+ people are like.
Humans are a rational species. We need reasons as a support for what we do. While so many people, institutions, academic and papers said that LGBT+ people are derranged and dangerous, unspeakable atrocities were committed becuase of it. Things are different, there's still work to do, but there has been a chage becuase there are more studies and information.
I don't need 14 people to tell me that I exist, but to tell others that I do. They are 14 swords and shields that proove I'm sane, I'm okay, that I'm telling the truth, because every single bisexual has been told they are confused, greedy, hinding, and an impressive myriad of adjectives that do nothing more than damage your confidence.
I live in a society and a family who will attack me with all they have, and knowledge and studies are the only weapon I can use (and the only ones I want to use, for the record). When I speak, it is not only me, but also the universities and professionals in the field that are with me. I may not remember all the titles, but I know I will find them if needed becuase they are there. Suddendly, I'm not alone. I have the academy on my side, and if people fail to acknowledge that then it's their loss, ergo, my victory.
When I read Throwing Stones, by Robin Reardon (loved that novel, by the way), there was a phrase about how only love mattered. You cannot change a person with studies, you can't make them love you for who you, but you can prove you're not sick, confused, or anything, that you're the same person.
Maybe they grew up in a different environment, a different family, maybe they didn't have access to that information. Although it is not your duty to educate anyone, because the information is there and every single thinking human can get it, you can guide those who want to know how true is that which they learned.
In the mean time, I'll celebrate every single July 20th from now on.
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