Is Slate's Take on Bisexuality a Useless Fiction? Yes.

Slate has been on a bit of a bisexuality kick, riding on the coat tails of a ridiculous New York Times piece.  One of the Slate pieces featured a writer acknowledging his bisexuality, vice the gay identity he's been using since he prefers to date men, but isn't physically repulsed by women.  

The real gem is Slate's insultingly titled, "Is Bisexuality A Useful Fiction?".  The question asked by the title is conveniently answered in the article's URL:  www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/21/the_bisexual_movement_makes_bisexuality_seem_like_a_useful_fiction.html.  

With that auspicious start, the writer, Mark Joseph Stern, goes on to explain that the bisexuality as an identity has problems, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that there is no bisexual culture as bisexuality is only defined by sexual interaction, unlike the gay community, that has Nathan Lane and Bravo TV.  

Stern ends the piece by flipping the script and informing us that, while sans culture and lacking identity beyond sex, it's the fault of the bisexual movement for failing to come up with a platform.  So if the "bisexual movement" had a platform, such as Free Silver and ending grain tariffs, it could win his approval and maybe get a first round draft pick for sassy spokesperson.  

The entire tone and message of the piece can be summed up with this sentence from the last graf: "If bi activists continue to define bisexuality as nothing more than a more imaginative set of erotic and romantic urges, they'll further forestall the development of a mature bi culture - giving us no more than the completely sex-oriented definition we started out with."  Biphobic, slut-shaming, and ignorant.  

Only two weeks before, Stern wrote a column criticizing an article in a Christian magazine for denying gay identity and reducing to being a matter of the sexual act.  Yes, it's ugly to reduce homosexuality to sodomy.  It's just as shitty to reduce bisexuality to weekend sodomy.

The writer is blessed to be of an age where the gay rights movement was already formed and active by the time he became aware of it.  There was a time, not so long ago, when it was politically powerless and with few achievements to call upon.  He needs to spend the time reading the histories of the movements and the people involved so that maybe he can one day see it as more than a crass marketing exercise.  The effort was put in before he got there and made its way without his help.  In the mean time, he really needs to shut the fuck up about bisexuality.