Insights from an Interview with a Bisexual Greek

Description of the interviewee

My interviewee was a bisexual Greek. The interviewee had a different identity from mine. First, the interviewee was a Greek thus had a different language. Greek was the first language of the interviewee but she was learning English since she was working among people with language as their first language. She was not fluent in English but she could express her thoughts and needs clearly. The interviewee mentioned she learnt English after settling down among Australians. According to Aylett et al. (2014), every new member to a community must learn the language of the community in order to understand and fit in the new culture. This was the case for my interviewee: to clearly express her ideas, she learnt English. Language is endowed with a sensitivity to and keen awareness of world cultures Brannen et al. (2017), which implies that for one to understand the culture of the new community, he/she must understand their language. Language is also known to facilitate transcultural competence in that after learning a new language, one is able to reflect on the world and themselves through the lens of another culture and language (Pistella et al., 2016).

The interviewee was a bisexual. Personally, I am a heterosexual thus had a different sexual identify from that of my interviewee. According to Gates and Mitchell (2013), bisexual persons are likely to experience stigmatisation due to heterosexual or homophobic attitudes as compared to people of other sexuality in the community. In the past, bisexuals, gays, transgenders, and lesbians were sharply criticised and discriminated in the society but according to McCormack et al. (2017), the growing visibility of these persons in the media, schools, communities, and congregations has led to a growing number of resources to support their needs and existence. This is true for my interviewee as she mentioned she works among heterosexuals, which signifies acceptance of bisexuals in the community.

Interviewee’s life experiences

The interviewee’s sexual identity caused her to be disrespected and disowned by her parents. She once developed an online relationship and after she physically met the girlfriend, she talked to her parents about it, which resulted to the parents rejecting her. She felt that she failed her parents because her sexual identity was different from theirs. The interviewee’s experience with her parents because of her sexuality is not the only case; according to Hicks (2013), parents to bisexual children fear to support the sexual identity of their children in fear they will be subjected to prejudice because of their children: in fact, many parents choose to disown their children rather than bear the prejudice. Similarly, Costa and Bidell (2017) write that heterosexism influence parents by dictating that raising up heterosexual children is normal and acceptable while having bisexual children in not normal and acceptable. With this perception, parents are always encouraged to reject bisexual children, which have hindered the possibility of many bisexuals opening up about their sexuality. Among the few that open up to their parents, Carneiro et al. (2017) states that parents feel guilty and view their children negatively based on societal stereotypes.

The interviewee’s experience upon disclosing her sexual identity to the parents in not unique. Society’s rejection and discrimination of bisexuals has spilled over unto parents and they often react negatively when they children reveal their sexual orientation (Watson 2014). In the same vein, Page, Lindahl and Malik (2013) write that some parents follow a developmental grieving model upon hearing their children are bisexuals: these stages include shock, denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance. In the early stages of this process, most parents may reject their children (Toft 2014).

In the interview, the respondents mentioned that the parents had strict religious views, which may have significantly influenced their action of disowning their child. Kralovec et al. (2014) write that organised religion frequently plays a role in the attitude about bisexuals among other people with different sexual orientations. Parents connected to these organised religion and its beliefs struggle if any of their children is not heterosexual. Such religion portrays bisexuality as a moral sin, which compels the parents to reject the child. Similarly, Severson et al. (2017) write that religious orientation of parents and the associated rigid beliefs about what it means to be bisexual forces parents to choose between rejecting the religion and rejecting the child: unfortunately, most parents choose their faith over their children.

Interviewee’s social needs

The interviewee desired to be accepted for who she is and hoped that people could feel comfortable around her sexuality. She also desired that girls could understand and believe she’s not into every single one of them. The desire of the interviewee is the cry of most bisexuals around the world given the social exclusion they face. According to Logie et al. (2018) there is scant literature on bisexuals, which is yet to convince the society of the existence of bisexuals: bisexuals are perceived to be confused or lying. As a result, the society does not have a place for bisexuals, which implies there are no or limited support services for bisexuals. Only in the recent past has the society accepted that bisexual people exist in significant numbers (Sullivan 2014).

Given that the social needs of bisexuals remain slightly understood by the society, Erdley et al. (2014) write that many bisexuals are afraid of coming out. However, Fredriksen-Goldsen et al. (2014) write that coming out is an important decision for bisexuals in that the mental stress, social isolation, and low self-esteem associated with hiding one’s sexuality significantly increases the vulnerability of these groups to mental health illnesses. When they develop mental health problems, the bisexuals will not only be discriminated against their sexual identity but also their mental wellbeing. Therefore, it would be beneficial for the interviewee among other bisexuals to express themselves and explain their needs in their social networks.

The process of coming out is the beginning of sexual health, bisexual health, access to health and social care, and identity for bisexuals (Rios and Eaton, 2016). Coming out is not seen as a one-time event in the lives of sexual minorities but a process and once complete, the person gains freedom to live as other people in the general population. Therefore, for bisexuals to be accepted in the community, they must not be afraid of coming out and fighting for their needs.

Available social support services

The interviewee was yet to come out to friends in fear of being rejected as she experienced with her parents. However, the interviewee revealed she has received support over social media and other internet platforms that bring together bisexuals. As already mentioned, coming out is the only plane to identify, mental health, sexual health, and access to social support services. This implies that the bisexuals cannot gain access to social support services unless they accept themselves and come out.

The interviewee mentioned that in times of crisis, she found online support very beneficial. This is also true to the findings in literature: according to Kamen et al. (2015), social support is important to the wellbeing of bisexuals because of its ability to moderate the effects of stress thus diminishing the negative health outcomes. This implies that if the society accepted and supported the bisexuals, the latter would lead a healthy and stress-free life.

Social support is also a challenge for even some of the bisexuals that have come out (Erosheva et al. 2016). Despite the transition of modern society towards acceptance of bisexuals among other sexual minorities, these groups are perceived different and therefore stigmatised against their identity (Westwood, 2016). This implies that the bisexuals could come out but fail to gain access to social support services. In light of this limitation, is the need for the community to develop social support structures specific for bisexuals among other sexual minorities.

Sullivan (2014) writes that the youth have accepted the needs of bisexuals and other sexual minorities and willing to offer support as compared to the older and less educated persons in the community. This implies that age and education are factors associated with the extent to which bisexuals receive acceptance and social support in the society. As a result, some settings such as college campuses are known to be bisexual friendly compared to other cultures and locations (Köllen, 2013). Bisexuals that have gone through and those that will go through college campuses experience acceptance, which might encourage them to come out unlike to those in other cultures and locations especially those dominated by the elderly and uneducated. Therefore, we can conclude that in future as the literacy levels continue to rise, the probability of bisexuals and other sexual minorities acquiring social support services is inclined to rise.

Cultural factors needed for the establishment of respectful, culturally safe worker-client relationships

The interviewee did not feel comfortable opening up about her sexuality at work place in fear that she would start experiencing discrimination. At the place of work, the interviewee stated that people made jay jokes all the time thus if she came out, she would be treated differently. The fear of the interviewee to be discriminated at the place of work has been researched and confirmed by many researchers. According to Choi et al. (2013), homophobia and heterosexualism are often associated with discrimination within legal systems, housing market, and in the workplace. In the same vein, Fasoli et al. (2015) state that friends, families, and churches often reject bisexuals and other sexual minority groups leaving the isolated and without social support. This confirms that if the interviewee came out at her place of work, there is a high possibility the colleagues would treat her differently. Additionally, the colleagues were always making jokes about gays, which imply that they would not accept the interviewee once they discovered he was a bisexual.

Sullivan (2013) states that bisexuals and other sexual minority groups often experience physical and verbal abuse, which implies that these groups are likely to experience high degrees of distress compared to their heterosexual counterparts. On the other hand, Warriner et al. (2013) state that it is important to note that once bisexuals come out at the place of work, colleagues’ willingness to associate and support increases. Additionally, the authors state that coming out supports the integration into the workplace since organisational leaders develop professional ways to engage all employees in order to maximise productivity. However, the study also indicates that bisexuals are likely to experience the worst reaction from the heterosexual people and in some cases outright rejection. In light of this information, it is safe for the interviewee to withhold his sexual orientation among the colleagues as they already joke about gays.

Hoel, Lewis and Einarsdottir (2014) state that despite the requirement by law for all organisations to create safe and fair working conditions for all, only a few firms have resources in support of bisexuals. Very countable organisations have policies advocating for the rights of bisexuals, which is aimed at increasing the outness of bisexuals at their place of work. However, membership to the bisexual and sexual minority employee groups is limited, which reflects the non-discrimination policy no better in encouraging bisexuals come out. Similarly, Köllen (2013) write that bisexuals are seen as unpromotable and unreliable by management and leaders thus do not receive promotions at their place of work.

From the above findings, bisexuals among other sexual minority groups experience rejection and discrimination and the society is not culturally sensitive to their needs. Many of the bisexuals are unwilling to come out influenced by the negative perception of bisexuals by the heterosexual population. Organisations have sought to promote the acceptance of the bisexuals and sexual minority into the workplace but this has failed because the bisexual employee groups are left out to acquire support from themselves. From the interview, it is clear that bisexuals experience rejected not only from the society bust also from the families. This has potentially discouraged bisexuals from coming out. Nonetheless, there are social and internet platforms where bisexuals access social support, which helps them, walk through times of crisis.

Reference

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Appendix

• Description of the interviewee in relation to their different identity to you (e.g. culture, language, religion or spirituality, sexual orientation or disability)
• An exploration of the interviewee’s life experiences
• An exploration of the interviewee’s social needs
• The consideration of social support services available to them.
• The identification and analysis of cultural factors needed for the establishment of respectful, culturally safe worker-client relationships