Beyond Gay and Straight: Ten Things to Know About Bisexuality

Keke Palmer encouraged us to open our minds.

There Is More to Bisexuality Than You Think - While sexuality was once understood in very binary terms —meaning someone was either all the way straight, or all the way gay — actually, sexuality exists more on a spectrum, both within each individual, as someone’s attractions can shift within their life. In fact, on the Kinsey Scale, which rates sexuality along a spectrum of 6 (0 being fully heterosexual and 6 being fully homosexual) 11.6% of males, and 7% of females between ages 20-35 ranked at 3. Sexuality is not as strict as we think! (Photo: David McNew/Getty Images)
New Generation - In a study done this year by YouGov, which polled 1,632 individuals between the ages of 18 and 60, it was found that 43% of people between that ages of 18 and 24 identified as something other than exclusively straight or exclusively gay. Also, 1 in 2 young people are not 100% heterosexual, signifying that young people are more open to non-binary sexual identities. (Photo: Peathegee Inc/Blend Images/Corbis)
All Attraction Is Not Equal   - According to GLAAD, bisexuality does not mean you have to be equally attracted to both men and women. In fact, some bisexuals are overwhelmingly attracted to one sex and only occasionally to the other. The overall spectrum of bisexuality includes many forms, and the only thing that bisexual people have in common with one another is that they are attracted to people of more than one gender. (Photo: Grant Harder / Masterfile/ Corbis Images)
Bisexual Doesn't Equal Promiscuous - There is a myth that because someone is bisexual they must be having twice as much sex as someone who is strictly gay or straight. This stereotype is incorrect and harmful.  Bisexuality only applies to sexual identity, not sexual appetite. (Photo: Paloma Marticorena/ Getty Images)No More Lies - There is a tremendous pressure to “lie” if you are bisexual. In fact, only 23% of self-identified bisexuals tell others, saying it’s easier to let the people assume that if they are with an opposite-sex partner they are straight and if they are with a same sex partner they are gay. This unfairly perpetuates the false belief that bisexuality is nothing more than a phase and prevents both community-building and society's understanding of bisexuality. (Photo: Masterfile/ Corbis Images)

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New Generation - In a study done this year by YouGov, which polled 1,632 individuals between the ages of 18 and 60, it was found that 43% of people between that ages of 18 and 24 identified as something other than exclusively straight or exclusively gay. Also, 1 in 2 young people are not 100% heterosexual, signifying that young people are more open to non-binary sexual identities. (Photo: Peathegee Inc/Blend Images/Corbis)

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