Newsgroups: soc.bi
From: cliveg@cix.compulink.co.uk (Clive Grace)
Subject: Re: shouting in my own ear
Reply-To: cliveg@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 15:15:00 +0000


> I think that this is a good way to build support and awareness amongst
> people who might otherwise see us as only concerned with our own issues.
> Certainly in 1984 the "Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners" campaign
> won the support of many people, partly because those people saw how the
> tabloids treated them and realised that the tabloids treatment of us
> was similarly distorted.  Also partly because they got to meet real
> lesbians and gay men who were proud, confident and helpful.
> 
> Political issues aren't the only way that this could be done.  I'd like to
> see a bisexual group raise money for an "ordinary" charity, to show that
> we are part of the community at large.  The Edinburgh Group has already
> raised some funds selling raffle tickets for Disability scotland, who
> offer groups a 50/50 split on sales.

Sometimes limiting a campaign can harm a cause more than do it  good 
--  by sticking to certain charity issues like HIV/AIDS and Safer Sex 
causes you are "focussing your target marketplace", aiming your 
campaign where it will have the highest hit rate -- or in layman's 
terms: putting the ads where most people are going to react to it... 
It  works with fairly limiting structures like beer at football 
maches, Oil and Gas on motorways and roads and the like, but it's by 
no means perfect. People are likely to be stimulated by all sorts of 
media input so sometimes a more general approach is needed.

I believe that because Bisexuality doesn't really have a "scene" per 
se, (i.e. there are fewer images associated with Bisexuals than those 
imposed or adopted images of the Gay and Lesbian "scene"),I think  
it's a good idea to get involved with real-world issues that can 
affect us all regardless of sexuality for example; Housing, Community 
Care, even silly local issues that aren't so silly to the people that 
are being affected -- like the local Tesco's bulldozing over a spot 
designated as protected and of natural beauty to build a new shopping 
mall. If we can show to the rest of the world that Bisexuals are 
interested in all sorts of issues, it would probably do "the 
movement" a heck of a lot of good IMHO.

This form of free associative campaigning is a great way of ensuring 
we don't get hemmed in by media controllers and newspaper editors, 
eager to pigeonhole and therefore easily quantify Bisexuals as "just 
another group of people obsessed by sex", this has a knock-on effect 
that ensures editors and newspaper planners have a far better 
understanding of Bisexuality's "scope" and therefore don't restrict 
any Bisexuality stories to page 5 (typically the "deviant sex" 
stories) in UK tabloids, or the equivalent back end of a TV or radio 
broadcast, or worse still, limiting Bisexuals to Bisexual only 
programmes, where we would be ghetto-ised. Far better to insidiously 
spread out affecting all walks of society.
 
Bisexual visibility in places you don't expect to find it enhances 
the general public's ability to accept that there is a movement out 
there --  and that it's growing.

Trust me, i'm a journalist...
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| "When I grow up, I want to give up being  |cliveg@cix.compulink.co.uk|
| a Journalist and learn how to write..."   |cliveg@cix.compulink.uucp |
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