American Institute of Bisexuality

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The '''American Institute of Bisexuality''' (AIB) is a controversial organization that is (supposedly?) dedicated to the defense and visibility of [[bisexuality]] and bisexuals. On the one hand, it helps fund valuable research on bisexual and bi+{{efn|"bi+" refers the bisexual community, and to all people who acknowledge being attracted to more than one gender, regardless of self-identification as "bisexual" specifically. It includes pansexuals, polysexuals, omnisexuals, and is considered synonymous with "nonmonosexual", which is a generally deprecated term because it is defined negatively. Some activists prefer the phrase "m-spec" (for ''multisexual spectrum''), because it de-emphasizes bisexual identification as being central to the community.}} people through its [[peer-reviewed]] ''Journal of Bisexuality'',<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=wjbi20 Journal of Bisexuality] ''Taylor & Francis''.</ref> but on the other hand, it also funded very dubious research led by a notorious [[crackpot]], and has ties to [[transphobia|transphobic]] hate groups through some of its members and projects.<ref>https://www.transgendermap.com/issues/groups/american-institute-of-bisexuality/</ref><ref>https://www.transgendermap.com/people/john-sylla/</ref><ref name=qm1>https://www.transgendermap.com/issues/topics/media/queer-majority/</ref>

== History ==
The AIB was founded by Fred "Fritz" Klein, a [[psychiatrist]] who wrote ''The Bisexual Option''<ref>''The Bisexual Option'' by Fritz Klein (1993) Haworth Press. 2<sup>nd</sup> edition. ISBN 1560230339.</ref> and helped advance understanding of sexuality through the Klein Grid, which, while certainly not perfect, was definitively an improvement over the simplistic [[Kinsey scale]].

However, controversy arose when the AIB funded a study led by notorious [[Biphobia|biphobic]]/[[transphobic]] crank, [[J. Michael Bailey]].<ref name=bailey1>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7658643_Sexual_Arousal_Patterns_of_Bisexual_Men Sexual Arousal Patterns of Bisexual Men] by Gerulf Rieger, Meredith L. Chivers & J. Michael Bailey (2005) ''Psychological Science'' 16(8):579-84. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01578.x.</ref> Based on this small sample of bisexual participants, the study concluded:<ref name=bailey1/>
{{cquote|Rather, most bisexual men appeared homosexual with respect to genital arousal, although some appeared heterosexual. In contrast, their subjective sexual arousal did conform to a bisexual pattern.}}
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force criticized ''[[The New York Times]]'' [[Hyperbole|hyped-up]] coverage of the study, as well as criticizing the study's methodology:<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081030175910/http://thetaskforce.org/files/NYTBisexualityFactSheet.pdf The Problems with “Straight, Gay or Lying?”] ''National Gay and Lesbian Task Force'' (archived from October 30, 2008).</ref>
*That it relies on the idea that sexual arousal is a function of sexual orientation, rather than sexual orientation being a combination of cognitive and physical responses.
*The reliance on a penile plethysmograph to measure genital arousal, which has been called into question as an unreliable instrument for scientific measurement.<ref>"The plethysmograph reconsidered: comments on Barker and Howell" by W. T. Simon & P. G. Schouten (1993) ''Bull. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law'' 21(4):505-12.</ref>
*Small sample size (33 bisexual men out of a total of 104 participants), and more than a third of participants had no genital arousal at all during the experiment. There was non-[[random]] recruitment of participants.

Then, the AIB funded another study, which addressed some (including subjective as well as genital arousal) but not all (still a small sample size, still not-random) of the methodological problems of the first study. The second study instead concluded, "On average, the bisexual men in our sample had distinctly bisexual patterns of both genital and subjective arousal."<ref>[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301051111001785?via%3Dihub Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men revisited] by A. M. Rosenthal, D. Sylva, A. Safron &  J. M. Bailey (2011) ''Biological Psychology'' 88(1):112-115. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.06.015.</ref>

Bailey subsequently led a [[meta-analysis]] study (not funded by the AIB) that concluded that "These findings support the view that male sexual orientation contains a range, from heterosexuality, to bisexuality, to homosexuality."<ref>[https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7414168/ Robust evidence for bisexual orientation among men] by Jeremy Jabbour et al. (2020)  ''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U S A'' 117(31):18369–18377. doi:10.1073/pnas.2003631117.</ref>

Since the second study, and given Bailey's infamous track record, the Institute fell out of favor with [[social justice]] circles. However, the AIB retains relatively mainstream visibility, compared to other bisexual advocacy organizations.

== The ''Journal of Bisexuality'' ==
The ''Journal of Bisexuality'' is the main scientific publication published by the Institute. Its Editorial Board includes respectable bisexual activists such as Robyn Ochs and Lani Ka'ahumanu, among others, and the journal publishes a number of quality articles on bisexual and bi+ people from a sociological perspective. However, the journal also publishes articles coming from a more [[Essentialism|bioessentialist]] perspective.

== ''Bi.org'' ==
''Bi.org'' can be seen as the outreach site of the AIB. Given its ranking, ''Bi.org'' will very likely be one of the first resources questioning people stumble upon if they wonder if they may be bisexual. However, it has several issues of its own.

''Bi.org'' mainly focuses on matters of [[media]] representation, historical figures, and daily life/navigating relationships. It's not to say that these issues don't matter (of course they do!), but ''Bi.org'''s approach to them tends to be distinctly apolitical (aside from denouncing obvious [[bigotry]]). As shown below, there is good reason for that. 

Unless you are already familiar with and aware of more modern understandings of [[gender]] and [[sexuality]], ''Bi.org'' will not appear especially controversial at first glance; though, they use dated terminology to refer to those matters, and one of the more egregious issues of ''Bi.org'' is labelling celebrities and fictional characters as bisexual even when they explicitly reject that label, sometimes without even mentioning their preferred label. This is especially true of [[pansexuality|pansexuals]].<ref>https://medium.com/@koryxx/leaders-of-bisexual-organization-hate-pansexuals-1ac640b27b6d</ref>

''Bi.org'' itself defines pansexuality as putting ''"a political emphasis on trans and [[non-binary]] identities"'',<ref>https://bi.org/en/101/bi-umbrella</ref> which is not the definition given by pansexuals themselves. One probably wouldn't have guessed it at first, but the writers very likely meant this as a pejorative, as the following section will show.

== ''Queer Majority'' ==
In contrast to ''Bi.org'', ''Queer Majority'' can be thought of as being the back room of the AIB, where members post stuff that is too controversial for the main site. It can also be seen as a [[LGBTQ_orientation_glossary#Pinkwashing|pinkwashing]] platform for various persons aligned with [[classical liberalism]]/[[libertarianism]], [[conservatism]], or the [[Intellectual Dark Web]]. Some writers include:

*[[Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine|Colin Wright]], a right-wing anti-transgender activist.<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/contributors-1/colin-wright</ref>
*Christina Berry (pen name "Christina Buttons"), a former writer for ''[[The Post Millennial]]'' and ''[[Ben Shapiro|The Daily Wire]]'', before leaving the latter because it was too transphobic even by her standards ([[Matt Walsh#Transphobia|no]] [[Michael_Knowles#Transphobia|shit]]).<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/contributors-1/christina-buttons</ref><ref>https://www.transgendermap.com/issues/topics/media/christina-buttons/</ref>
*[[J. Michael Bailey]] himself.<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/contributors-1/michael-bailey</ref>
*Phil Illy, an [[autogynephilia]] proponent (which he calls ''"autoheterosexuality"'').<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/contributors-1/phil-illy</ref>
*Wilfred Reilly, an anti-transgender activist .<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/contributors-1/wilfred-reilly</ref>
*Ben Appel, who wrote an article for ''[[Spiked]]'' railing at ''"Transgender ideology"''.<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/contributors-1/ben-appel</ref><ref>https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/14/the-new-homophobia/</ref>
*[[Peter Tatchell]], a token left-winger but also [[pedophilia]] apologist.<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/contributors-1/petertatchell</ref>
*Verity Ritchie, a panphobic Youtuber<ref>https://posi-pan.tumblr.com/post/644425825046953984/seems-verilybitchie-knows-about-you-and-said-you</ref> who wrote an article minimizing transphobic violence<ref>https://www.transgendermap.com/people/verity-ritchie/</ref> (though they seem to have disowned the article later, since their name doesn't appear on its current version).<ref name=qm7>https://www.queermajority.com/currents/tdor-trans-death-and-trans-life</ref>

Clearly, ''Queer Majority'''s claim that it is ''"focused on sexual and romantic liberty for all"''<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/about</ref> can't be called accurate.

Reading ''Queer Majority'' means navigating through a sea of not only [[transphobia]],<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/dont-take-pride-in-promoting-pseudoscience</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/questioning-the-gender-binary</ref><ref name=qm5>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/in-defence-of-gender</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/gender-policing-on-the-left</ref><ref name=qm4>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/the-label-wars-are-over</ref><ref name=qm7/><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/victimhood-is-one-helluva-drug</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/business-of-sex-profiles-series-1/buck-angel</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/questioning-sexual-identities</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/mylivedexperiencewiththecultofsocialjustice</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/the-forbidden-knowledge-of-autoheterosexuality</ref><ref name=qm6>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/crossing-the-line</ref>{{efn|Admittedly more of the [[code word|coded]], pseudo-intellectual, [[transmedicalism|transmedicalist]], [[internalized discrimination|internalized]], or ''"[[JAQ]]ing off"'' kind in general, but as shown here, some of the people who wrote for ''Queer Majority'' are otherwise genuine anti-transgender activists.}} but also homonationalism<ref name=qm2>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/i-was-albertas-first-gay-human-rights-chief</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/radical-feminisms-strange-love-affair-with-hamas</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/by-any-means-necessary</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/british-imperialism-didnt-cause-palestinian-homophobia</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/queers-for-palestine-and-the-death-of-irony</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/pride-flags-kid-gloves-and-islams-religious-right</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/jesuisnonbinary</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/islamic-homophobia-is-empowered-by-leftist-silence</ref><ref name=qm3>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/terfs-berfs-and-querfs</ref>, [[balance fallacy|bothsidesism]],<ref name=qm2/><ref name=qm3/><ref name=qm5/><ref name=qm6/><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/the-backlash-against-sexual-freedom</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/banning-anne-franks-diary</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/the-perilous-pendulum-swing</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/currents/ok-groomer-and-the-dangers-of-crying-wolf</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/currents/overturning-roe-and-the-gops-continued-descent-into-extremism</ref><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/the-moderate-chads-and-the-radical-virgins</ref> pinkwashing of various people and institutions<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/currents/let-the-cops-march-at-pride</ref><ref name=em1>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/elon-musk-twitter-and-the-value-of-f-you-money</ref>{{efn|This got to the point where ''Queer Majority'' held a favorable view of [[Elon Musk]] when he bought Twitter,<ref name=em1/> before doing a 180-turn when it appeared he was transphobic and extremist even by their standards.<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/when-it-comes-to-free-speech-elon-musk-is-a-cissy</ref>}} (including explicit rainbow capitalism apology),<ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/rainbow-capitalism-is-goodlzws7c</ref> and [[gatekeeping]]/exclusionism of the [[LGBTQ]] community's more marginal or "[[Feminist glossary#Woke|woke]]" elements.<ref name=qm4/><ref>https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/queer-is-cool</ref> This is a combination that appears pretty typical of modern [[Western]] [[Right wing|right-of-centre]] politicians when they try to appeal to [[queer]] (or, more accurately, [[cis]] [[LGBTQ|LGB]]) people.<ref>https://www.lalibre.be/debats/opinions/2023/05/20/en-belgique-les-acquis-pour-les-communautes-lgbtqia-sont-encore-menaces-par-ce-que-lon-appelle-le-wokisme-RA2VJ732FNDVZFOXFJKB7ETEWQ/ (in French)</ref><ref>https://leregardlibre.com/forum/quand-les-homosexuels-deviennent-une-cible-a-gauche/ (in French)</ref>

Despite being nominally the less controversial face of the AIB, ''Bi.org'' regularly retweets ''Queer Majority'' articles on their [[Twitter|X]] account.<ref>https://x.com/BiDotOrg</ref>

== See also ==
[[Essay:My problem with Queer Majority]]

== External links ==
*[https://www.bisexuality.org/ American Institute of Bisexuality]
*[https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wjbi20/current Journal of Bisexuality]
*[https://bi.org/ Bi.org]
*[https://www.queermajority.com/ Queer Majority]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}} 

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:LGBT]]
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]
[[Category:Pissed at us]]

Categories: LGBT, Misnomers, Science, Sexuality, Transphobia, Pissed at us