In the literature about bisexuality few studies consider bisexual people’s beliefs about bisexuality and none examine essentialist beliefs about bisexuality. In the present study 244 participants (bisexual n = 58, lesbian/gay n = 54 and heterosexual n =132) from the UK were asked via online questionnaire about their attitudes towards bisexuality, homosexuality and heterosexuality, and how stable they perceived bisexuality, homosexuality and heterosexuality to be. They were also asked about their essentialist beliefs towards bisexuality. Bisexual respondents viewed bisexuality as significantly more stable than lesbian, gay and heterosexual respondents. Analysis also showed that less belief in the discreetness of bisexuality predicted more positive attitudes towards bisexuality, as did positive beliefs towards homosexuality and heterosexuality. Belief in the immutability of bisexuality did not, however, predict attitudes towards bisexuality. Therefore, discreteness appears to be an especially problematic essentialist belief about all sexual minorities, as it is consistently associated with negative attitudes. However, beliefs about the immutability of sexuality are not consistently associated with negative attitudes for all sexual minorities. Negative attitudes towards bisexuality, sometimes called ‘biphobia’, are prevalent (Barker, Richards, Jones, Bowes-Catton & Plowman, 2011; Eliason, 1997; 2000; Herek, 2002; Morrison, Harrington & McDermott, 2010; Mulick & Wright, 2002; 2011; Petford, 2003; Spalding & Peplau, 1997; Weiss, 2003; 2011). It is possible that by investigating essentialist beliefs about bisexuality, as has been done with homosexuality (Haslam & Levy, 2006) and heterosexuality (Hubbard & Hegarty, 2014), we may enhance our understanding of such attitudes. The present paper describes a study conducted to investigate essentialist beliefs about bisexuality in bisexual, lesbian, gay and heterosexual people. The following introduction first outlines negative attitudes towards bisexuality and their effects. Second, we outline the conceptual difficulty in fitting bisexuality into popular binaried and monosexist
homosexuality. There was a main effect of sexuality on perceived stability of heterosexuality (Table 1) which was moderated by an interaction involving participant gender (F(2, 238) = 6.00, p = .01). Among male participants, gay men (M = 4.20, SD = 0.85) perceived bisexuality to be less stable than did bisexual men (M = 5.26, SD = 0.36) and heterosexual men (M = 5.86, SD = 0.74). Among female participants, heterosexual women (M = 4.66, SD = 0.76) perceived bisexuality as less stable than did bisexual women (M = 5.08, SD = 0.53) and lesbians (M = 4.90, SD = 0.57). Post hoc tests revealed that lesbian and gay respondents perceived heterosexuality to be more stable than did heterosexual women and men. A similar 2x3 ANOVA revealed a main effect of sexuality for erotophilia: heterosexual respondents were significantly less erotophilic than bisexual respondents and lesbian/gay respondents. There was also a main effect of sexuality on the value of monogamy measure (Table 1). Lesbian, gay and heterosexual respondents expressed significantly more positive attitudes toward monogamy than did bisexual respondents. Essentialist beliefs about Bisexuality Next we tested our opposing hypothesis regarding the relationship between essentialist beliefs and prejudice toward bisexual people. A series of 2 x 3 ANOVAs revealed a significant main effect of sexuality on all three bisexuality-related essentialist belief subscales - discreteness, immutability and universality (Table 1). Bisexual respondents' considered bisexuality to be significantly less discrete than lesbian, gay and heterosexual respondents did (Table 1). There was no main effect of sex, but this effect of sexuality was qualified by a significant interaction effect involving participant sex (F(2,238) = 3.25, p = .04). Gay men (M = 2.32, SD = 0.90) believed bisexuality to be more discrete than did lesbians (M = 1.84, SD = 0.64), and heterosexual men (M = 2.26, SD = 0.92) believed bisexuality to be more discrete than did heterosexual women (M = 2.09, SD = 0.74).