Metro newspaper publishes article debating whether people should date bisexuals

This weekend, the Metro asked two women if they’d date a bisexual man – and the answers show that ignorance about the bi community is still alive and well.

The article, written by a bisexual journalist, begins by dispelling common myths about bisexual men – “it’s not a phase, confusion or gay men telling half truths”.

Two women then argue reasons for and against dating a bi guy, with the answers revealing a lack of understanding about bisexuality.

28 year-old Kellie reveals that she wouldn’t date a bisexual man because “a part of me believes that you just can’t be a 50/50 bisexual person and what I mean by that is that you are always going to be attracted to one sex a lot more than the other.

“There’s always going to be a preference and I can’t see my thoughts changing on that.”

Meanwhile, 27 year-old Laura, who is currently dating a bisexual man disagreed, arguing bisexuals have “explored sex, gender and relationships in a much more in depth way than, say, your typical straight guy and make fewer assumptions in regards to gender roles or expectations.”

She continued: “With so many people refusing to recognise bisexuality as legitimate and forming negative stereotypes against them, bi men really have to have a strong sense of self and I find their open-minded mentality very sexy”.

Despite the latter being more complimentary than the former, both rationales seem to rely on stereotypical ideas about bisexuality; whether it’s the idea that someone can never be truly equally attracted to multiple genders, or that bi men are naturally more open-minded.

Many readers quick to point out the article’s inherently problematic premise, arguing that dating somebody who identifies as bisexual shouldn’t be put forward as a ‘controversial’ matter deemed worthy of debate in the first place.

@MetroUK Ask yourself how it would sound if you asked ‘Would you date a black man?’ or ‘Would you date an Arab man?’ Rubbish.

— Traci Lawson (@tracilawson) August 15, 2016

Would you date a bisexual man? Two women argue for and against | Metro News. Disappointingly bad taste & biphobic https://t.co/j2RgNNzW4Z

— Debbie Louise Cannon (@DebbieCannon7t3) August 15, 2016

@MetroUK This article is awful. Would you do Would you date a wheelchair user or a black person? Really not cool. https://t.co/byV023nh9e

— Sarah Crowe (@cherub_london) August 15, 2016

This article does nothing to tackle bi stereotypes, how about profiling stories from the bi community @MetroUK? https://t.co/zNY8X5brd8

— Rob Bullock (@R_jbullock) August 15, 2016

The article also features a poll which, at the time of writing suggests that only 60% of respondents would be happy to date a bisexual man.

Bisexuality has been long misunderstood by people within and outside of the LGBT community.

Gay actor Christopher Biggins recently came under fire for biphobic comments in the Celebrity Big Brother house, while a 2015 survey found that 66% of bisexuals felt that they had to pass as exclusively straight, while 42% felt that they had to pass as exclusively gay or lesbian.

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