Bisexuality/Plurisexuality in Romantic Relationships: Making Space for Bisexuality/Plurisexuality?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article – originally published in a Dutch peer-reviewed journal but updated with extra theoretical discussions – is a tentative exploration of the positions that bisexuality/plurisexuality can occupy in romantic relationships. On the basis of interviews with 31 bisexual/plurisexual people (21 women, 10 men), I discuss how bisexuality is experienced in romantic relationships. Romantic relationships are not just an agreement between partners, but are also constituted by networks of emotions, feelings, and meanings from oneself, one’s partner(s), the social environment, and the wider social world. This article discusses the experiences of bisexual/plurisexual people’s in romantic relationships and reveals the importance of antibisexual stereotypes, mononormativity, and the institutionalization of monogamy as contextual factors but also interpersonal and intrapsychic factors in negotiations of bisexuality/plurisexuality in relations. Partners are, as the experiences of the participants show, not just “passive actors” but may also proactively create space for bisexuality/plurisexuality in romantic relationships.