Bisexual Culture Within Queer Community Remains Ambiguous
The bar at Mood Ring, a popular Bushwick club.
Late on a Friday night, people fill up the dancefloor at Mood Ring, a popular bar and club in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Smoke billows into the room as the DJ ramps up the energy. Astrology-themed cocktails can be found back at the neon-tinged bar. On the walls, you’ll find anti-discrimination posters, a portrait of Trinity from the Matrix, and a compilation of photographs from controversial erotic photographer Ren Hang. On the merchandise, Mood Ring touts their unofficial slogan: “try bisexuality.”
Mood Ring is just one bastion of the queer community in Brooklyn. The club is similar to other spaces that don’t seem to cater explicitly to straight or gay people while still remaining an unmistakably queer establishment. Spaces like Mood Ring give some insight into what bisexual culture looks like, but their marketing begs the broader question of what bi culture even is.
Other subcultures within the LGBTQ community are more easily defined. For example, cisgender gay males and lesbians have developed quantifiable fashion styles that signal their preferences to others like them. Although these styles can be used by bisexuals, there is no style that is explicitly bisexual. A definitive culture has yet to emerge. Bisexuals may feel caught between identities and live a more nebulous life by definition.
“The population of persons who are attracted in both directions, the problem there is I think very often how do you live such a life, how do you organize it?” said Randolph Trumbach, a queer historian and professor at Baruch College in Manhattan.
Mood Ring in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Trumbach believes that bisexual culture may be amorphous because bisexuality is already confusing to navigate. Specifically, he suggests that our society has become a strict dichotomy in terms of sexuality, leaving bisexuals marginalized. Having to navigate this, especially when faced with queer social justice movements, causes issues that heterosexuals and homosexuals don’t experience.
“At the beginning of the modern era, that is around 1700, you have the emergence of our world in which usually sexuality is divided between an overwhelming majority who are more or less entirely heterosexual and a relatively small majority, not much more than 5%, who are homosexual,” Trumbach said, “and in between those two, there’s the issue of bisexuality.”
He claims that this is a newer issue to Western society than people think.
“At one point in history, say 300 years ago, [bisexuality] would have been the ordinary way to go,” Trumbach said.
In the modern day, bisexuality is less understood. “Pick a side” is still a common talking point. Many people who behave as bisexuals may not accept the label, let alone embrace a community of their fellow bisexuals, possibly explaining why bisexual culture is so underdeveloped.
According to social media, bisexual culture is just about cuffing pant legs and sitting awkwardly in chairs. If you were to take these Twitter posts seriously, you might also be led to believe that all bisexuals enjoy Mamma Mia, Twin Peaks, and the Clinton family.
Twitter does not shed much meaningful light on the issue, but it does suggest is that this subculture may not even exist. Actual bisexual people are treating the idea with humor and absurdity. Maybe there’s not much there because that's how bisexual people want it.
So, what is bisexual subculture? Maybe it's found woven throughout clubs like Mood Ring. Maybe it's just what Twitter jokes it is. Maybe it’s nothing at all.
Every queer person is more than their label and has their own unique identity. Until bisexual people are better represented within the LGBTQ community and more comfortable in society at large, it is unlikely any definable culture will arise.