Perceptions of Bisexuality and Bisexual Individuals

We investigated perceptions of bisexuality and bisexual individuals by presenting participants with a vignette of a couple on a date. Participants were asked to focus on a target person in that couple; the target person varied on gender (male, female) and sexual orientation (bisexual same-sex couple; bisexual different-sex couple; straight couple; gay/lesbian couple). Results indicated that target men’s sexual orientation elicited more stereotype implementation–that is, behavior stemming from stereotypes, and more social stigma, on average, than women’s sexual orientation, regardless of the target man’s sexual orientation. In addition, contrary to hypotheses, results indicated that straight couples elicited more social stigma, less tolerance, and less stability belief in their sexual orientations, on average, than did other couples. We discuss possible explanations for these unexpected results, including social desirability bias, as well as implications and future directions.