As the rest of us are watching bisexual porn, millennials are out there, building the dream.
As a millennial woman myself, I remember when Drew Barrymore came out as bi. We all stood, mouths agape, staring down at our pages of Teen Beat, struggling to understand what that actually meant. “So she’s a lesbian now.” I remember one friend saying. “No, she’s just currently dating women.” Another friend countered, “my sister’s in college, and she said that girls date girls all the time”. “Maybe she’s just greedy?” the last one laughed. While I was woefully unaware of just how ignorant, and yet innocently on-the-nose this conversation was at the time, I remember struggling with it largely because it seemed perfectly normal to me. Date who you want, it’s not my business what you do with your vulva.
Continuing on my millennial timeline, I saw Katy Perry kiss a girl and like it, I saw countless celebrities go back and forth on what gender they prefer in a mate. I even dated girls myself. As a near-middle aged adult- my preferred sultry content is undoubtably bisexual porn offered in any of these major sites such as Porndoe. Bisexuality, gay, and lesbian relationships are becoming more normal and you know what kind of pics you need pornpics.com. Less shocking. More zennials are identifying as bi. But here’s really why my generation- the often muddied, confused, and misidentified millennials- have paved the way for bisexuality.
Coming Normality
Frankly, millennials (commonly agreed that anyone born between the years of 1981-1996) can’t take credit for gay rights. Gen X has that honor. With incredible marches, strikes, riots, and a number of other heart wrenching political crusades that finally resulted in the gay and lesbian communities getting a more even playing ground. As seems to be standard for Gen X (born 1965-1980), they quietly facilitated a revolution, then returned to their wallflower ways and were quickly forgotten about. The makers of punk, the facilitators of rave, and the perfectors of grunge- this anti-establishment generation influenced so many of the world’s purviews through art, music, and a stubborn culture. And yet- how many headlines do you see with their name on it.
Millennials on the other hand… we’re in every headline. We are both the cause and solution to the world’s problems. The generation that has no direction, and yet seems to shape society as we know it. The Schrödinger’s cat of a generation. So it makes sense that we would propel bisexuality. Not that we started it. Bisexuality and Homosexuality have been around for millennia. Far before any of us got our modern claws into it. But, I’d like to think we had a solid hand in normalizing it. In fact, I think millennials helped to normalize a number of alt-sexualities. Fetishism, pansexuality… in fact- here’s a somewhat exhaustive list of all the sexualities you’ve never heard of. As millennials, we stand on the shoulders of the sexual giants that came before us, furthering the drive for sexual freedom and expression.
Millennials may be watching a ton of bisexual porn, and dating a much larger pool of people- but zennials (1997+) – the label makers of all current generations- are helping us to find our words. Bisexuality, autosexuality, sapiosexuality- these things are now becoming so standard in our culture, that it seems like most of the shock and awe is gone. Often only leaving Boomers with a sense of exhausted confusion. With commercials depicting the life span of lesbian love to sell a car, and favorite TV characters like Daniel in Schitt’s Creek, all but proving that LGBTQ+ communities may be well on their way to normalcy. Which for many younger people can be both a boon, and a bit of a disappointment. Often not receiving the sort of attention and shock factor that previous generations were met with. Which leaves many feeling a bit abashed that the closet door now seems pretty firmly open.
Sexuality in a Nutshell
Which may not always be the case, but it does happen. But hopefully, as sexuality is explored, processed, and understood- particularly on an individual scale of security and acceptance. Sexuality is inherently fluid. In fact, while it’s been studied over, and over, and over again- there seems to be a whole lot of correlation, but an obvious lack of causation. Psychologists and scientists seem to struggle to find that one cause or explanation of why our genitals want, what our genitals want. In both the US and the UK- national surveys have shown that a massive number of people (compared to older surveys) now identify as “bisexual”- but does this mean that Gen Z is just out there, flaunting their sexual freedom? Or have we always been a fluid culture, but no one felt safe saying it until now?
Interestingly- more woman identified as bisexual, where more men identified as gay. Which could have to do with social stigma. By and large, lesbians still tend to get a bad rap. The stereotypical butch gal, smashing the patricachy, and walking around with a salty attitude that could give McDonalds fries a run for their money- is still widely perpetuated. Where as gay men (albeit still patronized by stereotype) seem to be much more calmly accepted by society itself. Much more present in TV, film, and friendship. However, bisexuality seems to fall on a precarious cliff edge- not entire accepted by the gay community- not entirely accepted by the straight community.
Despite the new frontiers in sexual acceptance and freedom of expression, there are still wars to be fought and rights to be obtained. Whether you’re looking at homosexuals, bisexuals, non-binary, or transgendered individuals. But these wars wage on, and acceptance seems to continue on its sometimes seemingly Sisyphus-like journey. But I for one would like to see it all come into play. To live in a world where, I can watch all the bisexual porn I want without explaining myself, and my friends don’t need to worry about the sexual compass they hold in their pants. A world where everyone believes that love is love, and has no problem spreading it around.