A qualitative exploration of bisexual women’s appearance and visual identity

Hayfield, Nikki; Clarke, Victoria; Halliwell, Emma

Abstract

The majority of studies that focus on bisexuality do not take into account the importance of bisexual visual identities, despite evidence that lesbians and gay men manage their visual presentation in multiple ways. Minimal academic research has focused specifically on a bisexual ‘look’. The little research that has indicates that bisexual women change their beauty practices according to the gender of their current partner, but that no specific ‘look’ exists for bisexuals. However, these studies lack focus on bisexuality alone. A recent study of the construction of lesbian, gay and bisexual identities highlights how focusing specifically on bisexuality could be beneficial in developing a fuller understanding of bisexual visual identities.

This paper presents a discussion of the stigmatisation of appearance research. It then highlights the invisibility of bisexuality, both literally in terms of a lack of distinctive look, and experientially in terms of its dismissal in various ways. It then discusses the current research which used qualitative semi-structured interviews. Self-identifying bisexual women were asked a range of questions on appearance, in order to ascertain whether they use clothing, body art and cosmetic/beauty practices in order to create a bisexual visual identity, and to consider the implications of (the possible lack of) recognition for bisexual women.

Preliminary thematic analysis after verbatim transcription, suggests that whilst bisexual women do not specifically recognise an identifiable bisexual look, they do nonetheless give similar narratives around their clothing practices and (lack of) make-up use, specifically in not wanting to ‘look heterosexual’.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Cosmetic Cultures: Beauty, Globalization, Politics, Practices
• Start Date: Jun 24, 2009
• End Date: Jun 26, 2009
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 8, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: bisexual women's appearance
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/995619
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Cosmetic Cultures: Beauty, Globalization, Politics, Practices