biphobia gaga has experienced - a necessary thread

artwork by @princessdye0

a lot of people are under the impression that because gaga is a woman of privilege in many ways, she has not endured discrimination based on her bisexuality, when the exact opposite is the case.

biphobia is very harmful to bisexual individuals and their mental health especially.

for starters, bisexuality is most commonly defined as experiencing attraction to more than one gender. yes, regardless of dating history.

before we get into biphobia gaga has had to deal with (that we know of) here is a definition and SOME of the common effects

the following is a list of things of biphobic nature that we know gaga was faced with throughout her life

the list is sorted by the environments in which she experienced biphobia (often without even realizing it) and is not exhaustive

cw: biphobia, lesbophobic slurs, bullying

in school

• gaga has reported being called the d slur by her classmates numerous times, leading to the assumption that she was presumed a lesbian by her classmates

• we don't know if gaga herself was aware of her attraction to women at this point

this is also lesbophobic.

in media she consumed:

• one of gaga's favorite shows when she was a teenager was 'sex and the city'

• 'sex and the city' had multiple biphobic episodes and erased one of their main character's bisexuality entirely

from her family:

• while we don't know exact details, gaga has hinted multiple times that her father did not react well to her coming out

• she described him as not very openminded when she was growing up, which only began to change after he met her fans, many of whom are gay

• she also apologized to him and told him to take an edible, after explaining the meaning of poker face (a song about fantasizing about women while sleeping with men) at her jazz and piano show

• whereas she pointed out that her mother is accepting of all people

in relationships:

• gaga reported how her boyfriends were intimidated by her attraction to women and that they told her they were not interested in a threesome (playing on a common stereotype about bisexuals), which she was clearly irritated by

• poker face was also written about a boyfriend she was with, who didn't like that she was into women, so she had to hide her attraction to them from him as to not upset him

the next lists covering her career are going to be a bit longer as we actually got to witness some of the biphobia she was confronted with

in interviews:

• at the beginning she was often pressured to pick a label before she herself started identifying as bisexual

• despite her saying she doesn't consider sexual orientation, interviewers asked her if she was bisexual upon learning about her attraction to women

note: she did start self-identifying as bisexual in late 2009 and was also fine with other people labeling her that before.
however, she shouldn't have had to put herself in a box just to make it easier for people who can't think outside of it.
unlabeled people are just as valid.

• she was often asked about using her bisexuality to seem edgy and appeal to the gay community

• and was thus also compared to other female musicians who sang about bisexuality, being asked to comment on their songs & "strategies" with the intent of causing drama between them

• this was also misogynistic as it left her in a tough spot of having to defend herself against those claims but at the same time, no matter what she said, those defenses being seen as digs against other women

• she sometimes got negative or shocked reactions (e.g. "oh good lord") from interviewers upon revealing her attraction to women, as if it were something super scandalous

• she was often asked to reveal her sexual and dating history with women in order to "prove" her bisexuality

• these were also the only questions asked about her attraction to women

• it was always reduced to sex and being objectified as "hot" or "edgy"

note: the sexualization and objectification of bisexual women by straight men is a common issue

• similarly threesomes came up again in another interview when the topic was her attraction to women

• her openness to be with women was seen as a hypersexual quality, that disrupts the trust of her monogamous relationship, even though in this scenario it's coming from the guy

• she was called a straight ally by an lgbtq+ interviewer after she'd been out for 5 years

• in general, interviewers were not good at remembering that fact about her, meaning she had to continue coming out again and again even years into her career

in the media:

• her very clear and outright declarations of her bisexuality, attraction to and relationships with women are often not taken seriously

• instead, they are reported as "speculation", "tendencies", "experimenting", "she claims", "allegedly", ...

• she is often called a (straight) ally and strong supporter of the lgbtq+ community, rather than the fact that she's a part of it being acknowledged and often it's erased entirely

• some articles even went as far as claiming she "came out as (a) straight (ally)", twisting her words and taking them out of context to justify questioning and erasing her sexuality for clicks (such as the article below) https://www.advocate.com/media/2017/3/27/lady-gaga-lgbt-or-ally

note: the language bisexuals use to describe and recount their experiences is often policed by non-bisexuals who try to tell them that they can't or have to use certain words or else they're not valid

• here's another example of that happening to gaga after a joke on instagram

• she is frequently left out of lists of queer, lgbtq+ and bisexual celebrities and icons

• she was also left out of multiple books about queer icons that were published 10 years into her career in spite of her prominence and strong advocacy and impact on the lgbtq+ community

i managed to mess it up shit lmao, continue here https://twitter.com/sohappyiclddie/status/1312423682002825216