Navigating Solutions and Darkness

Photo by  Sharon McCutcheon  on  Unsplash Much has been written about biphobia and bi-erasure in recent years, and I think about it every time I go home. This is because in the last five years, I have had to come out to my family at least 10 times. Twice a year, every year, each time I go home. And I'm received with the same exact reactions each time. There's (1) completely ignoring what I just said, and acting like it's nothing to do with them. There's (2) a 3 hour discussion on how bisexuality isn't a real thing because "everyone feels affection towards members of the same gender, and that doesn't make you queer or anything." And (3) you're not bisexual because you've never been with a woman, you just want attention/ to boost your SJW cred. Set aside the fact that I've had crushes on girls exactly as long as I've had crushes on boys (read: since kindergarten.) Set aside the fact that you're not actually "required...

Photo by  Stephen Leonardi  on  Unsplash “We are not reliable.” A friend of mine recently exploded in indignation and fury, pointing out that despite high levels of intelligence, sometimes there were those of us who could be brought down by a bout of depression at any time. She felt that judging us on the basis of the good work we did when we were able was unfair, that expecting us to continue that level of work at all times was unfair. “We need to stop placing pressure on everyone to be productive, regardless of their health and social situation.” – A heavily paraphrased, anonymous quote I remember seeing online. That is an essential expectation of our capitalistic system – that everyone earn their own keep. That one is only entitled to what one ‘earns.’ Of course, this concept grows problematic the more one stares at it, regardless of which social class is under scrutiny. When taken as a whole, it is easily noted that each class above benefits, in ...