Hey Kid – Don’t Smoke but Here’s a Tank
Saturday, December 28, 2019 by Jonathan R. Gibbons inRaising the legal age to purchase tobacco products in the United States from 18 to 21 marks a major public health achievement for the White House. There already have been several states that have individually passed legislation to raise the tobacco-buying age to 21.
CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/27/health/us-tobacco-age-21-trnd/index.html
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law a change that will increase the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 years of age. You’ll certainly hear applause from proponents of the Nanny State and anti-tobacco special interest groups. Many states had already modified their existing laws to increase the age from 18 to 21. There are a few problems with this law:
- Similar to existing laws for alcohol purchase and use, this law reeks of hypocrisy and inconsistency. While the U.S. Government is content on sending 18 year old kids to unnecessary wars and providing them with tanks, rifles, and a life-time of potential post-traumatic symptoms, they don’t believe these same kids are mature enough to decide if they should slowly kill themselves with tobacco.
- The federal government is out of bounds with this move. Just like federal marijuana prohibition, the federal government is legislating matters better left to the State Governments. The federal government required a constitutional amendment to prohibit the sale of alcohol within state boundaries because, at the time, they had more respect for the U.S. Constitution than the current crop of “do-gooders.” There’s a reason we have a separation of powers. Why have state governments at all if the federal government will always trump (pun-intended) them?
- This law was passed within the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Every year the Congress will pass a similar bill and they load it up with things that have absolutely nothing to do with the title of the bill. Laws such as these should be properly presented to the U.S. Congress and then debated in the appropriate committee accordingly. Instead, they slipped this law into a massive spending bill. This makes it difficult for a representative to vote against the bill even if they strongly disagree with this aspect of the bill.
Sources:
H.R.2500. “H.R.2500 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020” https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2500
S.1790. “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020” https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1790
CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/27/health/us-tobacco-age-21-trnd/index.html
VOX: https://www.vox.com/2019/12/27/21039149/fda-officially-raised-age-to-buy-tobacco-from-18-to-21
Bombing Syria – Did Trump Dive into the Swamp?
Thursday, April 13, 2017 by Jonathan R. Gibbons in“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” – Carl Sagan
The United States Congress has the power… “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;” – Article I Section VIII of the U.S. Constitution
On Thursday, April 6, 2017, President Trump ordered an attack on a Syrian base in response to a chemical attack on innocent civilians. This attack was allegedly committed by the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Under the U.S. Constitution any act of war ordered by a U.S. President must be backed by the deliberation and consent of the U.S. Congress. Not unlike President Clinton, President Bush, and President Obama, President Trump violated his war powers and usurped the authority of the people as represented through their U.S. Representatives; he also violated his campaign promises.
To declare war or to engage in a preemptive strike against a foreign enemy requires the deliberation and consent of the U.S. Congress. The president may engage in defensive military action to thwart immediate and obvious threats to America but they may not unilaterally engage in offensive military actions without the consent of the U.S. Congress. Obtaining the blessing of the U.S. Congress serves a number of important purposes not limited to ensuring the action is necessary and the facts underlying the reasoning for the attack are sound and substantial. President Obama committed a variety of similar unconstitutional attacks during his tenure as well.
Is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad even guilty? Our society is quick to find guilt in the realm of public opinion but in the realm of the law, determining guilt is a slow and tedious process. This stagnant process serves to filter out emotion and bullshit and to isolate the truth among an abundance of propaganda and hearsay. In 2013, President Obama was on the brink of engaging in a similar retaliation against Syria. It was argued then that the Syrian Government had used chemical weapons against innocent civilians as well. Unfortunately, we really don’t know what the truth is as a number of academic studies have called into question the accuracy of this claim. Gareth Porter wrote in the Middle East Policy journal:
A review of what is known about the… alleged Sarin attacks shows that it was a major intelligence failure on the order of the Iraq WMD error. It failed to reflect accurately the evidence the administration said supported the overall conclusion. Moreover, it ignored substantial evidence indicating that the incidents in question did not involve Sarin or anything else that the United States recognized as a banned chemical weapon… the evidence of responsibility for the alleged Sarin attacks did not confirm the accusation that they were carried out by the Syrian government.
Obama actually requested the authorization to attack Syria from Congress in 2013 but it was denied consent by the representatives of the people. Yes, President Obama followed the constitution more closely than President Trump on this particular action… this populist Trump Train ride beginning to feel a bit bumpy for anyone else?
In sum, President Trump most certainly violated his war powers and usurped the authority of the Congress; he also violated his campaign promises. One of Trump’s major criticisms of Hillary Clinton and past administrations was their reckless interventionist foreign policies that put America second to foreign entanglements. This marks one of the clearest betrayals of Trump’s campaign promises to date, and it calls into question his intellectual integrity and casts doubt on what he will or will not do. To date, Trump has still not been vocal about pursuing term limits on the many bought a paid for representatives that occupy the halls of our republic. Frankly, Trump isn’t doing anything to drain the swamp. If I were just a bit more of a cynical man, I’d say that Trump is already swimming in the deep end of the swamp along with the rest of the military-industrial scum that are destroying America. Let’s hope not, because if he is… we’re totally fucked.
Hillary Clinton agreed with attacking Syria… but look who disgrees with Trump… Hint… they’re Not Swimming in the Swamp
U.S. Senator Rand Paul on Trump’s Bombing of Syria
Rand Paul said that President Donald J Trump should have followed the Constitution
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Trump’s Bombing of Syria
Bernie Sanders Condemns TRUMPS Syrian Attack!
Sources:
Baker, P. & Weismanaug, J. 2013. “Obama Seeks Approval by Congress for Strike in Syria”. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/world/middleeast/syria.html
Clinton, Hillary. 2017. Independent. Hillary Clinton called for Donald Trump to ‘take out’ Assad airfields hours before air strikes
Netflix. 2016. “The White Helmets”, https://www.netflix.com/title/80101827
Overview of the Syrian Conflict: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFpanWNgfQY&list=WL&index=10
Porter, G. (2016), Chemical Attacks in Syria: How U.S. Intel Went Wrong. Middle East Policy, 23: 100–111. doi: 10.1111/mepo.12220
Federalism Strikes Back – President Trump and the Road Ahead
Wednesday, January 18, 2017 by Jonathan R. Gibbons in
The 2016 presidential election was historic for a variety of reasons but for students of American Government, it demonstrated the beauty of a well structured Republic that respects a significant division of powers. Crash course in American Government… the people don’t elect the president; the States do. Trump won 30 of 50 States. In a nutshell, this is how the Electoral College works. It is a sound process because the president serves as the leader of the union of all the States and only the people vicariously through such leadership. A popular vote would essentially mean that the president represents only the most populated States, thereby completely alienating 3/4 of the States and making them meaningless.
The genius of the U.S. Constitutional Framers is that they designed America to be a government of balanced powers both within the federal branches of government, and also between the federal and state governments. Specifically, they sought to deter the tyranny of the majority or one dominant community (e.g., liberal Californians) over the rest of the nation. As nearsighted as many of them were when it came to slavery, sexism, and racism, the essence of their statecraft remains forever effervescent. They sought to constrain the power of the majority and, instead, to empower the super-majority by dividing powers and requiring significant consent to alter the fundamental structures of our country. Moreover, Americans have the rare freedom to move from one government to another– Texas to California –while still remaining Americans with all of their individual rights recognized and codified in the Bill of Rights therein.
President Trump – The Good
Your neighbors and friends voted for Trump not because they are racist or sexist or homophobic, but because they made a calculated decision based on a variety of policies and a rejection of the corrupt establishment. Our union is in critical condition. Obama failed to heal it, and Hillary– along with Bush and others –helped create our critical condition. Trump has voiced support for ending entangling foreign alliances, instituting term limits on Congress, balancing the federal budget, constraining the influence of lobbyists, empowering small businesses, reforming the monopolistic-powers of big pharmacy, auditing the Federal Reserve System, and striking the military-industrial complex at its’ core.
Trump also offers us a great deal of hope in that he is a true capitalist and not a member of the political-corporatist elite. There are no puppets pulling Trump’s strings. Trump is a nationalist; not a globalist. American universities, Hollywood, virtually all American presidents for the past seventy-years, and multi-national corporations, were/are globalists. Nationalists are not always right, but at least they seek to put America first. Globalists just want a one-world government that governs according to their particular worldview.
President Trump – The Bad
Some question Trump’s allegiance and his lack of government experience. On allegiance, rather than looking out for the American people, many worry that he seeks to make himself and his rich friends more wealthy and powerful. They worry that he is using the Office of the Presidency as a tool to obtain more power over natural resources and the lives of everyday people. When it comes to governmental experience, it has been shown that excellent business skills do not necessary equate to good governing skills. Public management is not of the same artistry as business management and many business leaders are not only ineffective, but destructive when they attempt to apply their skills to the tasks of public management.
In my analysis, the one criticism of Trump that all watchful patriots should heed is his unbelievable consistency to act like a petulant child when someone insults him. The under-layer of his skin is more easily penetrated than a desperate prostitute. And so… this is where I grow worried. Trump possesses all the characteristics of an alpha-male short of his weak temperament and his inability to harness the largely false insults thrown towards his precious ego into a powerful arsenal of positive influences. However, one may find some comfort in this narcissistic behavior. Much like President Obama and other U.S. President’s, Trump has a massive ego and he wants to be right. Unlike his predecessors, however, Trump is results-driven which is a direct consequence of his failures within the private sector. Politicians, while egocentric to the extreme, rarely deal with the results of their efforts, whereas highly successful businessmen deal with the consequences of their poor decisions everyday. In short, Trump will seek actual results or witness the failure of his legacy.
The Road Ahead
Overall, most of the hatred thrown towards Trump is likely unwarranted. However, his thin-skin and inability to withstand the onslaught of insults thrown at him could be dangerous in the world of diplomacy. We should still be hopeful. Our country is severely crippled in mountains of debt and has been suffocating under the power of a corrupt establishment. President Trump offers us a new direction. The moment he fights for Congressional term limits, auditing the Federal Reserve System, and balancing the federal budget, we’ll know he’s on our side. To my black, liberal, female, and gay friends, you may rest easy and trust in the balance of powers that constrain tyranny and protect our Bill of Rights. Trump has never vehemently expressed a desire to destroy those rights. The moment he does, he’ll lose his support and be gone in 2020 if not earlier through impeachment. More importantly, there’s no candidate more dangerous than the idea that our president is some sort of king who can solve every problem, or the continual inaction of Americans not voting out the scum that occupies Congress in every non-presidential election.
Trump on the Federal Reserve System
Saturday, September 10, 2016 by Jonathan R. Gibbons in
“They’re keeping the rates down so that everything else doesn’t go down… We have a very false economy,” Donald Trump on the Federal Reserve, September 2016
When it comes to our economy, there is no issue more important than Federal Reserve reform. The Fed is the cancer which rests at the core of our economic system. They played a major role in the housing crash in 2008 and they play an even larger role in manipulating and distorting our free market system by providing false wealth and credit. Their actions have created an economy of debtors who spend their lives paying fees to bankers to support their insatiable appetite for instant gratification. They are the reason we have a massive federal deficit and they are the reason the federal government is trillions of dollars in debt. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer because of the Fed.
How the Fed accomplishes all of this is beyond the scope of this short post, but one crucial concept to keep in mind is that the Fed is also a semi-public institution. The Fed’s Board of Governors are appointed by the President and approved by the U.S. Senate, but the various lower Board of Directors of their twelve district banks are appointed by large corporate banks and other special interests within the banking industry. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is the true structure of the Federal Reserve System; it serves the special interests and not the American people.
Hillary Clinton said that a president should never question or discuss the Fed. 63% of Clinton’s funding is from large individual donations, i.e. big corporate special interests. 15% of Trump’s funding comes from large individual donations. Trump also understands the above and wants Fed transparency. Clinton is funded by the big bankers and Trump scares them to death. I’m not saying you should vote for Trump, but at least he understands the sources of our economic woes and he terrifies the special interests.
Brexit – Sovereignty and Freedom
Sunday, June 26, 2016 by Jonathan R. Gibbons in
Writing in opposition to the creation of the United States federal government in 1787, Anti-Federalist New York Judge Robert Yates observed:
“The powers given by this article are very general and comprehensive, and it may receive a construction to justify the passing almost any law… History furnishes no example of a free republic, anything like the extent of the United States. The Grecian republics were of small extent; so also was that of the Romans. Both of these, it is true, in process of time, extended their conquests over large territories of country; and the consequence was, that their governments were changed from that of free governments to those of the most tyrannical that ever existed in the world.”
We should be proud of our sister nation Great Britain for reasserting their sovereignty and expunging their entanglement with the European Union. Big governments are a danger to freedom and democracy. The bigger the government, both in geographic size and population, the more difficult it becomes for individual’s to have their voices heard. Eventually they grow into uncontrollable and corrupt states that possess the potential to become tyrannies; cue our special interest run federal government.
Dividing and conquering is a wise means of protecting liberty and ensuring the democratic process is accessible to all. It is too often overlooked by the American people, and even government scholars, that we are not one United State but a collection of 50 individual state governments whom require more sovereignty and independence from our growing corrupt and inept federal government. The federal government should not be sought after as the solver of all our problems; we should look locally first. The people of Great Britain made a wise decision and they have the absolute right to assert their independence.
The Fallacy of the Rebellious Contrarian
Sunday, May 22, 2016 by Jonathan R. Gibbons in
A contrarian is “…a person who takes an opposing view, especially one who rejects the majority opinion…” (Dictionary.com). In order to be a contrarian, one must be open-minded. They are usually highly skeptical and objective; they question the norm and seek out alternative points of view. An excellent example of a contrarian position would be the position that Islamic terrorism is a direct consequence of the United States government interfering in the affairs of Middle Eastern nation-states. Non-interventionists hold this position and it is often arrived at through substantial research and questioning of the status quo. Popular mainstream opinion holds that it is radical religious views that are the core motivation for Islamic terrorism and many, like former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, have been laughed at by their peers when they try to argue in support of a contrary position.
Being a true contrarian– rather than a fake contrarian who simply wants to rebel for the sake of rebelling –is not easy. It comes with social consequences and sometimes even the shunning of the contrarian by their peers, friends, family, and colleagues. But contrarians are crucial to the balance that is necessary to maintain rational policy and overall cogent thinking in general. Once you stop seeking contrary ideas, you have stopped learning and have abandoned the quest for truth. Like the Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
The fallacy of the contrarian manifests when they embrace a contrary point of view and become substantially intransigent. It can be argued that they become even more close-minded than those who never had enough skepticism to seek contrary positions in the first place. At this point they have fallen back into the delusion of their less skeptical peers; they believe everything is black or white and have become blind to various shades of gray. It is the Achilles’ heel of the contrarian to become so excited about their discovered position, and so distraught at the ignorance of others for not appreciating it and mocking them, that they forget to remain in their former state of skepticism. This is the point at which a skeptic departs from the contrarian.
A skeptic is a contrarian consistently; always questioning, always listening, always ready to learn and adjust their position for the greater pursuit of truth and not the continual stroking of their rebellious ego. For example, an atheist is a contrarian; an agnostic a skeptic. Why? Because atheists have closed their mind to the potential, even if minuscule, that the theists could be right. A skeptic can always, at any point in time, be swayed to a former position, or a new one, when presented with significant evidence. Dr. Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine demonstrated true skepticism when he retracted his position on climate change denial and observed that the abundance of evidence for climate change was not inconsequential, but rather it was strikingly convincing.
In their book on Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Joseph O’Connor and John Seymour explain that there are four levels of learning:
- Unconscious Incompetence – initially we are entirely unaware of the existence of our gap in knowledge; we are ignorant.
- Conscious Incompetence – we then become aware of our ignorance of a subject or idea and make the decision to pursue competence.
- Conscious Competence – we are learning the new subject or idea and are deeply focused on it. For example, when you are learning to drive a car for the first time. This is the point at which you are truly open to new ideas and points of view. Like a child’s insatiable curiosity, you absorb new ideas like a sponge. You have no egotism or cockiness about the subject as you are well aware that you know very little about it. Bad teachers are, at this point, notorious for instilling their own points of view in their students; the bad liberal professor takes advantage of the student’s state of mind and “downloads” their liberalism into the student’s psyche.
- Unconscious Competence – you become so good at the activity, subject, or idea, that you can express your competence instinctively without thinking about it. You drive the car without thinking about the amount of pressure to apply to the gas. This is the point at which intransigence and stubbornness sets it. You know that whole, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” thing.
In order to be a true skeptic and not just a contrarian, you have to restart this learning process. Contrarians are better than mainstream followers at returning to conscious competence but once that contrary position is grasped they become stuck in unconscious incompetence to the point of intransigence. All complex subjects and issues must be approached with conscious incompetence and then discovered within conscious competence over and over to fully appreciate the various shades of gray which encompass it. Read a book on the issue in a foreign language or simply read a book about it by an author you hate. Being a skeptic is more of an art than a science as it requires an individual to adjust their inner psychology and to denounce their ego; they must be willing to confront humility if they discover that their former position was asinine. In short, don’t be a stubborn dick, be a sponge so you may be drained and then re-quenched with an abundance of points of view.
The Skeleton in the LGbT’s Closet
Sunday, April 03, 2016 by Jonathan R. Gibbons in
In this post I seek to expose the hypocrisy of biphobic homosexuals and how they are destructive to the LGBT community. I go into great depths to explain the complexities of sexual orientation and the biphobia that is present in the heterosexual community and among academic researchers as well. I dismantle such bull shit as “bisexual men do not exist,” “bisexuality is just a phase,” “sexual orientation is a choice,” and “bisexuals are less capable of monogamy than monosexuals.” Ultimately, I argue that bisexuals should abandon the LGBT community and pursue their own avenues for activism and peer-support. The LGBT community is not a good fit for them. The homosexual community has won their war against legal bigotry, but the battle for bisexuals is an intellectual one… and it is in its’ infancy.
The Lesbian Gay bisexual & Transgender Community (LGbT) has an ugly skeleton in their closet. Many members of their community fear their bisexual counter-parts. They actually fear or loathe the concept of bisexuality in general. They wish to belittle, denounce and/or reject the very real sexual orientation of one of their core constituencies (bi erasure). Individuals who hold such views are known as biphobe’s and they are just as prevalent within the homosexual community as they are within the heterosexual community (Allen 2015 & Tangela & Hornea & Hoytb 2015). A report conducted by the Equality Network found in a survey of bisexuals that, “The highest amounts of biphobia experienced were within LGBT…” (Rankin & Morton & Bell 2015). Likewise, Beth Sherouse of the Human Rights Campaign summarizes other similar findings, specifically of bisexual youth: “’As a bisexual,’ one youth said, ‘I feel shunned by the gay and lesbian community'” (Beth 2015).
The dominance of biphobe’s is devastating to the well-being of young bisexuals who are trying to make sense of their sexual orientation. When they wish to come out of the closet, they will often turn to their gay friends for advice, often only to be told they are really just gay like them. With the prevalence of suicide being significantly higher among LGbT youth– and mental health problems even higher among bisexuals than homosexuals (Daily Mail Survey) –it should summon enlightened and watchful adults, to provide accurate and careful guidance to youth. Thankfully, contemporary psychology and licensed practitioners are– for the most part –fully versed and skilled in the evaluation of sexual orientation and when a young bisexual seeks out their help, they will likely obtain the guidance they need to cleanse themselves of the bull shit spewed by the biphobe’s on social media and other non-academic internet sources. But people in general turn to their peers or internet sources for help more often than a professional, so it is my goal with this post to rebuke the lies, nonsense, and destructive advice proffered by biphobe’s and to add to the currently small arsenal of objective resources available to bisexuals.
Sexual Orientation
It is important to distinguish between sexual identity and sexual orientation. Sexual identity is how someone chooses to label themselves whether publicly, privately, or internally (Bailey 2009). A woman’s sexual identity may be heterosexual but her actual orientation could be bisexual. Sexual orientation is innate. One has very little control over what they are naturally attracted to; they are born with it programmed into their core instincts. There are primarily three sexual orientation’s a person may truly possess: purely heterosexual (monosexual), bisexual, or purely homosexual (monosexual). There are variances within the spectrum of bisexuality with some individual’s being almost entirely heterosexual but slightly homosexual (hetero-flexible) or on the opposite end (homo-flexible), nonetheless, both of the latter are bisexual because they are in some way shape or form sexually and/or romantically attracted to both sexes/gender’s. So let’s not get drawn into an endless exercise of labels among sub-labels (pansexuals), among yet more sub-labels (polysexuals); these three categories have it covered.
Surprisingly, these fundamentals of psychology and sexual orientation were identified half a century ago but for some reason they remain aloof among many in the LGbT community and among many popular scholars. Alfred Kinsey was an American biologist and sexologist. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Kinsey and his associates made the following observations:
Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats… The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects.
It is a characteristic of the human mind that tries to dichotomize in its classification of phenomena…Sexual behavior is either normal or abnormal, socially acceptable or unacceptable, heterosexual or homosexual; and many persons do not want to believe that there are gradations in these matters from one to the other extreme. (The Kinsey Institute)
Dr. Alfred KinseyThey ultimately developed what is known as the Kinsey Scale. This provides a visual mapping of an individuals sexuality based on a scale of 0 (heterosexual) to 6 (homosexual); bisexuals fall somewhere in the middle and may slide within this spectrum depending on various factors throughout their lifetimes. In 1978– with some enhancements in 1993 –another American sex researcher, Dr. Fritz Klein (not the Nazi), introduced the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid. Klein wanted to expand upon the research and work of Kinsey and others to provide a more elaborate view of one’s sexuality. Importantly, Klein sought to differentiate the various levels of attraction, e.g. physical attraction, emotional attraction, fantasies, and actual sexual behavior, to establish a more thorough sexual orientation (American Institute of Bisexuality). Both the Kinsey Scale and the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid were important inventions in the discipline of psychology. For those interested in determining their true sexual orientation, the dating application OKCupid provides a thorough test utilizing both Kinsey and Klein’s methods which you may find helpful: The Sexuality Spectrum Test
Sources of Biphobia Among Homosexuals
We can only speculate on the sources of biphobia within the homosexual community, but perhaps pure homosexuals fear that the existence of bisexuality throws into question their, “I was born gay,” mantra.” “If bisexuality is real, then sexual orientation can be a choice.” The problem is, bisexual is a sexual orientation that people are “born with” as well. Attraction is not a choice, it is subconscious and deeply ingrained in our core psychology; while science has not confirmed the source of homosexual attraction, attraction, in general, has well-established roots in evolutionary psychology and biology (Ridley 2003).
Bisexuals do not have a choice whether or not they are attracted to both sexes, but they do have a choice in deciding who to have sex with or whether or not to be monogamous with only one sexual partner. Herein lies one source for the distortions spewed by the biphobe’s. Once a bisexual individual is in a monogamous heterosexual, or homosexual, relationship, they are then presumed to be either straight or gay, but it is simply not that simple. Just because a bisexual chooses to be in a monogamous relationship, or to only have sex with one gender, that doesn’t then negate their core sexual attraction, it simply reflects their relationship choices and, perhaps, their more dominant sexual and romantic attraction at a point in time. You may hear a woman say, “I was married to a man but he hurt me so now I only date women… I was always gay and lying to myself,” or a man say, “I used to sleep with women, but I just ended up falling in love with a man… I’m gay now.” None of this changes the core sexual orientation of these individual’s. They are still bisexual. Their level of bisexuality may sway more towards one gender at one point in their life, then another at another point, and the degrees of such attraction may vary, but it does not change their core orientation.
A homosexual can no more enjoy sex with the opposite sex than a heterosexual can with the same sex; the behavior is repulsive to them. It is unlikely they would even be able to perform, i.e. hold an erection or maintain lubrication. If they receive any level of enjoyment from it– even if minuscule –it alludes to their latent bisexual tendencies. Perhaps a bisexual woman enjoys all homosexual activity but oral sex; she is still bisexual. Perhaps a man enjoys all homosexual activity but anal sex; he is still bisexual. Maybe a bisexual only fantasizes about homosexual or heterosexual behavior but doesn’t act on it; they are still bisexual because their biological attraction switches are geared towards more than one sex regardless of their actual sexual behavior and experiences. This really is not rocket science and it is dumbfounding that major scholars and leaders in the LGbT movement do not understand and/or do not articulate these obvious truths.
Lastly, a common myth about bisexuals held by biphobe’s is that they are more prone to infidelity or promiscuity. Why? Just because bisexuals have “more options” for sexual activity does not mean they are any more likely to be unfaithful than monosexuals. They likely find someone they love and are content with, and they simply fantasize from time to time about the potential for heterosexual or homosexual activity. Just as a monosexual man or woman will undoubtedly fantasize about other sexual partners than their monogamous partner. There are terrible people in the world who act on their instincts and do things like deceive and cheat, and then there are honest and faithful individuals. A person’s core sexual identity does not dictate their moral compass. The prevalence of infidelity within the monosexual community is of great abundance; many are simply wired for monogamy and many are not, regardless of their sexual orientation (Ridley 2003).
Biphobic Heterosexuals and Researchers
A discussion of biphobia would be incomplete without mentioning the unique characteristics of biphobia among heterosexuals. While in the LGbT community biphobia is prevalent against both men and women, within the heterosexual community, biphobia is strongest against bisexual men. “Bisexual men do not exist.” This myth was so strong that in 2005 researchers ran a study to support the myth (Rieger & Chivers & Bailey 2005). J. Michael Bailey explains, “Sexual orientation is commonly described in terms of sexual desire, arousal, fantasy, and attraction. Of these, only one, arousal, can be measured directly and independent of self-report” (Bailey 2009). In other words, the only way to empirically test the existence of bisexual men is to monitor them for erectile activity while watching pornography; when do they “pop a woody.”
Bailey also partook in the 2005 study where they found bisexuals to be nonexistent (Rieger et al. 2005). Wiser researchers debunked the study in 2011 (Rosenthal et al.). Honestly, you would think such research would be unnecessary when one could simply search a porn website for bisexual men and observe empirically that they maintain erections with either sex/gender, but perhaps they felt more inclined to attach nodes to men’s genitalia than to use Google. Academics have to get paid somehow after all. In the Rosenthal et al. (2011) study, they concluded that:
…some men may identify as bisexual because they are sexually aroused by both sexes, even if they experience considerably more arousal to one sex than the other. Alternatively, men with bisexual arousal patterns may experience temporal fluctuations in their attractions and arousal to men and to women. Thus, a bisexual man may be more aroused by male stimuli at one time point but by female stimuli at another time point. Further, his arousal to his less arousing sex may vary in magnitude depending on fluctuations in his attractions to that sex at any given time. (Rosenthal et al. 2011)
No shit Sherlock. Sometimes they feel like a nut and sometimes they don’t. ha. Sometimes a girl wants a hairy chested dude and other times she wants a bare chested guy. Sometimes a man wants a curvy woman and other times a skinny rail. More seriously, sometimes a man loves a woman and sometimes a woman loves a woman; sometimes they both love both. Attraction and love are not just physical, they involve a plethora of other variables. There are a variety of potential attraction switches, e.g. physical attributes (broad shoulders, slender legs, six-pack abs, hour glass curves, youth), emotional attraction (femininity, masculinity, kindness, toughness, dominance), and relational/familial attraction (high status, stability, and ambition). Just ask the ugly pickup artist; they have volumes of material to successfully seduce their more beautiful victims (Strauss 2005).
Lastly, as you review personal accounts of bisexuals, it becomes evident that both men and women express this bi erasure attitude towards male bisexuals. Neil Endicott, a writer for the Huffington Post, recounts one of his experiences telling his girlfriend that he was bisexual; she basically laughed at him and said he’s just confused (Endicott 2015). It can be speculated that there is more biphobia towards men from heterosexuals because, well, bisexual women are hot and women are far more objectified in western culture than men. It is socially acceptable, if not welcomed with a giant grin, for two women– la femme lesbians specifically –to hookup publicly but not for two men. Hence, I suspect some of this gender imbalance found among heterosexual biphobia is simply related to the cultural standard of women being the icons of sexuality and men the drooling-emasculated bystanders.
Taking Action
Bisexuals should dump the lgBt community and the LGT community should move on. The needs of the former are not the same as the latter. Biphobic homosexuals are promoting a culture that encourages bisexual’s to come out of their bisexual closet as homosexual or to remain in their bisexual closet and proclaim heterosexuality. There are young adults throughout the western world who see the nonsense that people within the lgBt community spew and they become anxious, more confused, and in a state of constant distress. Surely some homosexuals choose to lie about being bisexual instead of coming out as gay (Rosenthal et al. 2011), or they are legitimately holding onto the misguided hope that there’s a slight chance they might start liking the opposite sex. All of this is reflective of a behavior specific to homosexuals, not bisexuals. I suspect there are a plethora of closet bisexuals who simply choose to never pronounce their true sexuality as it is simply easier to fit into a “this or that” sexual dichotomy.
Ultimately how one chooses to self identify is entirely up to them. If they are only incidentally bisexual, but mostly heterosexual, then maybe they will choose to identify as straight because it is easier. But I challenge bisexuals to embrace their bisexual orientation no matter how mild it may be and regardless of their current relationship status. If they possess attraction to both sexes, no matter how minuscule, they should embrace it. Instead of saying, “I’m gay,” or, “I’m a lesbian,” or “I’m straight,” simply be accurate and honest. “I’m bisexual but in a committed relationship with a man or a woman.” Period. That’s the truth, and it will help to provide cogency to the various young adults who are struggling with their sexuality when they see how being bisexual does not mean you have to fit into some perfect pigeon hole that monosexual’s wish to foist you in.
“I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted– romantically and/or sexually –to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.” – Robyn Ochs
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