Evan Rachel Wood makes some good points.
The 26-year-old film and TV actress who is married to British actor Jamie Bell, of Billy Elliot fame, came out publicly as bisexual in 2012, largely to help neutralize the stigma she experienced from the straight and gay worlds alike.
Speaking earlier this month at the newly-monikered Los Angeles LGBT Center, she said:
“I remember growing up not knowing it was a thing, feeling very confused, feeling very alone. So that is one of the reasons why I came out publicly, to help another struggling 12 year old who is terrified – just to let them know it’s okay and that it is very real. Your trials and tribulations are just as real as anybody else’s.”
It’s hard enough coming to terms with going against society’s expectations as an adolescent and recognizing where your attractions lie, but having an even more fluid sexuality must make things that much more difficult to navigate.
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Coming out stories from bisexuals are few and far between, and perhaps that’s part of the reason for the misunderstandings from both sides of the spectrum.
“There’s this weird stigma about it and I’m hoping to kind of end that because soooooooo many people are bisexual,’ she told Gay Star News in an interview. ‘There are many of them out there.”
We wouldn’t mind hearing from more of you.
mydude
She’s talked about this numerous times…I’m still waiting for her to tell us that her husband is bisexual as well. Like it’s new information, of course.
michael mellor
mydude,
Exactly right. These ‘bisexual’ women are pretty coy about male bisexuality, aren’t they? I would not be surprised if Evan Rachel Wood’s husbsnd Jamie is bisexual and that Evan might be hiding it.
If there is a stigma, it’s much greater against male bisexuality than female bisexuality. Females seem to get a pass even when they’re faking it for attention.
michael mellor
There is far greater discrimination against male bisexuality than female bisexuality.
GeriHew
@michael mellor: And would this stigma against male bisexuality have something to do with Queerty completely ignoring Bryan Singer’s coming out as bisexual early this month, even though they post articles about him on a regular basis?
Cam
And here we have ANOTHER female celeb married to or dating a man who trumpets the fact that they are bisexual……after they are married to or dating a man.
None of them ever seem to announce this when they are dating a woman do they?
GeriHew
@Cam: What about Michelle Rodriguez, Amber Heard, Cynthia Nixon and Sia Furler? – to name but a few.
Jessie J was dating another woman when she came out as well.
Cam
@GeriHew:
I would remove Cynthia Nixon considering that she said she didn’t really consider herself in a same sex relationship since her other half was basically a man.
Michelle Rodriguez hasn’t dated a man since she was 13 but still claims the bi label and becomes incensed when people ask about it.
I’ll give you Amber Heard.
mydude
@Cam:
I still guffaw that Michelle still says she’s bisexual, but hey, at least she’s not saying she’s straight.
GeriHew
@Cam: You see this is the problem with you Cam, you seem to have this need to treat people who identify as bisexual with contempt. Cynthia’s wife Christine gave birth to a baby in 2011. And Cynthia Nixon has acknowledged that she’s bisexual. So,you please can just put her back again? Thanks.
And why are you so obsessed with the idea that Michelle Rodriguez has never really dated a man (like you’d know) and must be a lesbian when she says she’s bi?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYbG2_bGDNA
You’ll give me Amber Heard will you? And yet she’s the one I mentioned who prefers not to label herself. And didn’t actually come out as bisexual when she came out as a woman in a same-sex relationship – which meant most of the media labelled her gay/lesbian even though she didn’t actually call herself gay or lesbian either. So what happens when she splits up with her girlfriend and starts dating Johnny Depp? Lots of people who thought she had come out as a lesbian @ GLAAD get pissed off with her and start calling her horrible names.
jar
@GeriHew: That strikes me more as part of an attempt to limit the damage to his reputation. Anything to distract from his history with boys and young men. I think he fits more into the camp that uses bisexuality to soften the blow of one’s true orientation.
GeriHew
@jar: Yes of course it must be just a ploy, because the Courts and society in general look so much more favorably on bisexual sex abusers than homosexual sex abusers don’t they?
The guy said he’s had two girlfriends in the past five years – someone out there must know the truth.
Cam
@GeriHew:
HA! Busted!!!
1. You tried to change the subject on Cynthia Nixon from what she said.
2. You tried to alter history on Michelle Rodriguez
3. And best of all, Yes, I know that Amber Heard prefers not to label herself, but you are so eager to argue against me that you just went and admitted that YOU KNEW IT TOO when you tried to put her up as an example.
See, Geri, this is what you ALWAYS do on here. You can’t argue with my central point, that most of these women are coming out as “bi” when they are safely in a relationship with a man. So you doge and weave and play the outrage game to avoid the central fact of my statement. Which is true.
Facts are facts the VAST majority of celeb women who come out as bi do so while in the society approving embrace of a hetrosexual relationship. If you don’t want to admit that your beef isn’t with me, it’s with them. You wouldn’t have to keep defending all of them if once in a while one of them actually came out as Bi when her breath smells like Masingeles and not Jock itch spray.
boring
The reason why there’s a general stigma towards Male Bisexuality, whether it’s a celebrity or not is we don’t want to be associated with Andy Dick.
We call it the Andy Dick Closet (ADC).
Alexa
FWIW Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell have split up, so essentially she is single now.
GeriHew
@Cam: “Busted” my arse. You don’t have a “central point” just a bunch of myths, lies and claptrap.
Cynthia Nixon never publicly mentioned anything about being bisexual before she found herself in a relationship with a woman for the first time in her life. She’s made a few jokes about her partner being butch – so what? She’s also acknowledge she’s bisexual while being in a same-sex relationship. I’m not putting any spins on what she’s said, you are.
Michelle Rodriguez didn’t really start “claiming the bi label” until last year when she was quite clearly dating Cara Delevingne. So if you were consistent you would actually support her calling herself bisexual instead of insisting she isn’t bisexual.
When Amber Heard came out at GLAAD in 2010 I was thinking why is everyone saying she’s come out as a lesbian? Because I knew she’d had relationships with men before Tasya Van Ree and that she had already indicated in interviews that she could be attracted to people regardless of their gender. So I checked, and she hadn’t come out as a lesbian at all, just as a woman in a same-sex relationship who felt it was important that she be open about it. So, I wasn’t surprised when a few weeks later she said in an interview: “I don’t label myself one way or another—I have had successful relationships with men and now a woman. I love who I love; it’s the person that matters.” That’s when some of the media started calling her bisexual, and she was still in a relationship with Tasya when she said that you know. So where is your “central point” there?
The fact is I don’t need to defend any woman who comes out as bisexual, whether she’s with a man, a woman, with both, or with neither at the time. Because there is nothing wrong with being bisexual, and therefore nothing to defend. What you need to do is just grow up and realize there is nothing to criticize when someone says they are bisexual. Some people are bi. You, and a lot of other people, just need to learn to accept that.
Cam
@GeriHew:
Actually the majority of female celebs who come out do so when they are in a safe hetro relationship. You have not been able to dispute that. you can yammer on about Rodriguez and heard all you want, but that doesn’t change facts.
GeriHew
@Cam: That may depend on who you class as a celebrity.
However even if it is the case that the majority of female celebs who come out as bisexual are in a relationship with a man at the time they first come out as bisexual – SO EFFING WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!
And what’s so safe about hetero relationships anyway? Especially for bisexual women?
Bisexual Women Almost Twice As Likely To Be Abused As Straight Women
http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/bisexual-women-almost-twice-as-likely-to-be-abused