Advice columnist: Married bisexuals should stay in the closet
A Slate advice columnist has compared bisexuality to attraction to stuffed animals, and told married bisexuals to stay in the closet.
Advice columnist Emily Yoffe – who writes the Dear Prudence section – yesterday told a married bisexual woman to stay in the closet because coming out would be “irrelevant”.
Responding to a question from a woman who had come out to her husband, and was considering coming out to her family, Yoffe wrote: “Let’s say you discovered a late breaking interest in plushophilia, or you now realized you were turned on by being a dominatrix.
“This would not be news you’d be required to announce at the next Thanksgiving gathering.
“You are confusing your personal sexual exploration with a social imperative.
“It would be one thing if you left your marriage because you were pursuing relationships with women. That would be worth talking about—if you wanted to—as a way of explaining the dissolution of your marriage.
“But you say you are planning to not only stay with your husband but remain monogamous… making a public announcement about something so private will not be illuminating but discomfiting.”
Condeming the column, Alexandra Bolles of GLAAD wrote: “It is disappointing that well-known and renowned advice column such as Dear Prudence is perpetuating the unhealthy invalidations that create social, emotional, and political hurdles for the bi community.
“People who are bisexual experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and tobacco use compared to gay, lesbian, and straight folks.
“Bi erasure like what Yoffe perpetuated this morning is thought to be strongly tied with these health disparities.
“Stereotypes that mock or invalidate bisexuality are also often invoked in times of interpersonal violence, which people who are bi face at an alarming rate.
“Indeed, sometimes invalidating a person’s identity simply because they are not in a same-sex relationship can have life-threatening consequences.”
She added: “GLAAD has reached out to several members of Slate’s editorial team and Dear Prudence, but as of time of publishing, they have not responded.”
