on terms like ‘bi lesbian’
it’s easy to separate bi and lesbian if you use rigid definitions. it’s easy to ignore any overlap between the two and to say people can’t be both. it is so easy to gatekeep identities like this, when you say lesbianism is women who are attracted to women, and bisexuality is attraction to men and women.
and it’s understandable. that’s what we have learned are the definitions. that’s what’s acceptable in a world that likes to stick to a rigid gender binary, a world that forces everyone and everything into it.
but not everyone fits that binary. and when you begin to open up definitions to reflect that, you get more grey areas. after you’ve accepted that bi actually means attraction to two or more genders, you realize that not all bi people are attracted to men.
and then you open up more definitions, because still yet more people have complicated relationships with gender. you shift the definition of lesbianism, so it’s non-men exclusively attracted to other non-men. this also helps to include nonbinary lesbians, who don’t consider themselves women but do consider themselves lesbian.
and once you have opened up your mind to these definitions, once you have accepted that neither bisexuality or lesbianism are inherently binary, you start to notice the grey area between the two identities. you notice the spot where the two combine into one, like a Venn diagram.
you realize there is indeed overlap. you see it in non-men who are attracted to women and nonbinary people. those whose sexuality fits that description are those who exist in that grey area. for they fit lesbian: they are not men, and they are exclusively attracted to other people who are not men. and they fit bi: they are attracted to more than two genders.
and it’s once you’ve understood that gender is not binary, and once you’ve understood that sexuality can be inclusive, that you believe that the grey area between bi and lesbian is valid.
and after you believe that, you no longer make the two identities completely separate. you no longer tell people they can’t be both. you no longer have so much hatred for terms like “bi lesbian” or “m-spec lesbian” or related terms.
and to those who live in that grey area, like I do, you can use both bi and lesbian. you can choose one or the other. you can choose neither. you can choose another label altogether. whatever you choose is valid, because your identity is valid.
Addition 13 August: this is how I view and define my identity of bi lesbian. Not every bi lesbian has the same view/definition, but we each deserve respect.