Proceedings of The 6th Global Conference on Women’s Studies
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Experiences of Bisexual Women Coming Out and Reactions from Family In South Africa
Gillian Samukezi Mrubula-Ngwenya
ABSTRACT:
There is evidence that Black lesbians in South Africa conform to heteronormativity by dating heterosexual males. This adherence to heteronormativity is a result of social, cultural, and religious norms. These women in heterosexual relationships are likely to engage in intimate relationships with same-sex partners while remaining in heterosexual unions. In this study, there was an attempt to draw lesbians as study participants, and it turned out, the people who responded to the study were bisexual women. This group of Black bisexual women have been concealed from the general population. The embodiment of literature on the experiences of bisexual women, specifically the spiritual, cultural, or political identities that influence lesbian women to enter heterosexual marriages, has received insufficient attention. By concentrating on the LGBT population, researchers have ignored the study experiences of bisexual individuals. This did not aid the investigation into the causes that have led Black women to have heterosexual relationships. Some scholars contend that bisexuality does not exist; one is either homosexual or lesbian. As a result, this study focuses on the experiences of bisexual women coming out and the reactions from the family in South Africa. The researcher employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study design, necessitating document analysis and in-depth interviews for data collection. The researcher chose twenty-four (24) documents for the study sample, which comprised sixteen (16) journal articles, four (4) online website documents, and four online newspapers. In addition, the researcher selected fourteen (14) participants using criterion purposive sampling and six (6) people using the snowball sampling approach. All the participants in the study were Black women. The findings indicate some challenges that faced bisexual women for instance, religion as a restrictive factor to coming out; antagonism and displacement from society; fathers as custodians of culture and mothers as the backbone of families; family traditions as an impediment to coming out; and sexual violence, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. On the other hand, most of the participants still found it important to come out because they valued their happiness; and also took a cautious approach to process-initiated acceptance.
keywords: Bisexuality, Black women, Freedom, Sexuality, South Africa, Integration Model