Between the binary: exploring bisexual women's health risks

Despite reporting varied health risks, which are unique from those affecting lesbian and heterosexual women, bisexual women remain a poorly understood subpopulation of the LGBTQ community. Using a narrative methodology this study explored the influence of bisexuality on health risks among four cisgender women. Participant experiences were examined from a critical qualitative approach, through the interpretive framework of liminality, which positions bisexual women ambiguously between the sexual binary. The participants’ narratives centre health risks around the notion of erasure, which related to bisexual invisibility, inauthenticity, commodification, and complicity in self-erasure. The health risks that stem from erasure related to participants’ lack of safety, engagement in risk behaviour, and lack of information in health care encounters. These findings reveal erasure to be a consequence of the sexual binary. The implications for health care practice, education, and policy are discussed, with recommendations for future research.