Two-thirds of straight women and one-third of straight men are unwilling to date a bisexual person of the opposite sex, according to a YouGov poll published today, during Bisexuality Visibility Week. The poll illustrates how lingering stereotypes negatively affect people’s impressions of bisexual individuals.

The poll — which surveyed 5,983 Britons during late March, including 2,031 straight women and 1,517 straight men — found that 48% of all respondents had positive views of bisexual people and only 8% had negative views. The remaining percentage had neither a positive nor a negative view of bisexuals.

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When the survey asked straight women and men why they were unwilling to date a bisexual person of the opposite sex, most (16% and 19%, respectively) said they “just don’t” or claimed, “It’s just a preference.”

A nearly similar portion, 17% of straight women and 16% of straight men, said they felt like bi people are more inclined to cheat, or that they themselves would feel insecure that they’d be unable to provide a bi partner whatever they get from a same-sex partner.

Interestingly, 9% of straight women said they feel disgust or discomfort towards men with same-sex experiences, 8% worried about possible sexual health risks, and 10% of straight men said they considered bisexuality to be either religiously or morally “wrong.” Approximately 12-13% of all straight respondents said they just wanted their dating partner to be heterosexual.

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[–] 120 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I remember when I was a teen trying to figure myself out I came out to my parents as gay and they were supportive. But eventually I had a couple of girlfriends and after I had brought one of them home mom told me I should pick one team and stick with it because bi guys are icky.

She said it in such an offhand way that she probably doesn't remember, but that's the kind of thing that sticks with you. She believed that bisexual men were willing to fuck anything without standards which would lead to me being either deranged or diseased.

Joke's on her though: I'm so bad at picking teams I didn't even grow up to be a man

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    [–] 6 points 3 days ago

    When I was at my university’s last year I had a FWB relation with a woman from my class.

    One day I was venting about my lack of success on online dating apps and asked her to review my profile.

    After reviewing it she said “You should remove that you’re bi, it is not serious”, like I wasn’t looking for a proper relationship.

    I had it in my profile for starters after people matching with me and later rejecting when they learned I was Bi.

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  • [–] 27 points 3 days ago (5 children)

    I am not surprised.

    The narrative that women are less homophobic than men never made any sense to me, because why would they?

    That claim always - to me - seemed to be stereotyping women into sacred princesses who shit rainbows and fart breeze.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 days ago (4 children)

    The overall observation that men are more homophobic than women is pretty established (source below). I believe what is happening here is that the overall lower attitude towards gay men compared to lesbian women is overshadowing the gender difference in overall homophobia.

    Since its about heterosexuals, the study is only looking at

    Women -> bi men & Men -> bi woman,

    so even though women might be less hatefull overall, this is overshadowed by societies' dislike of men who deviate from gender norms. Alternatively, being bi is less of a gender norm violation for women than it is for men (see last to sentences below).

    Gender difference homophobia: Overview article (Godø et al, 2025):

    Furthermore, studies have shown that on average, men tend to express more negative attitudes toward LGBT people compared to women (Cotton- Huston & Waite, 2000; Nagoshi et al., 2008). The cause of this gender difference may have various explanations. One potential explanation lies with the social construct of masculinity. Traditional masculinity is often associated with toughness, aggression, and dominance, and this may lead to men perceiving LGBT people as a threat to their own masculinity or power (Theodore & Basow, 2000). This resembles much of what is known as machismo, a culturally shaped and maintained belief in Latinx groups, con- sisting of both hypermasculine characteristics and familial responsibility (Hirai et al., 2014). Such beliefs may result in discomfort and hostility toward those who do not conform to traditional gender roles (Goodman & Moradi, 2008). This may also be connected to the fact that young men are often socialized to be more tough and competitive, while young women are encour- aged to be nurturing and empathetic. This can result in different attitudes toward LGBT people, with men being more likely to view it as deviant or abnormal. However, no single factor seems to be the cause of this gender difference; rather, it is a combined result of gender norms, socialization, and cultural beliefs.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago* (3 children)

    Alternatively, being bi is less of a gender norm violation for women than it is for men

    The other way around? More women express negative attitude toward Bi people than men?

    studies have shown that on average, men tend to express more negative attitudes toward LGBT people compared to women

    There is one more alternative explanation. Studies in question were shaped in a way that didn't record women negative attitudes.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    1.) "for women [who are bi, perceived by whomever]". It's quite tricky to talk about this correctly, because we are talking about gender differences relating both to perceivers and the perceived. I didn't phrase that clearly.

    2.) what you you mean with "shaped in a way that didn't record women's negative attitudes"? I don't quite get that. That the items are phrased in a way that women just have a harder time agreeing, no matter what it is about?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

    From the current study the topic is about, we can see that there is a subset of LGBT people that women have more often negative view than men.

    This stand in contrast with previous studies you shared.

    That means either this new finding augments the older notion about attitudes split across genders (men have on average more negative attitude toward LGBT+ people, but something changed and now for Bi it's women who are negativity forerunners), or how the old study was performed was inadequate to capture women negative attitude towards bi people since then, e.g. the study didn't check unwillingness to date bi people.

    (Then being 2000 and 2008)

    Edit: actually, now that I've read the 2000 and 2008 study - performed on undergrads I call both of those studies worthless. WEIRD bias is a thing.

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  • [–] [S] 69 points 4 days ago* (25 children)

    I’ve observed this in some women’s groups over time - this aversion to bisexual men - and it’s always so disappointing to see it come up. There are women I’ve had to pull away from because of these views that bisexual men are somehow tainted or too feminine or whatever flavor of homophobic reasons they use to reject people based on an immutable trait.

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  • [–] 60 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    There is so much internalized biphobia in our society. A lot of men sexualize bi women and think dating one means they will get threesomes. On the other side, a lot of women are convinced that bi men are twice as likely to cheat, or that they will eventually leave you for a man. And this kind of biphobia is present as well within the LGBTQ+ community, this is not inherent to straight people.

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  • [–] [S] 46 points 4 days ago

    You’re right, biphobia is not found in straight people alone. I’ve been rejected within my own community because I’m bisexual and not a “gold star” lesbian. It stings even more that way to be honest.

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    [–] 38 points 4 days ago (10 children)

    I never understood the bi hate. Even before I ever met a bi person, it seemed easy to understand - they're sexually attracted to either gender. Whether or not someone is a cheater type is completely separate and has nothing to do with it.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 days ago

    I think some people see cheating as not an attribute of the cheater, but rather an attribute of the person they cheat with. As in, they think that anyone would cheat if a sufficiently attractive person came along. And thus for bi people the chance is twice as high.

    On the other hand, if you managed to get in a relationship with a bi person, shouldn't you feel doubly confident, since you were chosen from twice as large a pool?

    Eh, I don't get it either

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  • [–] 38 points 4 days ago

    Any bisexual man knows this. Painfully.

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  • [–] 30 points 4 days ago (63 children)

    Straight guy here from /all. Unfortunately, a big chunk of my cohort will have responded favorably because they are dreaming of a female partner that will gift them a threesome.

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    [–] 32 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    Bi people are some of the coolest people I know. Their loss, more for us.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 days ago

    I think one of the contributing factors must be the deeply ingrained traditional relationship roles reinforced by culture.

    Men often care more about "proxy" contacts (i.e. "my girl fucked with another man some time in the past, ew"), which is how we got so much virginity culture and all the unscientific bullshit around past contacts of women. They are also often easier to feel sexual about any given woman, and many want, secretly or openly, to have sex with many, either genuinely or as an internalized proof of superior masculinity.

    Combine the two and you may get one of the answers. Some men enjoy having sex with their girl partner knowing she had engaged in it with other girls, that fuels their fantasies based on that "proxy sex" with other women, and there may also be fantasies about this arrangement turning into threesome.

    At the same time, women are traditionally taught to laser-focus on a partner and keep them laser-focused on them, and so bisexuality feels like a man's excuse to slip from these norms and claim it's not the same. It's also fueled by misconception that bisexual people necessarily need partners of both genders at the same time instead of them just having a larger pool to choose from.

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  • [–] 18 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    This is especially interesting when you consider that a lot of people are on the bi spectrum. Straights who think gays can "choose" to be straight? Mkay, keep telling us how you're choosing to ignore that your gay desires.

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    [–] 18 points 4 days ago (6 children)

    I'm a straight woman who very briefly dated a bi guy. I never cared. It felt like none of my business who he had been with before me. He was an absolute sweetheart, and I miss him dearly.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    @lonefighter @velma
    "It felt like none of my business who he had been with before me."
    True, that's private stuff. Only parts of it that may be important to share are those that will objectively impact the relationship. (Stalker ex, for example.)

    Also to add for others, being bi does not mean having a sexual history with partners of at least two genders. It does not even mean having any sexual history at all.

    I felt compelled to add this to account for bi erasure.

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    [–] 18 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    I thought the whole point of this last decade+ is that people should take what they can get.

    Oh wait, I forgot about the homophobic propaganda.

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    [–] 13 points 4 days ago

    It's nice when the trash sorts itself though.

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  • [–] 13 points 4 days ago (7 children)

    something about the numbers didn't make sense, until

    The survey also included 824 gay men, 349 lesbian women, 396 bisexual men, and 866 bisexual women, and asked them about their willingness to date a bisexual person matching their preferred gender.

    Sorry your sample sizes are extremely skewed, I will read this as ptooey.
    wanted to comment on monogamists, seeing as Maeve🧵 proved some folks do have polyphobia, but the sample sizes are too weird to account any real conclusions, I won't.

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    [–] 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    What they worried they're gonna cheat on them or something? A straight guy could do that too

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    [–] 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

    am a straight cis old guy, gf is bi (she had a gf before me). I've encouraged her to go explore with other women but she said no, we have together in the past but I said by herself is ok with me. I'm old enough now that I don't want her going to her grave wishing she had. She has a few gay friends and said shes never had any issues letting them know she's bi.

    I'd also be happy to explore a poly relationship but that does seem like a lot of work :)

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