About the book
The Architecture of Biphobia is an essay about the discrimination faced by bisexual people and the mechanisms that produce it. It seeks to answer a simple question: what explains biphobia structurally, and how is it different from homophobia?
The book offers a critical reading of major contemporary bisexual theories, particularly those associated with Shiri Eisner and Kenji Yoshino, while building on the foundational contributions of Robyn Ochs. I argue that dominant theoretical frameworks have not correctly identified the origins of biphobia.
The central thesis is that biphobia does not primarily emerge from sexism, binary thinking, or a desire for stable categories. Its main source is homophobia. Many existing theories successfully describe the consequences of biphobia, but fail to explain where it comes from.
The framework I propose is based on the following analogy: just as dual nationals can become vulnerable when two nations are at war, bisexual people occupy a precarious position in societies structured by hostility toward homosexuality. The conflict itself places them in an uncomfortable and often dangerous situation. Without it, they might have easier roles as intermediaries, diplomats, or bridge-builders between different worlds.
From this perspective, biphobia emerges from homophobia. Yet the two should not be confused. Just as dual nationals develop vulnerabilities of their own, bisexual people experience a specific form of oppression. They are not only confronted with exclusion and pressure to remain invisible. They also experience isolation.
Structure of the book
Part I. Where Does the Conceptualization of Biphobia Stand Today?
A critical examination of the dominant theories of biphobia, including the work of Shiri Eisner, Kenji Yoshino, and Robyn Ochs, together with a review of the available scientific evidence.
Part II. Toward a New Theoretical Framework for the Origin of Biphobia
The development of a new theory of biphobia, including the « dual citizen in wartime » analogy as a conceptual tool for understanding the position of bisexual people in societies shaped by homophobia.
Part III. Biphobia and Lesbophobia: Two Distinct Forms of Oppression
An exploration of the differences between biphobia and lesbophobia, and of the ways bisexual women can experience both forms of oppression simultaneously.
Part IV. Systemic Biphobia
An examination of the structural manifestations of biphobia, including the sabotage of bisexual activism, the long-term consequences for bisexual political autonomy, and several case studies of systemic discrimination.
Conclusion
Why do bisexual women die younger than both heterosexual and lesbian women?
The conclusion reflects on the concrete consequences of biphobia through the health inequalities documented in research on bisexual populations.
Why I wrote this book
For many years, I have read and popularized scientific research on bisexual health. One question kept coming back. Why do bisexual people consistently experience worse outcomes than both heterosexual and homosexual people?
Whenever I presented these findings, people struggled to believe them. The statistics seemed almost absurd. Why would people who are often perceived as heterosexual be more vulnerable? Why would bisexual women who have never had a relationship with another woman appear more frequently in statistics on depression, suicide, or premature mortality than lesbian women? My answer was always the same: biphobia. But that answer raised another question. What exactly is biphobia? And how does it work?
I struggled to understand why the phenomenon seemed so difficult to explain. To me, many of its patterns felt surprisingly coherent.
I am a scientist by training. Before working on questions of bisexuality and biphobia, I studied engineering and thermodynamics, geochemistry, economics, and environmental sciences. I was exposed me to a wide range of tools for understanding complex systems, from population dynamics and statistical modelling to systems thinking. When I began thinking about biphobia, I naturally approached it through the same lens. Rather than focusing only on individual attitudes, I became interested in the larger structures and interactions that might explain recurring patterns across bisexual people’s lives.
That intuition became the starting point for this book.
I filled notebooks with diagrams, built models, tested analogies, and explored different possibilities. I approached biphobia as I would a problem in physics or ecology: I had an intuition, I proposed hypotheses, searched for explanatory mechanisms, and confronted them with real-world cases.
This book is the result of that investigation.
Who is this book for?
This book is for:
- bisexual people who want to better understand their experiences,
- researchers interested in bisexuality studies,
- activists working on bisexual visibility and community organizing,
- policymakers and health professionals who want to better understand bisexual populations,
- LGBTQ+ people who wish to build stronger alliances with bisexual communities.
No prior knowledge of bisexuality studies or social science is required.
Making complex ideas accessible has always been central to both my activism and my scientific work. I wrote this essay to be read by anyone interested in understanding biphobia. You can pay for a physical copie (soon available) or download it for free.
///Floralie Resa 