Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Hyphenation

Apparently I;ve been adding a hyphen where there shouldn't be one... The word, it seems, is 'Bisexual', not 'Bi-sexual'. The reason given for this is as follows:

Bisexuality is not Bi-sexuality

Bisexuality is not a combination of heterosexuality and homosexuality. We're not half formed or half committed. We're whole.

We are not bi-sexual, we're bisexual! The word is in the dictionary - it's not two words put together. Pretending the word "bisexual" doesn't exist is a tiny, trivial way of denying our legitimacy, but it still is one. After all, if what we have is two sexualities then maybe we should pick one and stick with it?

But in reality there's no indecision, no uncertainty, no halves. And what's more, bisexuality isn't a bridge between Gay and Straight. So, perhaps there's no need for hyphens. Incidentally, even people who write "bi-sexuals" don't use "bi-sexuality". Time for some consistency, perhaps?

Have you ever met a bisexual who prefers to be a bi-sexual? No, us neither - and we've met plenty who hate it. That hyphen makes the stress longer, the pause audible. It's a chance to dwell on the syllable "sex" straight after. But it's not all about sex, and we don't have two competing natures.


From: The Bisexual Index

So, that's me told, apparently.