The very lovely people at the very lovely Biscuit magazine have a new badge:
Here you go! https://t.co/7BLBHViqW4 #goldstarbisexual pic.twitter.com/5oCCYjMHmn
— 💖💜💙 thisisbiscuit (@Biscuitmag) August 2, 2017
(For those of us with adblockers that stop you seeing images in embedded tweets, it says 'Gold Star Bisexual', around a golden five pointed star.)
Part of me – most of me – thinks it's great. Part of me – a tiny bit – isn't so sure.
It may just be a flashback to the fuss over someone wearing a "gay is good, but bi is best" slogan at a very early BiCon, because I completely get that it's a satire on the toxic 'gold star lesbian' thing: the idea that never ever ever ever having been sexual with someone you and your friends don't consider to be a woman makes you a "better" lesbian.*
And the Biscuit version is clearly loved by many, because they've sold loads within a couple of hours of the announcement..
I cannot keep up with your etsy orders. Hand cramp!
— 💖💜💙 thisisbiscuit (@Biscuitmag) August 2, 2017
But that level of toxicity can spread in its contamination. I'm not going to be offended by anyone wearing one of these – especially if you're not male and have had the 'gold star lesbian' crap more directly aimed at you than I ever will – but personally I wouldn't feel comfortable in wearing one. It'd feel a little too.. boastful? Given that I have a robust sense of my own worth that feels odd, but the existence of the crap means that one unintended reading is 'I'm better than people who aren't'.
If someone else having it pisses off someone wearing a 'gold star lesbian' badge, that'd be ok with me, but I would be a little bit worried about having someone who has bisexual attractions and/or identity and who hadn't been sexual with more than one gender feel, wrongly, that they couldn't wear it. (I can't buy the argument that it's a meaningless slogan and 'I've been sexual with more than one gender' is another unintended reading of the badge, isn't it?)
So I'd be happier wearing a badge that said
'All bisexuals are Gold Star Bis'
It's more pointedly against the 'gold star lesbian' thing, it's much more inclusive, and there are more potential sales because you don't need to be bisexual to wear one!
Feel free, especially if you're one of the people behind Biscuit, to use that and give people a choice as to which they buy.**
Now, where did I put my 'Bi Furious' badge?
Update:
I do like this though…
The bisexual illuminati: people who don't exist, twice. #bi #bisexual #queer #lgbt #lgbtq… https://t.co/1R891jfaBE
— 💖💜💙 thisisbiscuit (@Biscuitmag) August 3, 2017
* There's a similarly crap 'gold star gay' thing with some gay men, but there are many fewer spaces for bi and lesbian women, so it's harder to escape the lesbian version.
** Both, I hope!
