How do bisexual men across the UK embody bisexual identities in changing social settings?

Bisexual men have been largely under-researched in bisexual scholarship. Bisexual people
often struggle to feel validated in a society that favours the sexual binaries - homosexuality
and heterosexuality - and bisexual men must contend with this and expectations of
masculinity too. While there are (often inaccurate) representations of gay, lesbian and
heterosexual appearances, the same cannot be said for bisexual people. Being visible is vital
to forming communities, sharing experiences, and existing away from oppression. New
forms of bisexual community-led representations are beginning to surface such as BiTok on
TikTok, but these are not/cannot be widely representative. As new forms of bisexual
expression become more visible, how do bisexual men across the UK understand and
embody bisexual identities? Through the micro-ethnographic method of mobile interviews,
this study will be done in collaboration with thirty-five bisexual men from a variety of
locations across the UK to understand how they shape their visual expressions of what
bisexuality is, what it feels like, and what it looks like. It will analyse how bisexuality is
brought into being by bisexual men, how they dress and what accessories they wear to
embody their idea of bisexuality, how changing social settings force bisexual visualisations
to be (re)negotiated, and the affectual responses being (in)validated produces. In doing so, I
will seek to collaboratively inquire with these men about new possibilities of shaping
bisexual visibility outside of stereotypes and essentialist categories. Ultimately, it will
understand how bisexual men are forced to be the makers of their own sexual identities, in
a culture where to be bisexual is to be invisible.

This research will explore bisexual men's experiences as they embody their bisexuality
through changing social settings. The central aim is to understand how they embody their
sexual identity visually and the affectual, emotional response this creates. Therefore,
questions that will guide this research are:
- How do self-identifying bisexual men from different locations in the UK express their
bisexuality visually?
- How have self-identifying bisexual men from different locations in the UK previously
negotiated and renegotiated their bisexual embodiment in the process of
understanding their sexual identity?
- What accessories or visual cues are self-identifying bisexual men from different
locations in the UK using to bring their bisexuality into being?