This student is tackling bisexual erasure by making 'Still Bisexual' badges

"We’re constantly forced to prove ourselves to be accepted by our peers – and I thought that the queer community was meant to be good at this stuff?"

Source: Instagram

Anyone wanting to publicly declare their bisexuality, particularly if they're in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex, well, you're in luck.

Spurred on my a distinct lack of bisexual visibility at this year's Pride Month festivities, London-based writer and veterinary medicine student Pip Williams created the handmade enamel badges to sell on their Etsy store.

Speaking to Metro, the 23-year-old said that they'd noticed an "uptick in animosity towards bisexual people", particularly women, in the LGBTIQ+ community.

They continued: "We’re constantly forced to prove ourselves to be accepted by our peers – and I thought that the queer community was meant to be good at this stuff?"

"I was sick of feeling constantly closeted unless I explicitly used the word bisexual to describe myself, and thought it would be cool to wear a subtle but decisive declaration of who I was."

"Being out and proudly bisexual is what’s most comfortable to me, but I also don’t want to have to explain it to everyone all the time," they added.

Pip said that they often struggle with people making assumptions about their sexuality.

"People default to assuming you’re straight unless they know more about your relationship, and then struggle to conceive of anything beyond gay once they’re corrected, so I’m regularly assumed to be either straight or a lesbian, depending on circumstance," they said.

Last week actress Tessa Thompson (Westworld) came out as bisexual, opening up about her relationship with Janelle Monáe and the ongoing struggle between privacy and creating visibility.

“It’s tricky, because Janelle and I are just really private people and we’re both trying to navigate how you reconcile wanting to have that privacy and space, and also wanting to use your platform and influence,” she said.

Thompson continued: “That was something I was conscientious of in terms of this declaration around Janelle and myself. I want everyone else to have that freedom and support that I have from my loved one, but so many people don’t."

“So, do I have a responsibility to talk about that? Do I have a responsibility to say in a public space that this is my person?”