Halsey has had enough with bi-erasure and here’s why
We’re fans of the singer Halsey for lots of reasons, including the fact that she not only has an amazing voice, but she’s also not afraid to speak her mind and share the personal details of her life in an attempt to help others. She’s been very open about her battles with endometriosis, her miscarriage, and her bisexuality. So when Buzzfeed published an offensive article questioning her bisexuality, Halsey fought back.
It all began when Buzzfeed published the article “What Does A Queer Pop Star Look Like In 2016” that dissected the links between Halsey’s status as a bisexual woman and her celebrity status, going so far as to question:
Is Halsey a "one-of-the-boys kind of girl" or a "Lez Bro?" before ending with this lovely line: "Perhaps Halsey will avoid incorporating too much queerness into her image in the future.... Or perhaps she’ll prove that being an androgynous, bisexual pop star is a real possibility in the mainstream."
Needless to say, the article was not flattering but it was hella offensive. Halsely took to Twitter to decry bi-erasure, stating:
"Sorry I'm not gay enough for you."
She then went on to write:
"tiresome analysis of my 1 year in the public eye and the ignorance of 8+ years of sexual discovery to determine if I'm truly queer. [And it] is part of a mentality so engrained in the erasure of bisexual 'credibility' even within the lgbt community."
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Bi-erasure, for those who don’t know, is “the notion that someone’s sexuality is a phase, or not real.” As Teen Vogue reports, it “can be endlessly depressing and damaging to one’s identity.” Countless studies have proven that bisexual women have a much higher risk of depression.
Halsey has been very honest about her own depression, which gives bisexual girls everywhere someone to look at as a model of surviving.
No matter what Buzzfeed might suggest, one shouldn’t have to fit into the confines of a pre-determined label to be taken seriously.
