Mathieu Trachman

Though research on sexual minorities developed substantially in France starting in the 1990s, bisexual people received little attention, with few exceptions. Statistical surveys conducted in the 1990s and 2000s focused on people who had sex with people of the same sex and did not distinguish between homosexuals and bisexuals. This invisibility at the scientific level was consistent with social invisibilization. The AIDS epidemic led to the production of considerable scientific knowledge on gay men, and we have a few studies of lesbians after 1990, but we know much less about the lives of bisexuals. 
This is due to the priority attributed to monosexuality, that is, involving sexual desire for one sex only, be it same or different. But it is also related to the difficulties of doing statistical surveys on bisexuals: do you survey people who report being attracted to both sexes, or who have sexual relations with people of both sexes, or who simply identify as bisexual? We know, for example, gay men and, to an even greater extent, lesbians have had sexual relations with people of the other sex in the course of their lives, but this does not mean they identify themselves as bisexual. 
The invisibilization of this group is particularly striking given that the number of bisexuals is on the rise in France. For example, the number of women identifying as bisexual has increased five-fold, attaining 3.8% of women aged 18-69 in 2016 (comparison of the results of the 2006 INED and INSERM “Contexte de la sexualité en France” survey and the “Baromètre Santé” survey conducted by Santé Publique-France 2016). The dynamic is similar in the US: in 2021, a total of 7.9% of the population identified as either homosexual or bisexual; 4.5% identified as bisexual (General Social Survey). INED’s 2023 “Envie” survey [desire] on the emotional and sexual lives of young people in France aged 18-29 (findings to be published in 2025) confirms this trend. More people under 30 now identify as bisexual than those identifying as homosexual. There is a gap between their demographic weight and their social visibility.

Research in France and internationally has firmly established the specific vulnerabilities of bisexual people. Tania Lejbowicz has shown that the families of bisexuals are less likely to be aware of their sexual identity, a situation that impacts their well-being and health. Bisexual women are over-exposed to certain types of violence, particularly sexual violence or violence in public places. Bisexual men, meanwhile, are more likely to undergo violence within the family. 
These specificities also concern bisexuals’ sexual health. In research with trans people in France, Clark Pignedoli questioned trans women sex workers and identified the existence of what can be called “professional bisexuality,” an experience that these women are not likely to talk about with health workers and that is not considered in the development of disease prevention strategies. Damien Trawale has shown that men of sub-Saharan African origin living in France and having sexual relations with men also have sex with women yet do not necessarily identify as bisexual. 
There are also some demographic specificities. In research based on “VIRAGE,” a French national survey on violence and gender relations (INED 2015), Tania Lejbowicz and I have documented a few of them. Bisexuals in general tend more than other groups to be in a couple relationship with someone of the other sex, while a majority of bisexual are not in a couple relationship. More than half of bisexual men in France are manual or white-collar workers, whereas gay men are better represented in the upper class. Bisexual women are particularly young while bisexual men are relatively old. All groups are heterogeneous, but it is reasonable to think that bisexuals are particularly so: there is not one but several “bisexualities.” 

That’s an important question. In some cases the battle for sexual minority rights has proceeded on the understanding that the groups being defended have more or less always existed and are relatively stable. In fact, research has shown that they change: more and more people are identifying as bisexual or homosexual, and their profiles are changing. These developments correspond to an expansion of sexual orientation “options” and diversifying sexual trajectories. In the twentieth century, particular places such as bars enabled sexual minorities to explore and live their desires. Today this is the case with digital spaces, which enable people to structure themselves into collectives, particularly young people at the beginning their sexual lives. The French-language newsletter “bie,” at https://lanewsletterbie.wordpress.com/ , reflects the range of questions and wealth of knowledge produced in these spaces. 
Another notable change concerns the contours of this group. Today bisexuality may be integrated into what is known as plurisexuality, a category encompassing people who identify as queer or pansexual. How to define these notions or types is an open question and one that is open to debate within these communities themselves. For example, bisexuality—sexual desire for both sexes—can be distinguished from pansexuality, a desire independent of the other person’s sex or gender. The notion of plurisexuality probes not only dominant conceptions of desire and sexual identity but also the importance attributed to gender in our intimate relations. It suggests that our own sexuality may be more fluid than we think.

Marie Bergström, Florence Maillochon, and the “Envie” survey team, 2024, Couples, one-night stands, sexfriends: The varied intimate lives of the under-30s, Population & Societies 623.

Tania Lejbowicz, 2021, “Connaissance et acceptation de l’identification sexuelle par les parents : quelles incidences sur la détresse psychologique des femmes cisgenres lesbiennes et bisexuelles ?” Bulletin Epidémiologique Hebdomadaire 26-7.

Clark Pignedoli, 2023, “Repenser la question des rapports sociaux de façon intra-communautaire: on est pas les mêmes devant les un.e.s et les autres » Cultures du témoignage.

Mathieu Trachman, Tania Lejbowicz, and the “VIRAGE” survey team, 2018, People who identify as bisexual in France, Population & Societies 561.

Mathieu Trachman, Tania Lejbowicz, 2020, “Lesbiennes, gays, bisexuel·le·s et trans (LGBT) : une catégorie hétérogène, des violences spécifiques », in Violences et rapports de genre. Enquête sur les violences de genre en France, edited by Elizabeth Brown, Alice Debauche, Christelle Hamel and Magali Mazuy (Paris: Ined Éditions, collection “Grandes Enquêtes”), pp. 355‑390.

Mathieu Trachman, 2022, « Les intimités déviantes du capitalisme », Terrains & Travaux 40 (1).