Bisexuality has been popular at various times in the past. In some societies with less rigid definitions and therefore more free sex behaviors, bisexuality was the norm, or sex roles were defined in completely other ways such as the Native American two spirit or the Romans who defined it based on who received penetration and who gave it, regardless of the gender of the people practicing the actions — though a woman in a strap on would certainly have raised some eyebrows. In modern times it saw a brief popularity among the glam rock world, infamous for mythic liaisons between the likes of David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Perhaps human sexuality is more fluid than we thought.

In modern times the confusing behavior of celebrities like Tila Tequila could be argued to back this up. She became infamous for having a reality television relationship show except that she was having both men and women compete for her affections. This went for two seasons of this behavior before she declared in 2009 that she was completely lesbian. Does this mean that she was lying all along? Instead it may suggest that human sexuality is fluid and may change over a person’s life, though the degree to which gender affects the expression of these kinds of queerness is still open for debate in some circles.

Whatever the case it is clear we cannot simply define sexual behavior as a binary either or, with people clearly being straight or completely gay and remaining so all their lives. For many the truth is somewhere in between.

Part of the reason why bisexuality gets a bad rap is because it is associated with so many negative cultural connotation, Here is a look at some of the biggest bisexual misconceptions and stereotypes:

Bisexuals are sluts: Just because bisexuals have more options for sexual partners it doesn’t mean that they are more promiscuous. Naturally, there are bisexuals who are non monogamous, just like there are straight people who swing the same way. The truer statement is we all have the potential to be slutty, regardless of which way we swing.

Bisexual women only do it to turn straight guys on: I like to call these ladies beersexual and they do exist, but not usually outside of college campuses. There are also the Madonna/Britney Spears make outs, which is more of a straight up gay for pay stint. No matter how much these beersexuals turn us on, I can assure you that most bisexual chicks are highly annoyed by dudes like most of us who catcall and whistle when they are trying to court another lady.

Bisexuals are indecisive or confused: Both gay and straight communities sometimes think that bisexuals are either cowardly or taking advantage of straight privilege. However, being attracted to more than one gender is about as likely to make you indecisive as watching a lot of musical theatre is likely to turn you gay. Also, isn’t it odd that it’s usually the gays and straights who are confused about bisexuality, and not the bisexuals themselves?

Bisexuality is a cop out or a phase: I’ve heard that is really scary when you’re coming out of the closet for the first time, but coming out as bisexual is essentially declaring that you don’t have a preference. A lot of thought and struggle goes into the decision to come out, and to dismiss this to bisexuals is deliberately insulting.

Everybody is bisexual: This is not even close. I am FAR from being bisexual. I like the ladies, only. However there are a lot more people acting on bisexual desires than there are who identify as such.

Nobody is bisexual: There was once a study done which supposedly proved that bisexual men were liars and that you either have to be “gay or straight or lying”. The study based its conclusions on whether bisexual men repsonsed physically to porn, and all types of porn that is.