Studies show that many people enjoy intimacy with both genders

The argument

A straightforward argument that bisexuality exists is that research consistently documents large numbers of people who experience and act on attraction to more than one gender. Major surveys of sexual behaviour and identity — including large national studies — repeatedly find substantial proportions of the population reporting attraction to, and intimate relationships with, both men and women over the course of their lives. The foundational research of Alfred Kinsey in the mid-twentieth century found that a significant share of people did not fall at either exclusive end of the spectrum, and subsequent studies of behaviour, attraction and identity have continued to record many people whose experiences span more than one gender. The argument holds that this documented reality is decisive. If bisexuality did not exist — if it were merely confusion, a phase, or a cover for being gay or straight — then research would not consistently find stable populations of people reporting genuine, sustained attraction to and intimacy with both genders. Yet study after study does find exactly that, across different countries, methods and decades. These are real people describing real experiences of desire and relationship that are neither exclusively heterosexual nor exclusively homosexual, and their consistent appearance in the data reflects a real and enduring pattern of human sexuality. From this standpoint, the existence of bisexuality is not a matter of opinion but of evidence: the people who experience attraction to more than one gender are numerous, documented and consistent across research. To deny that bisexuality exists is to deny the testimony and recorded experience of a large and stable population. Because studies show that many people genuinely enjoy intimacy with both genders, this argument holds, bisexuality exists.

Premises