Author: Willi Zhang, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet

Bisexuality has long been the subject of distinct forms of stigma compared to other sexual identities. People who identify as bisexual can be dismissed as “confused”, “indecisive” or as passing through a “transitional stage”. These stigmas circulate both among heterosexual and LGBTQ+ people. But as social acceptance of diverse sexual identities continues to grow in many countries, more people are identifying as bisexual. My research in Stockholm reflects this trend. With colleagues, I analysed data from over 75,000 participants in Stockholm, aged 16 and above between 2010 and 2021. Over this 12-year period, bisexual identity increased from 1.6% in 2010…

Nearly 16% of people changed their sexual identity over a 12-year period, according to a new study I conducted with my colleagues, involving around 35,000 residents of Stockholm County. This challenges long-held beliefs about sexual identity being largely fixed. Between 2010 and 2021, we found that 15.7% of people aged 18 and older in Stockholm experienced shifts in their sexual identity. Bisexual people had a high rate of change, with 52% reporting a shift during the study period. Within this group, 33% changed to identifying as heterosexual in 2014 or 2021 and 9% moved towards a homosexual identity. Homosexual people…