3 - (SYM 63) “no Man's Land”: Exploring Accounts of Structural Stigma Among Bisexual Men Compared to Gay Men

While evidence continues to demonstrate that the mental health of sexual minority people is negatively affected by structural stigma, there is limited understanding of how structural stigma affects specifically bisexual men’s mental health. The purpose of this study is to explore how bisexual men perceive structural stigma and compare the lived experiences of structural stigma between bisexual and gay men. By doing so, we seek to gain insight into better ways to measure structural stigma among bisexual men and how to combat structural forces. In 2020-2021, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 bisexual men and 40 gay men recruited from a larger longitudinal cohort study of 502 men. Interviews were conducted by the first and last authors by phone or Zoom (camera off). The interview guides for gay and bisexual men were nearly identical, except for bisexual men being asked specifically about structural indicators of biphobia. All interviews were recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using NVivo 12. We used grounded theory as an analytic strategy. Emergent findings suggest that three interrelated forces complicate the relationship between structural stigma and mental health outcomes for bisexual men: assumed heterosexuality, invisibility and erasure of bisexuality (bi-erasure), and interactional dynamics. We argue that it is difficult to understand the disparate effects of structural stigma for bisexual and gay men without taking these dynamics into account. We discuss potential modifications to structural stigma measures and suggest how to better incorporate perspectives from bisexual men into future structural stigma research and interventions.