Bisexual citizenship in the Netherlands: On homo-emancipation and bisexual representations in national emancipation policies

Abstract

Studies in sexual citizenship have been successful in revealing heteronormative assumptions that underlie most mainstream models on sexual citizenship and contemporary sexual politics. Discussions about sexual citizenship, however, focus on heterosexuals and homosexuals, and less on bisexual citizenship. This article aims to discuss the in/exclusion of bisexuals in Dutch sexual citizenship as described in Dutch national LGBT emancipation policies (known as ‘homo-emancipation’). The analysis of policy documents shows that bisexuality is rendered invisible in multiple ways. Based on this analysis I argue that bisexual representation within sexual citizenship discourses and public policy documents is important to realize claims of self-identification, self-expression, and self-realization for bisexual citizens.