By sagavica
I usually work as an English teacher. It has meant I have had to remain silent about being bi. Why? Because as a primary school teacher in a Catholic school, I am judged harshly by my clothes and my attitude. I have tried my best to teach my students that you may love whoever you want and that there are more options apart from being straight or gay, but I could not risk my job by coming out. I have also taught secondary school students and, being a young woman myself, I already felt hypersexualized by them. So even though I knew my bosses would have no problem with it, I decided not to come out there either.
Some years ago, I worked at a Burger King in order to save money. I was known as “the crazy feminist.” In this workplace, it was common for people to make sexual comments about coworkers and clients. I was hypersexualized by coworkers and supervisors from the day I signed that contract. At the time, my partner was a man and I did not feel comfortable coming out as bisexual, so I just let everyone think I was straight. Eventually this “crazy feminist” got tired of the comments and said, “Did you know you can feel attracted to women without being a dickhead?”
Soon, a new female worker came onboard, and she had a girlfriend. She also identified as bi! As she had the guts from the first day on the job not to hide who she was, she faced negative comments from coworkers and supervisors. What a surprise, right? We formed “a team” as we got closer. I won’t forget the time we were working together and the boss asked: “So what do you prefer, burgers or pizza?” He said it right in front of everyone just to make fun of us. We did not let that comment bring us down, but at heart I felt extremely unhappy and clearly not protected at that workplace. We lacked real resources to fight discrimination at our workplace, yet we had to see Burger King’s cardboard crowns distributed at Madrid’s pride celebration that July, as if the company actually supported all orientations.
I really wish for a safe work environment in the future where I can be my true self without hiding that I’m bi and proud!
sagavica is an English major, a poetry enthusiast, and a researcher in Gender Studies who lives in Madrid, Spain. She is still in the process of discovering myself, but doesn’t want to be inBisible!