REVIEW: Dear Bi Men: A Black Man's Perspective on Power, Consent, Breaking Down Binaries, and Combating Erasure by J.R. Yussuf

First things first, although I’m around a 4 on the Kinsey Scale myself — it’s important to recognise this book wasn’t ‘for’ me, so my opinions of it don’t particularly matter but I still encourage you to always read things from other perspectives because it’s always an amazing learning experience.

This book not only gave me a little more understanding and insight into life as a bisexual man, particularly those of colour, but actually had some really useful advice for any queer person about dealing with internal biphobia on top of the external rampant biphobia that is pushed further by systemic racism and misogyny - after all, how many times has someone told an LGBTQ+ guy to “be a man” because they’re not following the socially accepted playbook on masculinity or assumed they’re actually just gay?

The author was a brilliant storyteller; creating an excellent flow, with a conversational but informative tone that was easy to follow. He took us through his younger years and growing up at a time with stigma and bisexual erasure on top of everything else, about bisexual history and the societal stigma and fundamental misunderstandings about what bisexuality is - all told through a mix personal anecdotes, historical and social context, his own thoughts and advice to others who may be going through the same things and offering prompts for your own self-reflection and learning.

For someone looking to know more and understand the bisexual experience, read this. For someone wondering about their own bisexual experience, read this. And for a bisexual person looking for a little bit of connection and catharsis, read this. Just read this book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Dear Bi Men will be available from 16th April with North Atlantic Books. I was gifted an advanced copy of this title in return for a review.

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