BETWEEN ERASURES AND DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION: EXPERIENCES OF BISEXUAL STUDENTS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MINORITY STRESS THEORY

Abstract

 The permanence and experiences of bisexual students in Brazilian higher education are shaped by specific forms of discrimination that remain insufficiently addressed in the literature. This article analyzed the experiences of nine bisexual students from the Federal University of Pará through inductive thematic analysis, discussing the findings in light of Minority Stress Theory and the concepts of biphobia and monosexism. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The analysis generated five themes: identity invisibility and erasure; double exclusion through biphobia within and outside the LGB community; situational identity management and its psychological costs; university as an ambivalent space; and affirmative networks as protective factors. The results suggest that the three central processes of minority stress — enacted stigma, internalized binegativity, and identity concealment — are present in participants’ trajectories and articulate with a possible stressor specific to bisexual experience: epistemic exclusion, characterized by the systematic denial of the legitimacy of bisexual sexual orientation. The study contributes regional qualitative evidence to the debate on the limits and possible extensions of Minority Stress Theory when applied to bisexual populations in higher education.