Trapped Between: ‘Coming Out’ and Forced to Stay Closeted: Bisexuality, Secondary Schooling and Social Justice

Abstract

Research with a specific focus on bisexual students’ schooling experiences is still quite rare, and studies focusing on bisexual students’ positive schooling experiences are even more uncommon. The present study addresses this scarcity by analyzing interviews with students from a lower secondary school in Sweden. In the article, the center of analysis is one key informant, a male bisexual student who has had positive experiences of ‘coming out’ at school. The results reveal a local school culture at the school that could be categorized as inclusive and safe. The study also explores everyday situations in which the key informant is forced to stay closeted. These narratives are framed in relation to heteronormativity and loneliness. At the investigated school, the student welfare team is aware of the student’s life situation and supports him. The overall picture that emerges in the narratives is an everyday life situation that could be described as being trapped between being out and being closeted.