#i just have a lot of thoughts about things lmfao rip me 🙈😭

[posi-pan]

BaB's lionization of *Anything that Moves* is both hilarious and infuriating. On one hand, the zine and its publisher (y'know the Bay Area Bi+ and *PAN* Network) are blatantly pro-pan, and it's really weird that they think it's not. On the other hand, it seems like they've kind of succeeded in associating AtM with their movement, and it really sucks bc it's such an important piece of bi history and they stole from the large bi community *again* like they did with the armory.

controversial opinion but i don't think the bi manifesto is as important as people make it out to be.

before anyone clutches their pearls, let me explain. (this is a long rant that honestly has little to do with your message anon, so i'm sorry about that lmao)

there are bi texts from the same time and even before the bi manifesto was published that say the same thing, and even say things that are more nuanced, detailed, and explicit in inclusivity and solidarity. so why is the manifesto held to such a high regard, while literally all other bi texts are ignored?

and it's not because it became integral to bi activism or whatever. because it only became A Thing in very recent years, largely when panphobes started spreading a section of it around because they thought it supported their panphobia. (and i'm not gonna lie, the vast majority, if not the entirety of, the bi texts/quotes i see spread around a lot are because people think they "prove" something against pansexuality.)

(sometimes i think it's because someone had slapped the word "manifesto" on it and people think that makes it mean something big. but if that were the case, then other bi texts titled "bi manifesto" would be held in the same regard. and besides, it's really the magazine's manifesto more than it is bisexuality's.)

and like. i've seen so much misinformation about the bi manifesto, because people just repeat what they heard someone else say, who heard from someone else, who heard it from someone else, and so on. it's become a horrible game of mspecphobic telephone.

people who praise the bi manifesto have said: it's a book. it was written in the 70s. it states bi has always been defined as all genders or regardless of gender. it shows that bi has always included nonbinary genders. it holds The Definition of bi. it proves pan is redundant and biphobic. they act like it is and always has been widespread and universally known.

none of those things are true. and like, it does suck that there is so much hatred and lies surrounding the bi manifesto now. because the people who wrote it don't deserve it being used as a tool of vitriol against people they support. (kinda similar to how panphobes used lani ka'ahumanu as a tool for panphobia even though she supports us.)

and another big aspect is that it just really bothers me anytime people hold one single queer text above all others, and when people act like one single queer text needs to be The Most Important to every queer person. because that's utter nonsense.

there is no reason why the bi manifesto has to mean anything to anyone, even bi people, beyond being a way of learning more about bi history. the way people outright say it's biphobic to not care about it or to criticize it or anything beyond mindless praise is wild to me.

that's not why we learn queer history, that's not why queer people write texts on queerness. the bi manifesto itself says it is not representative of all bi people, not all bi people will agree with everything in the magazine.

i've read a lot of queer texts and very little of them mean something to me personally. and that's okay and actually just fucking normal??? i just. have no patience for queer people grasping onto a few queer texts to the neglect of every single other text.

people who say "read the bi manifesto" over and over.....i have, now what? do you want to have a conversation about what it says? about what it means? do you have recs for bi texts that expands on it? like what are you doing. people share a screenshot or tell someone to read it then pat themselves on the back for doing a good activism. and i just...what?

anyways. again i'm sorry my response was sparked by one tiny thing you said anon. (i'm not directing any of this annoyance at you anon). but yeah. it's both funny and annoying because the holy grail text they cite for their panphobia explicitly supports us but also doing so is blatantly misrepresenting bi history. but what else do you expect from panphobes?