Bisexual — What It Means and Why You Belong

What Does Bisexual Actually Mean?

Bisexual — often shortened to “bi” — describes a person who experiences romantic or sexual attraction to more than one gender. That attraction does not need to be equal, constant, or directed at every gender in existence. It simply means that your capacity for attraction is not confined to a single gender. For some people it shifts over time; for others it remains broadly stable. Both experiences are entirely normal.

A common stumbling block is the prefix itself. “Bi” means two, so surely bisexual means attraction to only men and women? In practice, the bisexual community resolved this decades ago. The Bisexual Manifesto, published by the Bay Area Bisexual Network in 1990, explicitly stated that bisexuality should not be assumed to involve only two genders. Stonewall UK, the NHS, and every major LGBTQ+ organisation in Britain define bisexual as attraction to more than one gender, which comfortably includes non-binary, genderqueer, and gender-fluid people. The word has evolved beyond its Latin root, just as “broadcasting” no longer refers to scattering seeds.

The term entered the language of human sexuality through late 19th-century sexologists such as Krafft-Ebing and later Freud, who used it to describe people whose desires did not fit neatly into the emerging homosexual/heterosexual binary. It gained political momentum during the sexual liberation movements of the 1970s and has been a recognised, researched, and community-defined orientation ever since.

Bisexual vs. Pansexual vs. Bicurious — What’s the Difference?

These three terms overlap in places but serve different purposes. Pansexual typically describes attraction to people regardless of gender — gender is simply not a factor in who catches your attention. Bisexual describes attraction to more than one gender, where gender may or may not play a role in the nature of that attraction. Some people use both labels interchangeably; others feel one fits more precisely. Neither term is a correction of the other, and neither is more “evolved” or inclusive. They are sibling terms, not competitors.

Bicurious sits in a different category altogether. It is less an identity and more a description of a current state of exploration — an acknowledgement that you are interested in same-sex or multi-gender experiences but have not yet settled on a label, if indeed you ever choose to. All three terms are valid starting points for someone navigating attraction to more than one gender, and none of them require a qualifying exam.

Do Bisexual Men Belong in Gay Saunas?

Yes. Unambiguously, yes.

The phrase “gay sauna” is colloquial shorthand. These venues exist to serve men who have sex with men, and that category — MSM — includes bisexual men by definition. It also includes men who are questioning, men who prefer no label at all, and men who are primarily heterosexual but occasionally attracted to other men. The common thread is not a word on a badge but a willingness to be respectful, to understand consent, and to follow the venue’s house rules.

When you arrive at a sauna, no one will ask you to declare your orientation. The entry requirements are straightforward: valid photographic ID, a payment method, and decent conduct. Sauna interactions are overwhelmingly non-verbal and attraction-based. People respond to eye contact, body language, and mutual interest — not to a label. In this respect, saunas can feel remarkably freeing for bisexual men who are tired of having their identity interrogated in other social settings.

Addressing Biphobia and Bisexual Erasure

It would be dishonest to pretend biphobia does not exist. Stonewall UK research has found that bisexual people are three times less likely than gay men and lesbians to be out to all of their family. The 2024 Hard Done Bi report documented how previous negative experiences of biphobia within LGBTQ+ spaces actively deter bi people from accessing those spaces. The “pick a side” dismissal, the assumption that bisexuality is a phase, the quiet erasure of treating someone as either gay or straight depending on their current partner — these are real and they cause real harm.

That said, saunas tend to be among the least prone environments for this kind of friction. The dynamic is physical rather than conversational. Nobody is running a seminar on identity politics in the steam room. Attraction either flows or it does not, and your label rarely enters the equation. If you do encounter biphobia — an offhand comment, a dismissive reaction to something you share — it reflects the other person’s limitation, not your validity. You are not obligated to educate anyone, and you are always entitled to walk away.

Bisexual-Specific Events at UK Saunas

If walking into a standard men-only sauna night feels like too large a first step, bisexual-specific events offer a gentler entry point. The most established of these is Biphoria, which runs every Thursday at both Steam Complex in Leeds and Nero’s Sauna in Bury. These are all-gender events, meaning women, non-binary people, trans people, and men all attend. This fundamentally changes the venue dynamic: the crowd is broader, the atmosphere tends to be more social, and the space is explicitly designed for people whose attraction crosses gender lines.

These events exist because bisexual people asked for them. A standard men-only sauna night is not unwelcoming to bi men, but it does not reflect the full spectrum of bisexual attraction. Biphoria and events like it fill that gap. If you are curious, visit biphoria.co.uk for current scheduling and venue details.

Sexual Health Guidance for Bisexual Men

If you have sex with men, the NHS sexual health guidance for MSM applies to you regardless of how you identify. The key recommendations are straightforward: if you are having condomless sex with new partners, you should have a full STI and HIV test every three months. If you are using condoms consistently, an annual screen is the minimum. These services are free, confidential, and available at any sexual health clinic in the UK without a GP referral.

PrEP — pre-exposure prophylaxis — is a daily tablet (or, for those who cannot take tablets, a long-acting injectable called cabotegravir now approved by NICE) that reduces the risk of acquiring HIV from sex by about 99% when taken as prescribed. It is available free on the NHS through sexual health clinics. You do not need to identify as gay to be offered it. You need to be at higher risk of HIV acquisition, and any man who has sex with men meets that threshold. If your GP has not raised it, a sexual health clinic will. For further information or to find a clinic, you can call the National Sexual Health Helpline on 0300 123 7123, or consult our UK sexual health and support resources.

Communication, Consent, and Disclosure

You are never obligated to disclose your sexual orientation to anyone in a sauna. If someone asks and you want to share, that is your choice. If you prefer to say nothing, that is equally valid. Your orientation is personal information, not an entry credential.

Consent operates identically regardless of your or your partner’s orientation. It must be enthusiastic, ongoing, and revocable at any point without explanation. A non-response, a turned shoulder, or someone stepping away is a “no” — always. This applies in men-only spaces and in mixed-gender events like Biphoria, where the range of possible dynamics is broader and clear communication becomes even more important. If a situation is new to you, there is no shame in slowing down, stating a boundary, or simply saying “I’m not sure yet.” Confidence in a sauna is not about performing certainty; it is about knowing you can set the pace.

Common Misconceptions About Bisexuality

Several myths about bisexuality persist, and they deserve direct answers rather than diplomatic hedging.

The claim that bisexuality is “a phase” is contradicted by decades of psychological research. The American Psychological Association, the NHS, and every credible health body recognise bisexuality as a stable orientation. Some people’s attractions shift over a lifetime — this is called fluidity, and it is a feature of human sexuality generally, not evidence that bisexuality is temporary.

The stereotype that bisexual people are inherently more promiscuous confuses orientation with behaviour. Bisexual people have exactly the same range of relationship styles as anyone else — monogamous, polyamorous, casually dating, or happily single. A wider pool of potential attraction says nothing about how a person chooses to act on it.

The idea that “bi means two, so it excludes non-binary people” has been addressed above, but it bears repeating: the bisexual community itself rejected this reading over thirty years ago. If the people who hold the identity say it is inclusive, external reinterpretation of their Latin prefix does not override that.

Finally, the suggestion that bisexual men represent a higher STI risk is both inaccurate and harmful. STI transmission is linked to specific behaviours — condomless sex, number of concurrent partners, whether PrEP or other prevention methods are used — not to orientation. This myth discourages bisexual men from testing and from accessing PrEP, which is the opposite of what good public health looks like.

Where to Go From Here

If this article has answered the question you arrived with, the next step is practical. You can find your nearest venue in our UK sauna directory and, if you would like more guidance on what to expect when you walk through the door, work through the preparation and etiquette guides linked below. You already belong. The only thing left is to decide when.

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This guide is part of the Gaysaunas.co.uk Core Guides series. For information on preparing for a visit, see our first-timer’s preparation guide. For guidance on consent and social etiquette, see our etiquette and consent guide.