A bisexual activist has shed his clothes in order to highlight the stigma that bisexuals face in the UK.
Lewis Oakley has published a series of shocking naked photos, which show some of the slurs that he says he receives on a daily basis because he is bisexual. The activist had the insults written all over his body in a photoshoot, by Tom Dingley.
Some of the insults included that bisexuality was a phase, that bisexuals were in denial and that they are self-hating gays.
The campaign comes on the back of data from The Bisexuality Report which revealed that bisexual people prone to higher rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide than any other sexuality. These findings were largely found to be linked to the negative attitudes people hold and inflict on bisexual people.
Data suggests that bisexual men are 6.3 times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual people, fifty percent more likely to live in poverty than gay men and eight times as likely to be in the closet at work compared to lesbian and gay counterparts.
Lewis said,
“It’s one thing to say these words, it’s quite another to see them projected on to someone’s body like this. Sometimes we need a visual reminder of what we are doing, these are comments said to bisexuals every day. Sometimes you have to hold a mirror to society and show them the consequences.”
Photographer Tom Dingley who worked on the shoot said,
“working together on a new project of mine, using projection; we came up with the idea to project the common insults people use, onto Lewis’ body. These comments range from the absent minded questions to the more serious insults bisexuals are subjected to.The concept is really strong we’ve simply taken what is said verbally and projected it visually to highlight what bisexual men hear all the time.”
All images (C) TomDingleyPhoto
