Two thirds of straight women won't date bi men, new poll finds

A YouGov survey shows public acceptance of bisexual people doesn't extend to the bedroom — and the reasons given reveal more about insecurity than orientation.

Told by Jake Donovan · 28 September 2026

Two thirds of straight British women won't date a bisexual man, according to a YouGov poll released this week for Bisexual Visibility Day. Only 19% said they would.

Straight men, by contrast, are far more open to dating bisexual women: 53% said they'd be willing, and 35% said they wouldn't.

The poll surveyed 5,983 Britons in late March, including just over 2,000 straight women and 1,500 straight men, plus gay, lesbian and bisexual respondents. The top-line finding on general attitudes looked encouraging: 48% of all Britons have a positive opinion of bisexual people, and only 8% view them negatively.

But that acceptance evaporates when the question shifts from abstract approval to actual intimacy.

Even among straight women who told YouGov they have a very positive opinion of bisexual people, 46% still said they wouldn't date a bi man. Among straight men with equally positive views, only 7% ruled out dating a bi woman.

Age sharpens the split. Among 18-34 year old straight women, 47% won't date a bi man. That climbs to 77% among women over 55. The curve is similar for straight men — 19% of younger men say no, rising to 47% of the over-55s — but the baseline rejection rate is half what women report.

The reasons given

YouGov asked a follow-up: why won't you date a bisexual person? Respondents answered in their own words.

The most common answer, given by 16-17% of both groups, was insecurity. People worried bisexual partners would cheat, or that they'd always feel like they were missing something only a same-sex partner could provide.

One 36-year-old straight man, who described his opinion of bisexual people as "neither positive nor negative", wrote: "I'm a very insecure person, and the jealous type. I couldn't date someone knowing that I can only satisfy half their sexual cravings and would have no idea whether they are spending time with friends or cheating."

A 32-year-old straight woman with a "very positive" opinion of bisexual people said: "Its a me issue, I dont want to be paranoid about cheating with both genders and I dont want to worry that I won't be enough to satisfy."

Another 16-19% gave what YouGov classified as non-answers: "just don't", "my preference", or admissions they weren't sure why they felt that way.

12-13% of both groups said simply that they want their partner to be straight, which may indicate confusion about what bisexuality actually means.

Beyond that, the reasons diverge by gender.

9% of straight women said they feel disgust or discomfort at the idea of dating a man who's had sex with men. Only 2% of straight men said the same about women. 8% of straight women cited health risks; 3% of men did.

Straight men were slightly more likely to give moral or religious objections, or to say bisexuality is "wrong" in some way: 10%, compared to 4% of women.

Smaller numbers believed bisexuals want open relationships (3-5%), saw them as confused or "actually gay" (2%), thought dating one would be "complicated" (2%), or considered bisexuals more promiscuous (1%). A handful appeared to confuse bisexual and transgender people.

Not just straight people

Minorities within the LGBTQ+ community also expressed reluctance.

One in five lesbian women (20%) said they wouldn't date a bisexual woman. That figure drops to 10% among lesbian women aged 18-34, but climbs to 53% among those over 55.

One in nine gay men (11%) said they wouldn't date a bisexual man, though the generational gap is less dramatic: 5% of younger gay men, rising to 18% of the over-55s.

Bisexual respondents themselves were the most open. 82% of bi women said they'd date a bi man, and 89% said they'd date a bi woman. Among bi men, 78% would date a bi man and 85% would date a bi woman.

The mechanism

The poll makes visible something that usually stays quiet: the gap between what people will say about a group in public and what they'll do in private.

Saying you have a positive view of bisexual people costs nothing. Deciding you'd sleep with one, or fall in love with one, or introduce one to your parents, apparently does.

The insecurity answers are doing a lot of work here. A straight woman dating a bi man isn't actually competing with men and women — she's dating one person, who's either faithful or he isn't. But the fear isn't about what he'll do. It's about what she can't be.

That feeling — I can only give you half of what you want — doesn't land the same way when a straight man imagines dating a bi woman, and the poll's numbers show it. He's more likely to see her attraction to women as neutral, or as something that doesn't threaten him, or in some cases as something he finds appealing.

The asymmetry isn't about logic. It's about which fantasies we've been taught to find destabilising, and which ones we've been taught to find hot.

Bisexual Visibility Day exists because bisexual people remain the least visible letter in the acronym, the most likely to be misunderstood, the easiest to erase. This poll is a reminder that visibility doesn't mean acceptance.

It just means people can see you when they're deciding not to fuck you.