Queer Borderlands Life: Being Bisexual and/or Non-Binary in Australia

Abstract

This thesis explores the lived experiences of bisexual and/or non-binary people in the colonial state of “Australia”, presenting a nuanced account of identity in the "queer borderlands" through the conceptual lenses of postcolonial, queer, trans, and feminist theories. The research, situated in a context marked by binary expectations and societal norms or hetero-cisnormativity, challenges the limited visibility and reductive narratives of bisexual and/or non-binary identities in mainstream discourse and health research. Utilising a mixed methods approach of qualitative surveys and interviews, the study foregrounds subjective narratives to reveal the resilience and complexity inherent in queer identities that disrupt binary constructs of sexuality and gender.