Bi Panic

About

Bi Panic, also known as Bisexual Panic, is a humorous slang term used to describe one's confusion or distress at being attracted to different genders at the same time. The phrase is often used in internet stan communities and it is also a prominent image caption in LGBTQ+ and fandom communities. While the origins of the expression can be traced back to 2015, it didn't come to be widely used online until 2021 when the phrase became a prevalent subject of fan art and memes on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.

Origin

The use of the phrase "bi panic" on the internet can be traced back to November 27th, 2015, with Tumblr^[1] user @tratserenoyreve posting a follow-up to their harry "gay panic" comic, captioning it "harry 'bi panic' potter is queer as heck!" The post gathered over 20,000 likes in eight years (seen below).

Spread

A May 21st, 2018, Tumblr^[2] post by Brooklyn99gifs captioned "#bi panic" gathered over 19,000 notes in five years (seen below, left). An August 15th, 2018, post by Twitter^[3] user @mxwormie was the first tweet using the phrase "bi panic" to gather over 1,000 likes in five years (seen below, right).

On October 11th, 2020, Tumblr^[4] user @malepresentingleg posted a series of GIFs captioned "bi panic," gathering over 4,000 notes in three years (seen below, left). On January 21st, 2021, Twitter^[5] user @umikochannart posted fanart captioned "bi panic," gathering over 14,000 likes in two years. The Instagram^[6] crosspost of the art gathered over 60,000 likes in two years (seen below, right).

On December 29th, 2021, Urban Dictionary^[7] user t$tts&tr$cks posted a definition for the term "bi panic," saying, "When a Bisexual person sees both a man and a woman that they are attracted to in one sitting- perhaps in a film- they go into ‘bi panic,’" receiving over 500 likes in roughly two years (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References