Iowa Dad Goes Viral After Building ‘Bi-Chair’ for Bisexual Daughter Who ‘Can’t Sit Straight’

An Iowa father has gone viral for building a “bi-chair” for his daughter who identifies as “bisexual genderfuck.”

Israel Walker, who works as a barista, unveiled the chair last month on Facebook. He said he was inspired by a viral doodle that Brazilian artist Má Matiazi had recently posted on Instagram.

Thinking of his queer daughter, Walker asked Matiazi for permission to use the design, and was granted it, he wrote in the post.

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“My daughter (who identifies as bisexual genderfuck) thinks that her and other LGBTQ+ folks inability to sit ‘normally’ is hilarious,” he said. “So I asked Má if I could make my own rough style of Bi-Chair and she said yes!”

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Urban Dictionary defines a genderfuck as someone who deliberately sends “mixed messages” about their sex, “usually through dress (e.g., wearing a skirt and a beard).” The identity seeks to subvert, and often to protest, traditional gender roles. Genderfucks, aka “gender benders,” may identify as their birth sex, another sex or ambiguously.

Walker’s Aug. 10 post includes a photo of the bi-chair design, on which Matiazi  scrawled: “Bi-Chair. Designed for people who can’t sit straight.”

Other photos show Walker and his daughter sitting in the chair, apparently in their front lawn.

https://www.facebook.com/israel.walker.90475/posts/191655611831394

The bi-chair isn’t just for bisexuals

According to Out magazine writer Matt Baume, Walker’s chair “seems to have gone even more viral than the original illustration.” The post has accrued several thousand shares and likes and hundreds of supportive comments, including queries about having the chair mass manufactured.

[T]his is f—ing me this is my kinda chair,” said one commenter.

“I’m straight and down a’f,” said another. “Yo, you need to patent this ASAP.”

“You are an awesome parent,” someone else declared.

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Baum, the Out writer, described the chair’s design as a “half-joke half-serious” reference to an internet meme about queer people habitually contorting themselves when sitting.

“It’s unknown why heterosexuals have a comparatively limited range of posture when sitting, with only scant research into the phenomenon. One recent study indicates that straight people may benefit from adopting more mundane seating positions for mating purposes,” Baume explained, tongue apparently in cheek.

“The bi-chair and its associated posture now joins other aspects of bisexual culture, such as cuffed jeans, elaborate jackets, and feeling erased by both mainstream and queer communities.”

The furniture craze comes a month after British design student Laila Laurel won a national prize for creating a chair that forces men to sit with their legs closed. The project was titled “A Solution for Man Spreading.”

Walker said on Thursday he was “gunna unplug for the weekend” because he was overwhelmed by all the “awesome” attention the bi-chair was getting. But he teased: “hopefully on Monday I’ll have a new bi-chair for y’all.”

Meanwhile, on Saturday, a few hundred reportedly people took part in a “straight pride” in Boston, saying heterosexuals are an oppressed minority. Participants were outnumbered by counterprotesters. Amid scuffles, 36 people were arrested and four officers were injured.

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Pluralist

Andrew Tobin is Pluralist’s Editor-in-chief.

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