Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality

by Julia Shaw

“More basic than any error brought out in the analysis . . . is the assumption that homosexuality and heterosexuality are two mutually exclusive phenomena emanating from fundamentally and, at least in some cases, inherently different types of individuals.”

Bisexuality is] the potential to be attracted, romantically and/or sexually, to people of more than one [gender], not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.”

I know it shouldn’t shock me, but at least a fifth of people in both groups didn’t believe that bisexuality existed—28 percent of heterosexuals and 20 percent of homosexuals indicated that “there is no middle ground” for sexuality.

as a bisexual person, it always felt like Pride, and identity flags, and fabulous queer communities weren’t for me. I had always felt like an ally, not a community member.

this wasn’t just an event that was inclusive of bisexual people, but that bisexual people are key to the event’s very existence.

!!!

If you’ve never heard of Brenda Howard, then it’s about time. She is often referred to as the mother of Pride.

Fourth, bisexual people struggle with internalized biphobia. They are more likely than people from other sexual minorities to be unsure about their sexual identity and to perceive being bisexual as “not that important.”

Queer disabled people often experience a layered stigma which means they are forced to work against the forces of heteronormativity and ableism.

So grateful for the consideration of intersectionality in this book

The juxtaposition of the hypersexualization of bisexuality mixed with the desexualization of disability often led to an erasure of sexual identity.

61 percent of bisexual women, 44 percent of lesbian women, and 35 percent of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

absolutely harrowing

In another study of over 6,000 students on US university campuses, bisexual women were twice as likely to experience campus sexual assault than heterosexual women.

How can you know this is what you really want? Are you sure? How can you be sure? What if you change your mind? I dream of a world where people stop asking bisexual people these questions, and instead ask themselves these questions.

To exclude bisexuality from discussions of history, culture, or science is to belittle the human capacity for love and attraction.

Rather than being “this not that,” I am this and that. . . . I’ve felt like a blossoming flower. As I become more fully me and as I’m more comfortable with each petal of my identity, I open myself up and look into the sun . . . as someone who identifies as bisexual and does see the world on a multitude of planes, my intellect and creativity, my head and my heart, are just further parallels of how I am able to find myself attracted to and love both men and women.