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

by Julia Shaw

in a paper published in 1941, Kinsey openly chastised other scientists about their assumptions and inherently judgmental language.15 In one such critique, Kinsey tore apart research which had concluded that the hormone levels of heterosexuals and homosexuals were significantly different. One of the best sections is where he writes: “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.” In other words, he thought it was ridiculous that people were thought to be either gay or straight. The heterosexual-homosexual binary doesn’t describe—in Kinsey’s words—“behavior as it actually occurs in the human being,” instead, “the picture is one of endless intergradation between every combination of homosexuality and heterosexuality.”