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

by Julia Shaw

This means that a gay rights activist coined the word heterosexual as a by-product of creating the word homosexual.

A way that bisexual researchers often talk about this is that the bi in bisexual means two, but the two are not men and women, they are same and other.

Before being adopted to describe human sexuality, the term bisexual was typically used to refer to creatures and plants which are hermaphroditic, so have both male and female reproductive parts. Even today, in the worlds of botany, entomology, and zoology the term bisexual is often used in this way. Roses are an example of a popular bisexual plant.

There were words to describe the kinds of sexual behavior people engaged in, but sex was mostly something that people did, not part of who they were.

“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.”

Kinsey flipped around sexual norms; instead of heterosexuality being the default, he thought that bisexuality was.

In other words, it is not practical for most of us to get rid of labels entirely, but we must also not attribute too much power or elegance to them.

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.”

One reason was probably because, 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.

Relying on criminal records carries many risks, not just because it only represents people who were caught doing something deemed undesirable at the time, but also because it is likely to distort and catastrophize the consequences of queer desires and behaviors.

“Sex has no history . . . sexuality, by contrast, does.”

Bisexual people like Brenda Howard were always part of queer organizations, and were celebrated by many members of these communities. However, they were often sidelined. This was hard for many, and led to an overall sense that I think persists to this day, that queer spaces and events aren’t for bisexual people.

In other words, being very attracted to men doesn’t preclude also being very attracted to women.

Remember how I mentioned that what I love about science is that it is self-correcting? Well, I also think it is valuable for humans—including scientists—to be able to change our minds when the evidence changes or as we gain more expertise.

According to some biologists, our understanding and interpretation of animal behavior is tainted by a heterosexual bias.

Instead of searching for evolutionary reasons to justify the existence of homosexual behavior, we should be looking to justify the existence of exclusively heterosexual behavior.

Sociosexual behavior includes sexual activity that is not related directly to reproduction.

Bisexual people need to regularly decide whether or not to come out, knowing that if they don’t, they will probably be mislabeled as straight or gay.

The specific kinds of biphobia that people are likely to experience relate to “anti-bisexual prejudice” including that bisexuality is a “phase” and that bisexual people are sexually irresponsible.

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.”

The study found 11 positive aspects of being bisexual: “freedom from social labels, honesty and authenticity, having a unique perspective, increased levels of insight and awareness, freedom to love without regard for sex/gender, freedom to explore relationships, freedom of sexual expression, acceptance of diversity, belonging to a community, understanding privilege and oppression, and becoming an advocate/activist.”48

Movies tell us something deeper about society, and the femme fatale has been linked with conservative anxiety about changes in the social position of women.40

Consensual non-monogamy refers to romantic relationships in which all partners agree to engage in sexual, romantic and/or emotional relationships with others. Within the general framework of consensual non-monogamy, subtypes of relationships differ in the extent to which partners intend for love and emotional involvement to be a part of their multiple relationships.25

“polyfidelity,” which is a form of nonmonogamy where all members in a relationship are considered equal partners and agree that they only have sex with each other.

Throuple

To sugarcoat these realities would be to do them a disservice, and to remove their potential to ignite revolutionary forces within us. We still have a long way to go before bisexual people the world over can live freely and safely.