You Don't Eat Indian and Chinese Food at the Same Meal: The Bisexual Quandary

Abstract

The paper reports on six months observations at the meetings of a bisexual social group in New York. It presents the participants' narratives about their sexual histories, and describes the ambience experienced at the special social events they initiated. The discourse, and the behavior displayed, offer an opportunity to explore the participants' search of space to enable them to express their unique identity and its uncertainties. The conclusions focus on the role of bisexuality in the landscape of sexuality dominated by the binary division of heterosexuality/ homosexuality. The paper applies the ethnographic method to a field neglected by anthropologists [bisexuality, gay culture, ethnography].

Bisexuals “Doing Gender” in Romantic Relationships

“…But in the case of the bisexual, Vernallis asserts, such a definition of sexuality suggests that there is no discrimination between gendered object choices (female or male): the bisexual participant will presumably experience either sex in the same way, and therefore a female or male partner can be equally satisfying. However, studies such as that described herein as well as others (Bode, 1976;Blumstein & Schwartz, 1977;Shokeid, 2002;Weinberg et al, 1994;Weinrich, 2000), have found that bisexuals incorporate conventional notions of gender into their relationships and sexual encounters with women and men, and bisexuals do experience men and women differently. In light of bisexuals' application of hegemonic notions of gender to their female and male partners, Vernallis (1999) argues that bisexuals also experience themselves differently when in relationships with women or men.…”

Inside, Outside, Nowhere: Bisexual Men and Women in the Gay and Lesbian Community

“…According to Shokeid (2001), gay men appear to be more tolerant of, or ambivalent towards, bisexual men than lesbians, whereas research by Mohr and Rochlen (1999) found that gay men felt that female bisexuality was more stable than male bisexuality. Nevertheless, there is an understanding, especially among bisexuals themselves, that bisexuality is considered among gay men and lesbians as a less legitimate sexual orientation than homosexuality.…”

“…Using an "ethnicity model" of homosexuality as a fixed and innate sexual identity enabled gay rights activists in the 1970s to organize effectively to make significant claims for equal rights and protection against discrimination (Epstein, 1987). Shokeid (2001) stated that bisexuality threatens this ethnic model in as far as it "undermines the very basis of the ethnic model built upon an assumption of the immutability of homosexual attractions" (p. 64). Bisexual politics is seen to weaken the power of gay and lesbian organizing, with its emphasis on the fluidity of sexuality and challenges to "sexual-object choice as a master category of sexual and social identity" (Seidman, 1993, p. 123 (1999) articulated this threat when she claimed that aspects of bisexual politics threaten the gains so hard won by lesbians, and that forms of bisexuality that view lesbianism as an add-on to heterosexuality, or simply as a sexual practice or a fad, threaten the visibility of a committed lesbian feminism.…”

Bisexualität als Überschuss sexueller Ordnung

“…Zentrale Themenstellungen sind: Sichtbarkeit und Differenzierung (u. a. Bode 1976;Klein 1978;Weinberg et al 1994aWeinberg et al , 1994bMcLean 2007;Diamond 2008), Bisexualität im Kontext sozialer Bewegungen (u. a. Udis-Kessler 1990;Hemmings 2002;Shokeid 2002;vgl. auch die Artikelsammlung von Tucker 1995) und -für die hier verhandelte Thematik besonders wichtig -soziologische Ansätze der Rekonstruktion und Dekonstruktion von Bisexualität (u. a.…”

“…Dies ist nicht zuletzt auf die erfolgreichen Bemühungen bisexueller Bewegung und Organisationen der letzten Jahrzehnte zurückzuführen (vgl. für die USA UdisKessler 1990;Paul 1994;Hemmings 2002;Shokeid 2002; für den deutschen Kontext Hüsers und König 1995).…”