Merl Storr - Bisexuality: A critical reader

BISEXUALITY: A CRITICAL READER B isexuality: A Critical Reader presents the reader with the essential primary texts on bisexuality from the last 100 years. Exploring this often controversial concept from a range of perspectives, this book places bisexuality in its historical and cultural context and interrogates its many meanings and uses. This collection includes sections on: the genealogy of the concept of bisexuality bisexual identities and bisexual behaviours bisexual epistemologies the inner dynamics of bisexuality and its possible future in cyberspace Bisexuality: A Critical Reader presents work by leading scholars in an easy-to-read format. Merl Storrs introductions give a straightforward overview of the texts included and set them clearly in the context of debates on bisexuality. Merl Storr lectures in sociology at the University of East London. BISEXUALITY A critical reader Merl Storr London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Selection and editorial matter 1999 Merl Storr The right of Merl Storr to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bisexuality: a critical reader/[edited by] Merl Storr. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. (alk. paper) 1. Bisexuality. I. Storr, Merl.

HQ74.B577 1999 9842140 306.765dc21 CIP ISBN 0-415-16659-4 (hb) ISBN 0-415-16660-8 (pb) ISBN 0-203-02467-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-20138-8 (Glassbook Format) TO PAUL CONTENTS List of figures A note on the text Acknowledgements Editors introduction PART I Genealogy of the concept of bisexuality 1 Henry Havelock Ellis: Extracts from Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume I: Sexual Inversion (1897) and from Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume II: Sexual Inversion (1915) 2 Sigmund Freud: Extract from Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality: 1. The Sexual Aberrations (1905) 3 Wilhelm Stekel: Extracts from Bi-Sexual Love (1920) 4 Alfred C.Kinsey, Wardell B.Pomeroy and Clyde E.Martin: Extracts from Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) 5 Fritz Klein: Extracts from The Bisexual Option: A Concept of One Hundred Percent Intimacy (1978) 6 Amanda Udis-Kessler: Notes on the Kinsey Scale and Other Measures of Sexuality (1992) vii CONTENTS PART II Bisexual identity and bisexual behaviour 7 Philip W.Blumstein and Pepper Schwartz: Bisexuality: Some Social Psychological Issues (1977) 8 J.M.Carrier: Mexican Male Bisexuality (1985) 9 Wiresit Sittitrai, Tim Brown and Sirapone Virulrak: Extracts from Patterns of Bisexuality in Thailand (1991) 10 Sue George: Extracts from Women and Bisexuality (1993) 11 Jan Clausen: Extract from My Interesting Condition (1990) 12 Mariana Valverde: Extract from Sex, Power and Pleasure (1985) PART III Bisexual epistemologies 13 Jo Eadie: Extracts from Activating Bisexuality: Towards a Bi/Sexual Politics (1993) 14 Marjorie Garber: Extracts from Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life (1995) 15 Maria Pramaggiore: Extracts from Epistemologies of the Fence (1996) 16 Yasmin Prabhudas: Bisexuals and People of Mixed-Race: Arbiters of Change (1996) 17 Elisabeth D.Dumer: Extract from Queer Ethics; or, the Challenge of Bisexuality to Lesbian Ethics (1992) viii CONTENTS 18 Gilbert H.Herdt: Extract from A Comment on Cultural Attributes and Fluidity of Bisexuality (1984) 19 Amber Ault: Ambiguous Identity in an Unambiguous Sex/Gender Structure: The Case of Bisexual Women (1996) PART IV Differences 20 Hlne Cixous: Extract from The Laugh of the Medusa (1975) 21 Clare Hemmings: Extract from Locating Bisexual Identities: Discourses of Bisexuality and Contemporary Feminist Theory (1995) 22 Ann Kaloski: Extracts from Bisexuals Making Out with Cyborgs: Politics, Pleasure, Con/fusion (1997) Bibliography Index ix FIGURES Heterosexual-homosexual rating scale The Kinsey heterosexual-homosexual scale The Storms sexuality axis The Klein Sexual Orientation Grid Definitions of having sex xi A NOTE ON THE TEXT To distinguish my own editorial interventions (including my standard izations of referencing formats) from the words of the authors whose work is reproduced in this volume, a different typeface has been used in either case. Throughout the book, the authors material appears in a serif typeface and my words, both in editorial introductions and in interventions in footnotes and references, appear in a sans serif typeface. xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Fo r t h e i r e n c o u ra g e m e n t , a d vi c e a n d s u p p o r t d u ring t h e preparation of Bisexuality: A Critical Reader, I would like to thank Amber Ault, Paul Day, Jonathan Dollimore, Jo Eadie, Clare Hemmings and Ann Kaloski. I would also like to thank Franois Lafitte for his bibliographical advice on the work of Havelock Ellis. For help and advice on the tracing of copyright holders, I would like to thank Lucy Bland; the Institute of Psycho-Analysis; Lawrence and Wishart Ltd; and Cathy Newman.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who kindly granted me permission to reproduce their work in this volume. Extracts from Ellis, H.H. (1897) Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume I: Sexual Inversion, London: University Press, and from (1923) Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume II: Sexual Inversion, Philadelphia: F.A.Davis Co. Reproduced by permission of Franois Lafitte. Extract from Strachey, J. (ed.) (1953) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, trans.

J.Strachey, London: Hogarth Press. Reproduced by permission of Sigmund Freud Copyrights, the Institute of Psycho-Analysis a n d t h e H o ga r t h P r e s s , a n d in t h e US b y p erm i s s io n o f BasicBooks. Extracts from Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B. and Martin, C.E. (1948) Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Philadelphia: W.B.Saunders. xv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Extracts from Klein, F. (1978) The Bisexual Option: A Concept of One Hundred Percent Intimacy, New York: Priam Books. (1978) The Bisexual Option: A Concept of One Hundred Percent Intimacy, New York: Priam Books.

Reproduced by permission of the author. Udis-Kessler, A. (1992) Notes on the Kinsey scale and other measures of sexuality, in E.R.Weise (ed.) Closer to Home: Bisexuality and Feminism, Seattle: Seal Press. Reproduced by permission of the author. Blumstein, P.W. (1977) Bisexuality: some social psychological issues, Journal of Social Issues 33, 2: 3045. (1977) Bisexuality: some social psychological issues, Journal of Social Issues 33, 2: 3045.

Reproduced by permission of Blackwell Publishers and Pepper Schwartz. Extracts from Sittitrai, W., Brown, T. and Virulrak, S. (1991) Pa t t ern s o f b i s ex u a li t y in Th a il a n d , in R . A . P.

Ti el m a n , M.Carballo and A.C.Hendriks (eds) Bisexuality and HIV/AIDS: a Global Perspective, Amherst: Prometheus Books. Copyright 1991. Reproduced by permission of Prometheus Books. Carrier, J.M. (1985) Mexican male bisexuality, in F.Klein and T.Wolf (eds) Two Lives to Lead: Bisexuality in Men and Women, New York: Harrington Park Press. Reproduced by permission of the author.