BISEXUALITY

The notion of bisexuality—according to which all human beings simultaneously possess both masculine and feminine sexual dispositions—was introduced into psychoanalysis by Freud.

It should be noted that the notion of bisexuality has always existed, as witness its mention in most religions. The idea of a primeval divine couple that is demonstrated by myths and rituals of human androgyny, is based on the existence of a supreme androgynous divine being from whom the couple are separated (Eliade, 1964).

The idea of bisexuality was already present in philosophical and psychiatric literature at the end of the 1880s, but its importance within the psychoanalytic movement begins with the influence of Wilhelm Fliess. In 1901, convinced of the scope of psychical bisexuality, Freud informed Fliess of a project that unfortunately did not see the light of day: "My next book, as far as I can see, will be called 'Bisexuality in Man'" (1950a, p. 334).

Freud based his theory on anatomical and embryological data: "a certain degree of anatomical hermaphroditism occurs normally. In every normal male or female individual, traces are found of the apparatus of the opposite sex" (1905d, p. 141). This observation resulted in his conception of an "originally bisexual physical disposition [that] has, in the course of evolution, become modified into a unisexual one, leaving behind only a few traces of the sex that has become atrophied." But he did not apply this conception to the psychical domain: "It is impossible to demonstrate so close a connection between the hypothetical psychical hermaphroditism and the established anatomical one" (p. 142).

Freud did not give these biological facts the same scope as did Fliess, who believed that the psychic mechanism of repression has a biological foundation. For Freud, it is not the apparent anatomical sex that represses the opposite sex: "I am only repeating what I said then in disagreeing with [Fliess's] view, when I decline to sexualize repression in this way—that is, to explain it on a biological grounds instead of on purely psychological ones" (1937c, p. 251).

Throughout his career, Freud emphasized the importance of bisexuality in mental phenomena: "[W]ithout taking bisexuality into account I think it would scarcely be possible to arrive at an understanding of the sexual manifestations that are actually to be observed in men and women" (1905d, p. 220). Nor would it be possible to understand the conflicts that result from it: "In order to explain why the outcome is sometimes perversion and sometimes neurosis, I avail myself of the universal bisexuality of human beings" (1950a, p. 179). And it was through the analysis of the psychoneuroses that Freud found confirmation of the "postulated existence of an innate bisexual disposition in man" (1908a, p. 165-166).

Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that there were some hesitations in his considerations of this question. In 1923, he attributed the difficulty of disentangling the problem of object choice in the first sexual period to "the triangular character of the Oedipus situation and the constitutional bisexuality of each individual" (1923b, p. 31). Thus he suggested that bisexuality is independent of the processes of identification. Next he argued that identification with the father or mother is the result of the oedipal situation and is strictly linked to bisexuality, because the identifications are simultaneously masculine and feminine. However, when he saw the child's ambivalence toward its parents as deriving from an origin other than identification, he insisted on the weight of innate bisexual dispositions: "It may even be that the ambivalence displayed in the relations to the parents should be attributed entirely to bisexuality" (p. 33). On the one hand, then, the notion of bisexuality makes it possible to explain, in both boys and girls, the oedipal identifications with the parent of the opposite sex, thus feeling the Oedipus complex from any form of determinism. But on the other hand, if bisexuality does not have a biological-anatomical origin, the question of its origin remains obscure: Is it a consequence of anatomy? The result of identifications with both parents? Freud's answer, especially around the time of The Ego and the Id, was that bisexuality was an intrinsic aspect of sexual differentiation itself.

Be that as it may, the concept is constantly invoked and continuously used in day-to-day psychoanalysis. The role played by bisexuality in the different stages of psychosexual development helps to determine the various modalities of the subject's attachment to objects.

It must also be emphasized that even if Freud never abandoned the notion of psychical bisexuality, he considered the difficulty in connecting the concept to the theory of drives as a serious lacuna in psychoanalytic theory. Thus the "theory of bisexuality is still surrounded by many obscurities" (1930a [1929], p. 106).

Finally, a supplementary problem must be introduced: A deeper understanding of the concept of bisexuality necessarily would not facilitate an understanding of the ideas of masculinity and femininity. For as Freud warned us, to give any new content or attach any mental qualities to the concepts of masculine and feminine only gives way to anatomy or to convention: "The distinction is not a psychological one" (1933a [19320, p. 114). This indicates that as long as a satisfactory psychoanalytic definition of masculine and feminine cannot be found, the notion of bisexuality "embarrasses all our enquiries into the subject and makes them harder to describe" (1940a [1938], p. 188).

Paulo R. Cecarelli

See also: Aggressiveness/aggressiveness; Dark continent; Cryptomnesia; Femininity; Femininity, refusal of; Homosexuality; Masculinity/femininity; Object, choice of/change of; Pregnancy, fantasy of; Sex and Character ; Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality

Bibliography

Eliade, Mircea. (1963). Patterns in comparative religion. (Rosemary Sheed, Trans.). New York: World.

Freud, Sigmund. (1905d). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. SE, 7: 123-243.

——. (1908a). Hysterical phantasies and their relation to bisexuality. SE, 9: 156-166.

——. (1923b). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66.

——. (1930a [1929]). Civilization and its discontents. SE, 21: 57-145.

——. (1933a [1932]). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. SE, 22: 1-182.

——. (1937c). Analysis terminable and interminable. SE, 23: 209-253.

——. (1940a [1938]). An outline of psycho-analysis. SE, 23: 139-207.

——. (1950a). The origins of psycho-analysis: Letters to Wilhelm Fliess, drafts and notes: 1887-1902 (Marie Bonaparte, Anna Freud, and Ernst Kris, Eds.). London: Imago Publishing, 1954.

Further Reading

Elise, Diane. (1998). Gender repertoire: body, mind and bisexuality. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 8, 353-372.

Ferraro, Fausta. (2001). Vicissitudes of bisexuality: crucial points, clinical implications. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 82, 485-500.

Grossman, Gary (reporter). (2001). Contemporary views of bisexuality in clinical work. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 49, 1361-1378

Smith, Henry. (2002). On psychic bisexuality. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 71, 549-558.

Bisexuality

Sexual orientation defined as sexual involvement with members of both sexes concurrently (within the period of one year) or any sexual attraction to or involvement with members of both sexes at any time in one's life.

There is no single accepted definition of bisexuality. Some define it narrowly as sexual involvement with members of both sexes concurrently (within a twelve-month period or less). Others define bisexuality more broadly as any sexual attraction to or involvement with members of both sexes at any time in one's life. However, few people qualify as bisexual in its narrow definition. A comprehensive study, "Sex in America," conducted in 1992 by the University of Chicago, found that less than 1% of either males (0.7%) or females (0.3%) had engaged in sexual activity with both males and females within the previous year. While no statistics exist on the numbers of Americans who fit the broad definition of bisexuality, estimates range from the millions to tens of millions.

Sigmund Freud believed that bisexuality was a "disposition" common to all humans. He contended that every individual has a masculine and feminine side, and that each side is heterosexually attracted to members of the opposite sex. Most people, however, according to Freud, repress one side, becoming either hetero- or homosexual. Alfred Kinsey posited a scale for human sexuality ranging from zero, representing exclusive heterosexual behavior, to six, representing exclusive homosexual behavior. Between the two poles is a spectrum of bisexual activity.

Dr. Fritz Klein, a noted psychiatrist, has expanded on Kinsey's work, creating the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid, which takes into account seven different variables and the passage of time in defining one's sexual orientation. Klein's variables provide a more detailed look at one's sexuality, examining preferences in attraction, behavior, fantasies, emotional involvement, social involvement, lifestyle, and self-identification. Klein also allows for sexual development over time, an important element missing from Kinsey's work.

Martin S. Weinberg, Colin J. Williams, and Douglas W. Pryor, in their book Dual Attraction: Understanding Bisexuality, have developed a simplified version of Klein's grid, exploring only three, rather than seven, variables: sexual feelings, sexual activities, and romantic feelings. Sexual feelings include attraction, fantasies, arousal, etc. Sexual activities are actual behaviors such as kissing, fellatio, and intercourse. Romantic feelings are the experience of "falling in love." Self-identified bisexuals can be more or less hetero- or homosexual in each of these categories.

Some studies of fraternal and identical twins show that identical twins are more likely to be bisexual than are fraternal twins, suggesting a genetic basis for bisexual predisposition. These studies have yet to be tested adequately to be considered conclusive, however. The fact is that without a single accepted definition of bisexuality, no single conclusion can be reached concerning its origins.

Debate over why people are hetero-, homo-, or bisexual is a fairly recent phenomenon. Identification by sexual preference only began in the 19th century, and before then, it was rarely discussed. Today, however, there is tremendous pressure for a person to declare a sexual preference. The idea of bisexuality is threatening to some people because sexuality is no longer clearly defined between homosexuality and heterosexuality .

Bisexuals are often accused of being "homosexuals in disguise." As a result, they often feel confused about their sexuality. They are considered "too gay" to be straight, and "too straight" to be gay. Few resources exist to help bisexuals understand themselves. Homosexual support groups may reject them if they reveal their heterosexual sides; heterosexuals may reject them if they reveal their homosexual feelings. Many bisexuals remain in the closet, hiding their gender-encompassing feelings from others, and sometimes even from themselves. Others lead dual lives, expressing their homosexual sides with one group of friends, while reserving their heterosexual selves for a totally separate social circle.

Life, and love, can become quite complicated for a bisexual person. The pressures can be tremendous, creating a great deal of stress and pain . A 1989 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report determined that 30% of teenage suicide s occur among gay and lesbian youths, but the number of bisexual victims is unknown. Fortunately, however, a movement has begun in recent years to promote a greater acceptance and understanding of bisexuality. More studies are being done specifically on bisexuality or that include bisexuality as a distinct category.

Unfortunately, concern over the spread of AIDS has caused another backlash against bisexuality, based on the assumption that all bisexuals are promiscuous. Most bisexuals are monogamous for all or part of their lives, and those who engage in promiscuous behavior are not necessarily at greater risk of contracting AIDS. It has been suggested that of women who contract AIDS through sexual intercourse, only 10-20% were infected by bisexual males.

Dianne K. Daeg de Mott

Further Reading

Bass, Ellen, and Kate Kaufman. Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth—and Their Allies. New York: HarperPerennial, 1996.

D'Augelli, Anthony R., and Charlotte J. Patterson. Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identities Over the Lifespan: Psychological Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. "The Gap Between Gay and Straight." Time 141, no. 19, May 10, 1993, p. 76.

Garber, Marjorie. Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Gelman, David. "Tune In, Come Out." Newsweek 122, no. 19, November 8, 1993, pp. 70-71.

Hutchins, Loraine, and Lani Kaahumanu, eds. Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1991.

Klein, Fritz, M.D. The Bisexual Option, 2nd ed. New York: The Haworth Press, 1993.

Leland, John. "Bisexuality." Newsweek 126, no. 3, July 17, 1995, pp. 44-50.

Rose, Sharon, et al. Bisexual Horizons: Politics, Histories, Lives. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1996.

Weinberg, Martin S., Colin J. Williams, and Douglas W. Pryor. Dual Attraction: Understanding Bisexuality. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

bi·sex·u·al / bīˈsekshoōəl/ • adj. sexually attracted to both men and women. ∎  Biol. having characteristics of both sexes. • n. a person who is sexually attracted to both men and women. DERIVATIVES: bi·sex·u·al·i·ty / ˌbīsekshoōˈalitē/ n.

bisexual Applied either to a species comprising individuals of both sexes, or to a hermaphrodite organism (in which an individual animal possesses both ovaries and testes and an individual plant possesses both stamens and pistils in the flower).

bisexual Applied either to a species comprising individuals of both sexes, or to a hermaphrodite organism (in which an individual plant possesses both stamens and pistils in the flower).

bisexual (by-seks-yoo-ăl) adj.
1. describing an individual who is sexually attracted to both men and women.

2. describing an individual who possesses the qualities of both sexes.

bisexual Applied either to a species comprising individuals of both sexes, or to a hermaphrodite organism (in which an individual animal possesses both ovaries and testes).

bisexual See hermaphrodite.

bisexual •denial, dial, espial, Lyall, mistrial, myall, Niall, phial, trial, vial, viol •sundial •knawel, withdrawal •avowal, Baden-Powell, bowel, disembowel, dowel, Howell, Powell, rowel, towel, trowel, vowel •semivowel •bestowal, koel, Lowell, Noel •loyal, royal, viceroyal •accrual, construal, crewel, cruel, dual, duel, fuel, gruel, jewel, newel, renewal, reviewal •eschewal •artefactual (US artifactual), contractual, factual, tactual •perpetual •aspectual, effectual, intellectual •conceptual, perceptual •contextual, textual •habitual, ritual •conflictual • instinctual • spiritual •mutual • punctual • virtual • casual •audio-visual, televisual, visual •usual • gradual • individual •menstrual • actual •asexual, bisexual, heterosexual, homosexual, psychosexual, sexual, transsexual, unisexual •accentual, conventual, eventual •Samuel •annual, biannual, Emanuel, Emmanuel, manual •Lemuel •consensual, sensual •continual