The BiReCon Files 9: Creating Bisexual Intimacies in the Face of Heteronormativity and Biphobia

Christian Klesse - Creating Bisexual Intimacies in the Face of Heteronormativity and Biphobia

"OK, the first set of problems I want to briefly relate to, refer to questions of identity and identification.

You know, if you look at the historical and sociological literature on LGBT sexualities, there is a common sense, I suppose that non-heterosexual relationships are often constructed as deviant, there is something wrong with it, pathological, they are considered to be more problem-ridden and also you know less stable more fragile.

And you can find these descriptions in academic literature but you can also find these ideas in popular culture.

I suppose, you know, that some of these themes which I would argue are targeted, address non-heterosexual sexualities in a more general sense, are even more pronounced in the case of bisexuality. Because as David Bell said in an article in the mid 1990s in 1994: bisexuality is a kind of identity which is often assumed not to exist at all. So you know, problems around bisexual identity take often a particular twist, let's put it this way, because, you know, bisexuality is considered to be 'just a phase', an issue of immaturity, indecisiveness, of internalised homophobia or lesbophobia and so on.

We find bi-negativity across various discourses social life worlds. And I think bi-negative thought and bi-negative ideology very often finds a quite distinctive way of articulating itself in distinctive sexual cultures so there's no - I am going to talk a bit about biphobia in a while - but I think there's no such thing as biphobia as a universal force operating in society. It depends very much on the context.

The BiReCon Files 8: Bisexuality as Portal to More Sustainable Use of Resources of Love

Last but one transcript from the BiReCon videos.

Serena Anderlini D'Onofrio - Bisexuality as Portal to More Sustainable Use of Resources of Love

"My thesis is that we are perhaps the pioneers of the future of bisexuality and that we can see it as - just to try on for size, we can see bisexuality as a portal, as a portal in a sort of a digital metaphor, to a future that is more sustainable in the way we use the resources of love. This is a significant concept.

You know, as lovers we are resources, as people capable of emanating, of radiating, of offering love, we are resources, we are resources to other people who are seeking this love. And they are resources for us. Often our species has claimed itself outside of the resource chain. There is a mistake in that, we all are resources, to some extent, even though we are not just resources. And the presumption that our species is special and that everything else is resources for us is a bit of a problem and it can lead to our extinction. So we better figure it out before that happens, is my suggestion.

The BiReCon Files 7 : Heterosexual Men, Bisexual Behaviour

It's been a while since I posted one of these, transcribing the videos from the BiReCon youtube channel. Only two more to go after this one!

Eric Anderson -- Heterosexual men, bisexual behaviour

"we have so many young guys come up to us, five-fold what we had guys in their late 30s and 40s. And actually, it became quite more, much more difficult to find men at 42 years of age than it did to find the 18 year olds and younger. We had a 14 year old come up, said he's a black football player in Compton. Wow. It says something about times changing.

Now all of the sociological literature on homophobia and on sex in general shows that in the last two decades we have made great strides. Thanks to identity politics, thanks to legislation, thanks to all of our efforts, we've made great strides in changing the cultural landscape in terms of stigma. The traditional double-standard for women having sex is falling.
A strong hookup culture is emerging for university students.
Homophobia is dropping away.

All of the qualitative longitudinal research shows that, whether it's the General Social Survey if you're familiar with in it the United States or the British Survey of Social Attitudes. All shows for example that for instance homophobia is dropping at an incredibly rapid rate.

As a side note, the one thing that's not changing is our belief
that monogamy is the only right and proper way to go.

So this is Coalition, erm, four in a row?

The penny just dropped with me that while we have a left-right coaliton just now, we had a centre-right/centre-right coalition in the previous three parliaments due to the Electoral Pact Of Complete Submission between the Labour party and the Co-Operative Party. The Co-operative lot insist they are definitely a real party: I wonder how hard they negotiated their coalition in the days after May 1st 1997?

Almost there...

Oh, the shiny things I shall unleash upon the world!

But first there's a bifest to get out of the way 8)

A Bit Quiet

Seasonal mega-lurgy has been keeping me quiet here the last couple of weeks and various things will probably keep me tied up for the next month or so too.

So by way of a brief new year's message, an old comparison came into my mind this weekend that fits the LiberaTory Coalition and its "cutting public expenditure back to slightly less unsustainable levels" agenda well. You don't like doing it, but it's the same as wiping your bottom: if you didn't do it, the mess you'd end up in would be even less appealing.