by Brendan Hamilton

Created on: August 12, 2008   Last Updated: October 11, 2009

Bisexuality: the very word inspires mixed feelings among heterosexuals and homosexuals alike. Is there such a thing? Bisexuals are treated with suspicion in both straight and gay communities, where the validity of their existence is called into question on a frequent basis. They face intolerance, discrimination, and hostility from members of both sexual orientations. "The very existence of bisexuality is seen as a threat to the social order," writes Robyn Ochs (Firestein, 217). At the same time, however, bisexuality is an area of sexual orientation that has been largely overlooked by scholars. Popular modern conceptions cling to the notion of a dichotomy between heterosexuality and homosexuality, reflected by the existence of two separate, distinct "worlds" that perpetuate this sexual division. Bisexuality is a category that attempts to account for those who fall somewhere in-between, those whose sexual attractions are not limited to one biological sex. In this paper I intend to explore the origins of modern psychological and social considerations on the topic of bisexuality, its phenomenon in today's society, and its potential to revolutionize popular understandings of sex, gender, and sexual orientation in the future.

Bisexuality first appeared in psychoanalytic studies as a means of explaining the development of homosexuality in terms of evolutionary theory. Leading psychoanalytic theorists of the early twentieth century believed that the human species evolved from a primitive androgynous, hermaphroditic state to its modern gender-differentiated form, and that individual psychological development mirrors this evolutionary process. Wilhelm Steckel, a follower of Sigmund Freud, was among these scholars, theorizing in 1922 that bisexuality is normative during childhood, and that adult sexual orientation is formed as a result of repression that occurs during puberty. The heterosexual represses his homosexuality, and vice versa. Havelock Ellis was among the first of his contemporaries to view bisexuals as a distinct category of individuals attracted to persons of both genders, rather than merely a developmental phase. He grouped human beings into three broad sexual categories still widely accepted to this day: heterosexuals, homosexuals, and bisexuals. Freud, while holding to the theory of bisexuality as a developmental stage, later acknowledged it as also forming a separate category of sexual orientation. Some experts, on the other hand, held to the dichotomous

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