Bi Lives: Bisexual Women Tell Their Stories [Paperback]

Kata Orndorff (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

This work is a collection of 18 in-depth interviews with a wide range of bisexual women of different races, ages, and economic classes involved in a very wide variety of lifestyles.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Eighteen interviews with bisexual women reveal a vast range of backgrounds and adult experiences, from childhoods in urban settings to youth spent on a southern Virginia farm, from a woman currently married and monogamous as well as not very sexual to one who is now nonmonogamous with both a woman and a man. "Susan," age 43 and an incest survivor, regards her bisexual activities as reflecting her need to please and be praised for being "hot." Radical feminist political organizer "Lani" ponders the philosophy of lesbian separatism and the hurt she endured because of it. HIV-positive "Mary" had been in an open relationship with a man, and both enjoyed going to parties and "playing" before learning of his HIV status (when interviewed, her health was failing, but an epilogue reveals that later her viral load diminished). Along with the interviews come safer-sex guidelines and a bisexual resource list, which round the book out as a valuable resource for collections strong in sexuality issues and women's studies. Whitney Scott

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: See Sharp Press; 1st edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884365094
• ISBN-13: 978-1884365096
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,043,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Think Bisexuality is Easily Defined?, July 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bi Lives: Bisexual Women Tell Their Stories (Paperback)

In this book, I discovered the various ways women define their bisexuality: some by the capability of loving people regardless of gender, some by being attracted to people of either gender, and some by experience. It also showed that bisexuality is not a "new" thing, as many would have us believe. The ages of these women range from 21 to (if I recall correctly) late 50's. One woman is handicapped, two others are in a three-way marriage (to each other, with a man), one identifies as a lesbian (though acknowledges that she is attracted to both sexes) and doesn't trust women who identify strongly as bisexual. If you want to see the entire rainbow of sexuality, read this book. If you want to have your sexuality affirmed, read this book. If you are just plain curious . . . read this book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting reading....., August 3, 2000

By 

"aastarte" (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bi Lives: Bisexual Women Tell Their Stories (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The questions were a bit repetative, but that wasnt necessarily Bad, as the reader gets to see how different each woman's answers were.
Id definitely recommend this, not just for glb individuals but for heterosexual people that would like to learn about some bisexual perspectives.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating introduction to bisexual feminism, September 25, 2006

By 

wildflowerboy (planet earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bi Lives: Bisexual Women Tell Their Stories (Paperback)

In "Bi Lives: Bisexual Women Tell Their Stories ", Kata Orndoff interviews a diverse group of bisexual women about their sexual identities and experiences, challenging the bigotry and myths perpetuated by both the radical right and sadly enough, certain elements of cultural feminism. How does biphobia manifest itself in the lives of bisexual women? Just as bi men have been scapegoated for transmitting hiv/aids into the female heterosexual population, bisexual women have been similarly blamed for bringing hiv/aids into the lesbian community (an insidious variation of the 1970's idea of bisexual women contaminating the lesbian community with "male energy".) Moreover, bisexual women are often told that they are actually confused lesbians (or confused heterosexuals), that they are lesbians trying to maintain some level of heterosexual privilege, that they are anti-feminist for sleeping with men, or that their bisexuality is an expression of "false consciousness" which could be overcome with the proper lesbian feminist indoctrination. As independent female sexuality is generally demonized in our sexist, erotophobic society, bisexual women are furthermore simply dismissed or pathologized. For feminists, lgbt activists, bi-curious individuals, and bisexual allies interested in issues of female sexual autonomy, this is an interesting text. Especially useful are the safer sex guidelines provided by Robyn Ochs. That said, I do wish that Orndoff would have interviewed at least one bisexual transgendered woman, but despite this oversight, this is anyway a compelling and informative sociological study.