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Bisexualities

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Heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality - after you have worked your way through this book you will have gained a better understanding of our sexualities, no matter which! - Personally I found the contributions of the editors, R. Gindorf and E. J. Haeberle, particularly inspiring.

Erwin J. Haeberle & Rolf Gindorf, editors
Bisexualities: The Ideology and Practice
of Sexual Contact with Both Men and Women

(German edition, 1994)
(New York: Continuum, 1998) 266 pages
(ISBN: 0-8264-0923-7; hardback)
(Library of Congress call number: HQ74.B575 1998)

Collected papers from a conference in Berlin in July 1990.
Some are better than others,
as would be expected from such a conference.
But this collection can be read selectively,
depending on the reader's particular interests.

Bisexualities contains no break-thrus of thought or science.
All of the contributors have well-established credentials as sexologists.
A more creative conference could have invited people
who identify themselves as bisexual,
who would attempt to explain their condition, responses,
or constitution (however bisexuality should be described)
--and what they understand to be the origins or sources
of being sexually interested in both men and woman.

Milton Diamond argues that sexual orientation is genetic:
What causes an individual to be aroused by a male or a female (or both)
will be found in the neurology of the brain.
He allows, however, that such genetically-given orientations
are subject to social modification.

John Gagnon takes a sociological point of view:
The concepts, labels, & paradigms of any culture or sub-culture
will shape how sexuality is experienced and discussed therein.
When more celebrities 'come out' as bisexual, it becomes chic.
Some women become involved with other women sexually
because it is 'politically correct' in some feminist sub-cultures.
If men are the oppressors,
women should not cooperate with them in any way
--especially not 'sleeping with the enemy'.
And sometimes the emotional closeness of a feminist group
leads to sexual intimacy.

All persons interested in the phenomenon of bisexuality
should at least have a look at this book.

If you are interested in all forms of sexuality,
search the Internet for the following bibliography:
"Best Books on Sexual Orientation".

James Leonard Park, author of
Imprinted Sexual Fantasies: A New Key for Sexology.