Customer Reviews

VICE VERSA: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life

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This book is a comprehensive look at bisexuality in human culture, from ancient history to the present day. In particular, it looks at how bisexuality has been written out of history and excluded from study -- from the myth of Tiresias and triangular relationships in ancient Greece, through to modern-day movie stars and their closet bisexuality.

Stylistically, it's very readable; the one problem is that it is simply too detailed for my taste. After ploughing through twenty or thirty pages discussing Sigmund Freud, I really didn't want to hear any more about his theories of universal bisexuality. Similarly, I just wasn't that interested to read about the Bloomsbury authors' romantic entanglements, or the Taos artists' unconventional relationships.

A few sections really caught my attention, however: The LaVey "gay brain" study is demolished ruthlessly and effectively, along with other similar pieces of "scientific" research; a surprising comparison between bisexuality and interracial relationships illuminates some of the psychological reasons for biphobia; and the bisexual subtext of vampire myths is entertainingly teased out.

If you're bi and in search of a culture and history you can relate to, this is the book for you. If you want to know more practically what it means to be bi, this probably isn't what you're looking for. If you're straight, this book might just convince you that bisexuals really do exist...

This book affects me daily. It asks me: to probe deep inside my mind for the why. It asks me: what my actions will mean to what labels I have chosen. It asks me: to refine and/or reject certain ways I once thought about historical people. It preaches nothing and for that I am thankful.

Marjorie B. Garber
Vice Versa:
Bisexualities and the Eroticism of Everyday Life

(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995) 606 pages
(Library of Congress call number: HQ74.G37 1995)

An interesting review of the cultural phenomenon of bisexuality,
drawing especially on well-known bisexuals.

The author merely collects the facts and accounts of these people's lives.
There is no attempt to explain why some people are bisexual.

If you want to read other books on such matters,
search the Internet for this bibliography:
"Best Books on Sexual Orientation".

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