bisexuality in queer theory

Mar 10, 2010 10:28

Hi all ( Read more... )

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trooper6 March 10 2010, 15:49:38 UTC
Have you done a search at amazon? That yields a lot.

I went to look up a pretty famous text to get the exact title
Vice Versa, by Majorie Garber

and came across the following that seem quite useful:
A History of Bixesuality, by Steven Angelides
Bisexual Spaces by Clare Hemmings
Bisexuality: A Critical Reader by Merl Storr
Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life by Marjorie Garber.

I'd probably start with the critical reader.

As for why there's a "lack of focus" on bisexuality in most queer theories? This is just my opinion. Queer, which theoretically incompases LGBTQIAA and all the other lovelies, in practice is mostly L & G. And, in my experience, there is a lot of biphobia and transphobia in the L & G communities. So the biphobia results in erasure of bisexuality in queer theory and the transphobia, coupled with subversivism results in the colonization and distortion of trans lives in queer theory. (For issues of the use of trans lives in queer theory, I recommend Second Skins by Jay Prosser).

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lostcrumpet March 10 2010, 15:56:33 UTC
Thanks! I have looked on amazon, but it's hard for me to gage the quality of a text from it's reader reviews (often very high + very low) alone.

I've also been encountering some articles arguing that bisexuality is the real postmodern sexual orientation. These texts however, seem a bit more fringe-y.

I'll check out the Storr reader.

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trooper6 March 10 2010, 16:13:34 UTC
Ah the old who is more post-modernier-than-thou.

When being subversive is the only thing valued, then everybody must be subversive or they become worthless. Rather timesome, if you ask me.

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trooper6 March 10 2010, 16:26:59 UTC
Just to clarify my feelings. Do bisexuals *have* to be *the real* postmoderns to be of value. Can't bisexuals be awesome even if they don't feel all that postmodern?

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plumsbitch March 10 2010, 17:13:47 UTC
ooh, v. glad to hear of someone doing this. Have a piece of ongoing work on this, with a collaborator, looking at bi and queer theories, spaces and identities. Yoinked from that, a few more refs below ( ... )

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eumelia March 10 2010, 18:38:04 UTC
This Yahoo Group will be of great interest to you and you'll probably get a lot of help and answers there:
Academic Bi.

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gummibarengirl March 10 2010, 19:17:44 UTC
Paula C Rust has an article about Bisexual Visibility and how it has changed from the 70's-90's which includes how queer theory actually helped reestablish a politicized bisexual identity. The article is in "Bisexuality in the United States: A Social Science Reader". I hope that helps.

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evenheroes March 10 2010, 21:49:55 UTC
I'm not up-to-date on good interdisciplinary sources of work on bisexuality, and my home discipline (sociology) is quite scanty in that area, so I can't really point you toward any recommendations for literature. There are some folks who dabble, but nothing profound ( ... )

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