the hidden culture history and science of bisexuality

Drawing on her own original research-and her own experiences-this is a personal and scientific manifesto it’s an exploration of the complexities of the human sexual experience and a declaration of love and respect for the nonconformists among us.

From the invention of heterosexuality to the history of the Kinsey scale, as well as asylum seekers trying to defend their bisexuality in a court of law, there is so much more to explore than most have ever realized. Despite statistics that show bisexuality is more common than homosexuality, bisexuality is often invisible. In BI: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality, Shaw probes the science and culture of attraction beyond the binary.

Despite statistics that show bisexuality is more common than homosexuality, bisexuality is often invisible. The book also grapples with the specific issues around bisexuality like double discrimination from mono-sexual communities and the bi-erasure experienced by bisexual people in exclusive relationships with one partner. Ask people to name famous bisexual actors, politicians, writers, or scientists, and they draw a blank. The book explores the history of bisexuality from ancient roots in behaviour to modern conceptualisations centred around sexual identity. It’s an admission, she writes, that usually causes people’s pupils to dilate, their cheeks to flush, and their questions to start flowing. For psychologist and bestselling author Julia Shaw, this is both professional and personal-Shaw studies the science of sexuality and she herself is proudly and vocally bisexual. A provocative, eye-opening, and original book on the science of sexuality beyond gender from an internationally bestselling pop-psychologistĭespite all the welcome changes that have happened in our culture and laws over the past few decades in regards to sexuality, the subject remains one of the most influential but least understood aspects of our lives.

The hidden culture history and science of bisexuality