BiJou 26 - BiNe Bisexuelles Netzwerk eV

Bradford University, cafe terrace
other factors such as race, ethnicity, or class.
Motivation for writing the book was the fact that
previously published literature on the topic has
always been based on the average white middle
class individual.
What I find interesting about this book is that
it’s got me wondering, “What prospects, what
people do we have in mind when we address
bisexuality in Germany, through BiNe e.V. for
example? Do we include people with a Turkish
background? Or do we consciously-unconsciously
settle for all of us having the same socio-economic
German background?” To expand and widen
BiJou 26
our perspectives here in Germany – that’s what
this book encourages us to do.
2. Sexuality, Equality and Diversity by Diane
Richardson and Surya Monro.
Diane Richardson is a professor of sociology at
Newcastle University. One key area of her work is
in the fields of “gender and sexuality” (http://
www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/staff/profile/diane.richardson).
Surya Monro is a research fellow at the University
of Huddersfield, also under the Department
of Sociology (http://www.hud.ac.uk/ourstaff/
profile/index.php?staffid=710).
Postcard for BiCon 2013, front Postcard for BiCon 2013, back
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In this book, the authors examine the current
state of social LGBT equality. This focuses mostly
on the UK but also presents the situation in the
US, Canada, Nepal, and South Africa. The areas
covered are “Equality and Diversity”, “Intersectionality”,
“Sexuality and Citizenship”, “Democracy”,
“Organisational Change”, “Resisting
Change”, “Patterns of Resistance”, and “LGBT
Equalities in Northern Ireland”.
The conclusion that I’ve drawn from this
year’s visit to the BiCon/BiReCon and the newly
introduced literature is that Germany needs so
so much more academic research on bisexuality.
BiJou 26
Changes on bisexualitaet.org
Deef is handing over the reigns of the bisexual blog. Unfortunately
we’ll only read him as a guest author from now on. But at least
Paula will stay with us and John will be joining in.
http://bisexualitaet.org
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Here’s a small collection of useful links:
− www.bicon2012.org.uk
− www.bicon2013.org.uk
− http://bicommunitynews.co.uk
− http://www.biuk.org
− http://tinyurl.com/bisexualreport2012
And don’t forget – 2013 the BiCon will be taking
place in Edinburgh: www.bicon2013.org.uk
Christoph
The men meet again…
Second BiNe Men’s Meeting 2012
After the resounding success of last year’s pilot
project, the time had come again on the 26th of
January 2012 – 17 men met for the second BiNe
men’s meeting, this time over a long weekend.
We started the meeting Thursday evening without
many words. We unleashed our energy with
a mixture of dance and physical- and mingling
exercises, danced around the (symbolic) campfire
and experienced a beautiful and intensive
group dynamic as the evening drew to a close.
But we’re men, and men like to talk, so a discussion
ensued on collecting new ideas and the general
agenda of the meeting. We concluded the
evening in cosy palaver with beer and wine – after
all when do men ever get to just chill among
themselves?
Friday began with a short biodanza session, followed
by a detailed group dialogue where eve-
rybody got to share their present feelings and
experiences, which was continued in the discussion
round on our bi-man biographies.
After the delectable Waldschlösschen-typical
lunch, some of us wanted to enjoy the great
weather and beautiful surroundings, while others
played a Jeux dramatiques (translator’s note:
a theatre method relying solely on non-verbal
communication) with the theme “War Christmas
1914 – January 1915“.
This was an opportunity for us to internalize a
very typical male situation, of soldiers in the
war, and to vividly live through the different facets
of this situation. The first, more emotional
part took place in the group room; the second,
more fun part was out in the woods.
For most of us, that evening called for a spiritual
and physical rejuvenation in the sauna, which
we had exclusively for ourselves that day.