BiJou 26 - BiNe Bisexuelles Netzwerk eV

on to the biographical situation. Problems might
arise due to a fragility of identity since it’s primarily
secured by active bisexual practise. This
could lead to doubts on one’s identity by oneself
or by others. The identity construction of bisexuality
as a fact, as cited in the second case, is
for the most part a naturalised identity construction.
Here one can distinguish between the
two cases, one which is determined by a continual
embedding of bisexuality and one which
is characterised by a biographical break. In the
first case bisexuality is a natural part of the body
and fits – without having any specific chronological
structure – harmonically into a biographical
whole. In case of a biographical break,
bisexuality is usually something that breaks into
the life story as some sort of “instinctual drive”
or “force of nature” – according to interviewees
– and needs to painstakingly be integrated
into one’s life follow-ing this biographical break.
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32
One resource in both variants is a stable identity.
Problematic could be – especially in cases of a
biographical break – a feeling of powerlessness
since bisexuality is viewed as a force of nature
and not something that one has any power over
or can control.
These – for now quickly schematically represented
– strategies of biographical embedding
of bisexual identity clearly show that the monosexual
order has taken its toll. If bisexuality is
experienced as a process – more as a narrative,
as Garber would say – one risks a brittle bisexual
identity as it lifts itself off from the established
sexual identity categories. If it’s classified as a
fact of nature one might deal with a perceived
powerlessness as well as the naturalisation of bisexuality
in which it becomes equivalent to all
other sexual identity categories. So even in these
biographical constructions of bisexuality its
paradoxical position in the social order of sexuality
is clearly expressed. These different ways of
biographically dealing with its paradoxical position
lead to the political question on whether
bisexuality should be established as a recognised
identity category or to insist on the narrative
and processual nature of bisexuality. It remains
exciting how bisexuality will transform as practise,
desire, and identity under the conditions of
the transformation of modern gender and sexuality
or-ders. BiNe e.V. will surely continue to be
a part of the process. On the part of our project
group we also wish BiNe continued success and
send our congratulations for the 20 th anniversary.
X-Files Star Gillian Anderson comes out
This mother of three came out April this year in her interview
with Out magazine as she told of lesbian relationships during her
younger years.
http://tinyurl.com/gilliancomesout
Bibliography
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Fritzsche, B. (2007): Das Begehren, das nicht
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Garber, M. (2000): Die Vielfalt des Begehrens.
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Haeberle, E. J. (1994): Bisexualitäten – Geschichte
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Schmidt, G. (2000): Spätmoderne Sexualverhältnisse.
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Contact
DFG project: “Die soziale Ordnung des Sexuellen
– Die erzählte Lebensgeschichte von Bisexuellen”
(“The social order of sexuality – told life
stories of bisexuals”).
Institute of Sociology
TU Darmstadt
Residenzschloss
D - 64283 Darmstadt
Tel.: 06151-16-3266
Fax: 06151-16-6035
Director: Prof. Dr. Martina Löw
Research assistance: Eva Kemler
(kemler@stadtforschung.tu-darmstadt.de)
and Kim Ritter
(ritter@stadtforschung.tu-darmstadt.de)