Summary of Shiri Eisner's Bi

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Too many books about bisexuality skip over the fact that the term bisexuality has multiple, complex meanings, and instead assume that it has a simple, straightforward definition. This leads to the assumption that people already know all about it, when in reality, they don’t.

#2 Bisexuality, as a term and a concept, was born around the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. It was used to describe what we now call intersexuality, which is when a person’s sex is not aligned with their gender.

#3 The first researcher to treat bisexuality as an existing sexuality was Alfred Kinsey in his landmark research Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, first published in 1948. Monosexual means someone who is attracted to people of only one gender.

#4 Bisexuality was first invented and scrutinized by hegemonic powers under the mass project of categorizing and then pathologizing various human experiences and behaviors. It was later reclaimed by the bisexual movement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822526860

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Insights on Shiri Eisner's Bi

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Too many books about bisexuality skip over the fact that the term bisexuality has multiple, complex meanings, and instead assume that it has a simple, straightforward definition. This leads to the assumption that people already know all about it, when in reality, they don’t.

#2

Bisexuality, as a term and a concept, was born around the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. It was used to describe what we now call intersexuality, which is when a person’s sex is not aligned with their gender.

#3

The first researcher to treat bisexuality as an existing sexuality was Alfred Kinsey in his landmark research Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, first published in 1948. Monosexual means someone who is attracted to people of only one gender.

#4

Bisexuality was first invented and scrutinized by hegemonic powers under the mass project of categorizing and then pathologizing various human experiences and behaviors. It was later reclaimed by the bisexual movement.

#5

The creation of the bisexual movement was a result of the medicalization of sexuality, which categorized and pathologized bisexuality. The bisexual movement was created to reclaim bisexuality as a personal identity, and to benefit the bisexual population.

#6

The bisexual movement reclaimed bisexuality in the 1970s and 1990s, and today most bisexual movements use the expanded definitions of bisexuality: attraction to people of more than one sex or gender.

#7

In this part, I will try to define bisexuality as a contemporary identity, diverging from traditional medical definitions and instead seeking new ways of observing it. Bisexuality is not only a form of desire but also a carrier of multiple meanings.

#8

The first type of meaning I want to give to the word bisexual is that of desire. The definition given by bisexual activist Robyn Ochs is: I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex, and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.

#9

The definition of bisexuality is that it is attraction to more than one sex or gender, and that it does not necessarily happen at the same time. This allows people who only feel one of those things to identify as bisexual, and it opens up space to consider lifelong stories and narratives.

#10

I would like to expand on the idea of bisexuality not only as romantic and/or sexual attraction toward people of more than one gender, but also as a range