Bisexuality, Bisexuality

A recent study by researchers Gerulf Rieger, Meredith L. Chivers, and J. Michael Bailey, which attracted media attention in 2005, purported to find that bisexuality is extremely rare in men. This was based on results of controversial penile plethysmograph testing when viewing pornographic material involving only men and pornography involving only women. Critics state that this study works from the assumption that a person is only truly bisexual if he or she exhibits virtually equal arousal responses to both opposite-sex and same-sex stimuli, and have consequently dismissed the self-identification of people whose arousal patterns showed even a mild preference for one sex. Some researchers say that the technique used in the study to measure genital arousal is too crude to capture the richness (erotic sensations, affection, admiration) that constitutes sexual attraction.

Many who might be classified as bisexual on the basis of their primary sexual behavior self-identify as homosexual. Heterosexual people who engage in occasional homosexual behavior could be considered bisexual, but may not identify as such. Those who believe that sexuality and sexual orientation is a distinctly defined aspect of the character consider this ambiguity problematic. Some people who engage in bisexual behavior may be supportive of homosexual people, but still self-identify as heterosexual; others may consider any labels irrelevant to their positions and situations. In 1995, Harvard Shakespeare professor Marjorie Garber made the academic case for bisexuality with her 600 page, Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life in which she argued that most people would be bisexual if not for "repression, religion, repugnance, denial" and "premature specialization." Bisexuality is often misunderstood as a form of adultery or polyamory, and a popular misconception is that bisexuals must always be in relationships with men and women simultaneously. Rather, individuals attracted to both males and females, like people of any other orientation, may live a variety of sexual lifestyles. These include lifelong monogamy, serial monogamy, polyamory, polyfidelity, promiscuity, group sex, open relationships and celibacy. For those with more than one sexual partner, these may, or may not, all be of the same gender.

Furthermore, bisexuality does not always represent a halfway between the dichotomy. Research indicates that bisexuality is influenced by biological, cognitive and cultural variables in interaction, and this leads to different types of bisexuality.

Studies to provide evidence for the masculinization of the brain have however not been conducted to date. Research on special conditions such as CAH and DES indicate that prenatal exposure to, respectively, excess testosterone and estrogens are associated with femalefemale sex fantasies in adults. Both effects are associated with bisexuality rather than homosexuality.

Studies measuring the fingers found a statistically significant skew in the 2D:4D ratio (long ring finger) towards homosexuality with an even lower ratio in bisexuals. It is suggested that exposure to high prenatal testosterone and low prenatal estrogen concentrations is one cause of homosexuality whereas exposure to very high testosterone levels may be associated with bisexuality. Because testosterone in general is important for sexual differentiation, this view offers an alternative to the suggestion that male homosexuality is genetic.

Another symbol used for bisexuality is a purple diamond, conceptually derived from the intersection of an upside down triangle and a right way up one, pink and blue (respectively), placed overlapping.

She forms strong heterosexual relationships across the first 3 seasons and her vampire alter ego displays overt bisexuality.

Source: Wikipedia > Bisexuality