“Bi”: Dr. Julia Shaw’s Comprehensive Look at Bisexual Identity

British psychologist and self-identified bisexual Dr. Julia Shaw released her book Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality in 2022 to highly favorable reviews. On Amazon it’s considered the Editors’ Choice on this topic. Meg-John Barker, PhD, author of Queer: A Graphic History, calls it a “must-have for every queer bookcase,” and Professor Andrew Reynolds, Princeton University, crowns it “the bi bible.”

Kirkus Reviews: “Her work blends assessments of contemporary research, anecdotes concerning famous bisexual individuals, and reflections on her own sexuality….(S)he draws parallels between the cultural reception of bi and trans identities and movingly describes how bisexuals have historically alarmed—and continue to provoke hostility from—both gay and straight communities.”

She includes the sex research of such notables as Alfred Kinsey and Fritz Klein. (On her website is a link to the Klein Grid, which can help individuals identify their own sexual orientation.) In addition, states Kirkus, “The author devotes considerable attention to long-standing and entrenched forms of prejudice, but she finds evidence, at least in the Western world, of progress in how bisexuals are finding ways to affirm their identity more freely. As she contends, ‘it is becoming harder for people not to see the beautiful world of attraction beyond gender’.”

Selected Quotes from Bi

As I become more fully me and as I’m more comfortable with each petal of my identity, I open myself up and look into the sun . . . as someone who identifies as bisexual and does see the world on a multitude of planes, my intellect and creativity, my head and my heart, are just further parallels of how I am able to find myself attracted to and love both men and women.

Bisexuality is] the potential to be attracted, romantically and/or sexually, to people of more than one [gender], not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.

…(P)eople who are bisexual experience double discrimination. This means that people experience biphobia not just from the heterosexual community but also from members of the queer community.

The reason the alliance between trans and bi people is so natural is that both represent a fluidity and a destruction of binaries that make people uncomfortable.

Instead of searching for evolutionary reasons to justify the existence of homosexual behavior, we should be looking to justify the existence of exclusively heterosexual behavior.

Valuing honesty impacts bisexuals differently than straight or gay parents—whereas all might uphold honesty as a family value, only bisexuals grapple with how living day-to-day in a monogamous relationship might be interpreted as deceitful unless they disclose their bisexuality to others.

Specifically, participants said they cherished five types of freedom that came from being bisexual, including the freedom to love without regard for biological sex or gender, freedom from social labels and gender roles, freedom to explore diverse relationships and experiences like consensual nonmonogamy, and freedom of sexual expression. Finally, participants stated they experienced “freedom to live authentically and honestly.”