It appears that not enough people are aware of the existence of academic bisexual theory. As a Facebook friend of mine reported today:

I went to a queer theory website, looking for bisexual queer theory, and this is what I got when I started clicking on links: “Not Found Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here.”

In fact, bisexual theory is a broad and rich academic field, with a large amount of writing in various disciplines. The reality of bisexual erasure makes it much harder for people to know that these sources exist, and all the harder to be aware of just how much there is to know.

For the benefit of everyone who always wondered whether bisexual theory existed, or how to find it – and for those who never considered it all all – I decided to compile a (very partial) list of bisexual theory (and other) sources. Note that many of them can be found online. Google is your friend. Recommended items are bolded!

Note that these are only the ones that I cited in my book! There are many, many more (for example, BiUK has a broad reference list, under the “REF LISTS” button). If you’re interested in further exploring this amazing field, don’t hesitate to contact me and ask for directions. Good luck!

Books, zines and reports

Alexander, Jason and Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio. Bisexuality and Queer Theory: Intersections, Connections and Challenges. Routledge, 2011. (Also available as Journal of Bisexuality, Issue 9:3-4)

(Also available as Journal of Bisexuality, Issue 9:3-4) Alexander, Jonathan and Karen Yescavage, eds. Bisexuality and Transgenderism: InterSEXions of the Others. Routledge, 2004.

Baumgardner, Jennifer. Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

Bi Academic Intervention, eds. The Bisexual Imaginary. Continuum, 1997.

Bryant, Wayne M. Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee. Routledge, 1997.

Burleson, William E. Bi America: Myths, Truths, and Struggles of an Invisible Community. Routledge, 2005.

Chamberlain, Brent. Bisexual People in the Workplace: Practical advice for employers. Stonewall Workplace Guides.

Forging a Bi-Trans Alliance. Spec. issue of Anything That Moves 17 (1998). Retrieved Tue 9 Oct 2012. http://web.archive.org/web/20021020035411/anythingthatmoves.com/ish17/index17.html.

Garber, Marjorie. Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life. Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Hemmings, Clare. Bisexual Spaces. Routledge, 2002. THIS IS THE BIBLE! READ THIS!

Hutchins, Loraine and Lani Ka’ahumanu, eds. Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out. Alyson Books, 1991.

Kinsey, et al. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Indiana University Press, 1948/1998.

Ochs, Robyn and Sarah Rowley, eds. Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. 1S ed. Boston: Bisexual Resource Center, 2005.

Ochs, Robyn and Sarah Rowley, eds. Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. 2Nd ed. Boston: Bisexual Resource Center, 2009.

Pramaggiore, Maria and Donald E. Hall, eds. RePresenting Bisexualities: Subjects and Cultures of Fluid Desire. NYU Press, 1996.

Reba-Weise, Elizabeth, ed. Closer to Home: Women and Bisexuality. Seal Press: 1992.

San Francisco Human Rights Commission LGBT Advisory Committee. (2011). Bisexual Invisibility: Impacts and Recommendations. San Francisco, California.

Storr, Merl, ed. Bisexuality: A Critical Reader. Routledge, 1999. Download a free copy here.



Download a free copy here. Suresha, Ron Jackson and Pete Chvany. Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way. Routledge, 2005.

The Open University Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance and Faculty of Health and Social Care. (2012). The Bisexuality Report: Bisexual inclusion in LGBT equality and diversity. London, U.K.: Meg Barker, Christina Richards, Rebecca Jones, Helen Bowes-Catton & Tracey Plowman with Jen Yockney and Marcus Morgan.

Tucker, Naomi, ed. Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries and Visions. Routledge, 1995.

Articles and book chapters

Ault, Amber. “Ambiguous Identity in an Unambiguous Sex/Gender Structure: The Case of Bisexual Women.” The Sociological Quarterly, 37:3 (1996): 449-463.

Ault, Amber. “Hegemonic Discourse in an Oppositional Community: Lesbian Feminists and Bisexuality”. Critical Sociology, 20 (1994): 107-122.

Cixous, Hélène. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Trans. Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen. Signs, 1:4 (1976): 875-893.

Diamond, Lisa. “Female Bisexuality From Adolescence to Adulthood: Results From a 10-Year Longitudinal Study”. Developmental Psychology 44.1 (2008): 5-14.

Eadie, Joe. “Activating Bisexuality: Towards a Bi/Sexual Politics.” Activating Theory: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Politics. Joseph Bristow and Anglia R. Wilson, eds. Lawrence & Wishart Ltd., 1994. 139-165.

Eisner, Shiri. “Love, Rage and the Occupation: Bisexual Politics in Israel/Palestine.” Journal of Bisexuality 12:1 (2012): 80-137.

Farrimond, Katherine. “‘Stay Still So We Can See Who You Are’: Anxiety and Bisexual Activity in the Contemporary Femme Fatale Film.” Journal of Bisexuality 12:1 (2012): 138-154.

Fox, Ron C. “Bisexual Identities”. Psychological Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Experiences. 2Nd ed. Garnets, Linda and Douglas Kimmel, eds. Columbia University Press, 2002.

Hemmings, Clare, “A Feminist Methodology of the Personal: Bisexual Experience and Feminist Post-Structuralist Epistemology.” Feminist Methodology: Gender Theory, Feminist Epistemology, Sex and Gender, Cross-Cultural Feminist Ethics, Politics of Gender, Ethnography of Gender. Channa Subhadra, ed. Cosmo, 2006.

Hemmings, Clare. “Resituating the Bisexual Body: From Identity to Difference.” Activating Theory: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Politics. Joseph Bristow and Anglia R. Wilson, eds. Lawrence & Wishart Ltd., 1994. 118-138.

Hemmings, Clare. “What’s in a Name? Bisexuality, Transnational Sexuality Studies and Western Colonial Legacies.” The International Journal of Human Rights 11:1-2 (2007): 13-32.

Herek, Gregory M. “Heterosexuals’ Attitudes toward Bisexual Men and Women in the United States.” The Journal of Sex Research 39:4 (2002), 264-274.

Jeffreys, Shiela. “Bisexual politics: A superior form of feminism?”. Women’s Studies International Forum 22:3 (1999): 273–285. [Trigger warning: highly biphobic]

Ku, Chung-Hao. “The Kid Is All the Rage: (Bi) Sexuality, Temporality and Triangular Desire in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead”. Journal of Bisexuality 10:3 (2010), 309-349.

MacDowall, Lachlan. “Historicising Contemporary Bisexuality.” Journal of Bisexuality, 9:1 (2009), 3-15.

Obradors-Campos, Miguel. “Deconstructing Biphobia.” Journal of Bisexuality, 11:2-3 (2010): 207-226.

Ochs, Robyn. “Biphobia: It Goes More Than Two Ways.” Bisexuality: The Psychology and Politics of an Invisible Minority. Ed. Beth A. Firestein. Sage, 1996. 217-239.

Ochs, Robyn. “What’s in a Name? Why Women Embrace or Resist Bisexual Identity.” Becoming Visible: Counseling Bisexuals Across the Lifespan. Beth A. Firestein (Ed.) Columbia University Press, 2007.

Prosser, Jay and Merl Storr. “Transsexuality and Bisexuality.” Sexology Uncensored: The Documents of Sexual Science. Lucy Bland and Laura Doan, eds. University Of Chicago Press, 1999. 75-77.

Rieger, Gerulf, Meredith L. Chivers and J. Michael Bailey. “Sexual Arousal Patterns of Bisexual Men.” Psychological Science 16:8 (2005): 579-584. [Trigger warning: biphobia, denial of bisexuality]

Rosenthal, A.M., D. Sylva, A. Safron, and J.M. Bailey. “Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men revisited.” Biological Psychology 88 (2011): 112-115. [Trigger warning: biphobia]

Rust, Paula C. “Two Many and Not Enough.” Journal of Bisexuality 1:1 (2000): 31-68.

Steinman, Erich. “Interpreting the Invisibility of Male Bisexuality.” Journal of Bisexuality 1:2-3 (2000): 15-45.

Sweeney, Syreeta J. Normative Monosexism, Biphobia, and the Experience of Bisexual Women: A Content Analysis of an Online Community. MA thesis. University of Texas, 2011. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Web. 15 Oct 2012.

Yoshino, Kenji. “The Epistemic Contract of Bisexual Erasure”. Standford Law Review 52.2 (2000): 353-461. Download a free copy here.

