Revisiting the Invisibility of (Male) Bisexuality: Grounding (Queer) Theory, Centering Bisexual Absences and Examining Masculinities

Abstract

The article draws upon research published in the Journal of Bisexuality since the author's 2001 article to make observations about bisexuality research and about continuing sex and gender differences in bisexual visibility. Great interest in queer theory reflects the preponderance of theorizing about bisexuality as a transformative, liberatory and disruptive social identity. Advocating for sociological approaches and the analytic inclusion of nonbisexual identified but behaviorally bisexual individuals, the author suggests that more empirical attention to material relations, social structures and everyday social interactions is needed to complement the symbolic emphasis of queer theory and cultural studies. Further incorporating analytical attention to non-bisexual-identified individuals would better ground bisexuality studies and would involve a redirection of critical attention to the multiple social processes that generate bisexual ‘absences.’ Critical gender studies, which identify masculinity as a perpetually threatened status requiring continual performance to ward off discrediting stigmas, is identified as a promising framework for examining the continuing invisibility of male bisexuals and of bisexual behavior among men.

KEYWORDS:

• bisexuality
• sexuality
• sexual orientation
• gender
• critical gender studies
• men
• masculinity
• theory
• identity
• queer theory
• sociology

Notes

1. I included in my organized but informal coding substantive, analytical articles and excluded poems, book and film reviews, comics, and other short features that tended to be authored in various volumes by the same person or persons. Other coding decisions were based on the goal of capturing the gender distribution of contributors. Contact the author for additional information about my coding and the results.