Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life

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Summary: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life
Review: "I've always known I was bisexual." The speaker was asixteen-year-old high school student at Cambridge Rindge and LatinHigh School. The occasion was the school's annual Coming-Out Day, and the announcement by Khadjihah Britton was made to an audience of 250 classmates. Typical for liberal Cambridge, Massachusetts? Perhaps. But across the country, from Berkeley, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, more and more young people are declaring themselves to be bisexual. Doing so, says one public-health intern, offers them a chance to resist categorization: Saying you're bisexual "just says you're not yet defined and gives you some freedom." It also describes a social and sexual openness modeled in part on media stars and popular culture, from Madonna to Mick Jagger to Elton John. From the introduction of Bisexuality

At a time when gay Boy Scouts are grabbing headlines in Time and Newsweek, when rock stars aren't the only ones coming out of the closet, when same-sex couples can get mortgages, adopt babies, and write wills together, Marjorie Garber pushes the envelope even further. Her question: why does sex have to be either/or?

Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life (April 14, 2000; is a witty, learned, and scrupulously researched book. Garber examines bisexuality through a dazzling variety of critical lenses: cultural, scientific, literary, and psychological. Garber re-evaluates what "normal" might mean, suggesting that bisexuality is eroticism, an unpigeonholed sexuality - not a "third choice" between homosexuality and heterosexuality.

Garber charges that it is extremely difficult to make claims about sexuality - someone else's or one's own. Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life proves this difficulty, and is a must-have for the breezily curious lay reader and the seriously interested student of sex and gender. END

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Summary: Fascinating and indepth
Review: Although its more than 500 pages may seem a bit overwhelming, the content is fascinating. Garber has explored the world of bisexuality from every angle and back to antiquity until today. Reading it will make you question your own feelings about the meaning of "sexuality." All done authoritatively without being scholarly, although it is not light reading.

Rating:
Summary: Like ... THIS is the real thing
Review: Garber's book is an eminently readable study of the invisibility of bisexuality in our culture. She reveals the bisexuality in everything from Shakespeare's sonnets to the real-life relationships of Vita Sackville-West and others. The book is chock-full of specific details and quotations--much of it reads like a narrative (sometimes almost gossipy in a fun way!), while continuing to make Garber's point. She breaks down binary and essentialist ideas of sexual orientation with examples drawn from a huge range of literature, culture, film, and biography.

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Summary: Bisexuality made visible
Review: Garber's book is an eminently readable study of the invisibility of bisexuality in our culture. She reveals the bisexuality in everything from Shakespeare's sonnets to the real-life relationships of Vita Sackville-West and others. The book is chock-full of specific details and quotations--much of it reads like a narrative (sometimes almost gossipy in a fun way!), while continuing to make Garber's point. She breaks down binary and essentialist ideas of sexual orientation with examples drawn from a huge range of literature, culture, film, and biography.

Rating:
Summary: Pardon me?
Review: I thought this was an enjoyable book for the most part, but I am bewildered by the blurb on the back comparing the author's scholarly contribution to the work of Copernicus. Wouldn't that suggest that she would at least have an original and clear thesis in there? Instead, we get a mish-mash of gossip, innuendo, and lame puns for over 500 pages. The closest I came to finding a thesis was the idea that bisexuality is extremely common yet has been denied for centuries... which wasn't even original when Freud said it. The book reads like the sort of thing Entertainment Weekly would have published; the thinking is fuzzy and superficial, and the writing is glib and confused. Entertaining for what it is, but, as scholarship, it shows mostly how far the Ivy Leagues have fallen.

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Summary: The Bi Equivalent to Faludi's Backlash
Review: This book is now a cornerstone of my library. Garber breaksdown Bisexuality just as Susan Faludi previously made feminism accessible through Backlash. This work is definately in the top 10. It is fun yet profound. Though an avid reader, I found at times the content was so heavy that I would put space between me and the book for awhile. But do not dismay. This distance was only needed because, being an acknowledged bisexual myself, the words slammed right home. I found one of the most helpful aspects of the book was the diverse lenses that Garber approached the subject through. Now, when I find myself reading other related books or coming in contact with related controversies, I have a wide range of information and perspective to draw on that Garber provides. Her dynamic & astonishing research is coupled with a great attitude & laid back voice. Buy/read this book, you won't see things the same ever again...........

Rating:
Summary: The Bi Equivalent to Faludi's Backlash
Review: This book is now a cornerstone of my library. Garber breaksdown Bisexuality just as Susan Faludi previously made feminism accessible through Backlash. This work is definately in the top 10. It is fun yet profound. Though an avid reader, I found at times the content was so heavy that I would put space between me and the book for awhile. But do not dismay. This distance was only needed because, being an acknowledged bisexual myself, the words slammed right home. I found one of the most helpful aspects of the book was the diverse lenses that Garber approached the subject through. Now, when I find myself reading other related books or coming in contact with related controversies, I have a wide range of information and perspective to draw on that Garber provides. Her dynamic & astonishing research is coupled with a great attitude & laid back voice. Buy/read this book, you won't see things the same ever again...........

Rating:
Summary: Like ... THIS is the real thing
Review: This is a complete and wonderful work of scholarship. I have delighted in and enjoyed every page. It is a thorough exploration of bisexuality, the bisexual experience, and bisexual eroticism. There are some profound observations in the book that have given me now insights into myself. As a bisexual who has read most - if not all - of the books on the subject; I can say that - in my opinion - this is the ONLY book on bisexuality that is actually worth reading. Ms. Garber is the only author I have read who has grasped the essence and the meaning of the "Bisexual Experience". It is clear that - unlike most writers on the subject - she is not guessing. She knows. She has also miraculously managed to make what she knows accessible to any reader. I made my psychologist buy a copy and read it. Now he knows what I'm talking about. Ms Garber demonstrates quite clearly that we bisexuals are not straight, we are not gay, we are not lesbian. We are a whole other breed of cat. This book should help anyone to understand what sort of cat we are.

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Summary: Wonderful Work!
Review: This is an amazing book for anyone who is bisexual or just plain interested in gender studies. It is well written, informative and all encompassing when it comes to the many realms of sexuality outside the terms "gay" or "straight". Through reading this book I was able to realize that although I am a bisexual women, I often identify myself as a male gender phsycologically. That you Marjorie for this wonderful piece of literature!