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Rating: 
Summary: Not very useful; book suffers from mislabeling
Review: As a bisexual who hopes to enter into - if not marriage, then some sort of more or less permanent civil/domestic partnership - with the right person at some point in time, I was very interested in this book. Unfortunately, it was rather disappointing. The first part consists of interviews with six so-called "bisexual couples", four women, and four men. The second part is the statistical breakdown of a survey which was administered to psychiatrists and sex therapists to get an idea of their viewpoints on homosexuality. The problem with this book is definitely inaccurate labeling. Only one of the couples could be considered bisexual, at least by my definition - in the other five, one of them partners discovered that they were not heterosexual. Having once been married, or continuing to be married on paper only, doesn't make you bisexual. The individual interviews were more useful. Two of the women interviewed were what I would consider to be bisexuals, i.e. being attracted to men and women simultaneously. Another was a heterosexual turned lesbian, and the fourth was married to a man who could be called bisexual - he was attracted to men, and the only woman who interested him sexually was his wife. The men interviewed were a man like the one described in the preceding paragraph, a straight man married to a bisexual woman, a bisexual man married to a bisexual woman, and a gay man who had had various affairs with married men (who usually did not identify as bisexual). This book has only minimal usefulness if you are married to a bisexual or are yourself a bisexual. It would be more useful if you are married to a person who has recently realized they're not heterosexual and know that your marriage is going to end. The study that makes up Part Two will not be of interest to most lay persons. To someone doing a historical study of perspectives on sexuality among the mental health professions, it might be useful.
Rating:
Summary: Not very useful; book suffers from mislabeling
Review: As a bisexual who hopes to enter into - if not marriage, then some sort of more or less permanent civil/domestic partnership - with the right person at some point in time, I was very interested in this book. Unfortunately, it was rather disappointing. The first part consists of interviews with six so-called "bisexual couples", four women, and four men. The second part is the statistical breakdown of a survey which was administered to psychiatrists and sex therapists to get an idea of their viewpoints on homosexuality. The problem with this book is definitely inaccurate labeling. Only one of the couples could be considered bisexual, at least by my definition - in the other five, one of them partners discovered that they were not heterosexual. Having once been married, or continuing to be married on paper only, doesn't make you bisexual. The individual interviews were more useful. Two of the women interviewed were what I would consider to be bisexuals, i.e. being attracted to men and women simultaneously. Another was a heterosexual turned lesbian, and the fourth was married to a man who could be called bisexual - he was attracted to men, and the only woman who interested him sexually was his wife. The men interviewed were a man like the one described in the preceding paragraph, a straight man married to a bisexual woman, a bisexual man married to a bisexual woman, and a gay man who had had various affairs with married men (who usually did not identify as bisexual). This book has only minimal usefulness if you are married to a bisexual or are yourself a bisexual. It would be more useful if you are married to a person who has recently realized they're not heterosexual and know that your marriage is going to end. The study that makes up Part Two will not be of interest to most lay persons. To someone doing a historical study of perspectives on sexuality among the mental health professions, it might be useful.
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