Name: Bi Any Other Name
ISBN: 9781555831745

Loraine Hutchins

Lani Kaahumanu

Bisexual People Speak Out More than seventy women and men from all walks of life describe their lives as bisexuals.

Bisexual People Speak Out

Bi Any Other Name

 Loraine Hutchins

Lani Ka’ahumanu

“I am part of the generation that came of age when Bi Any Other Name was already in print. This groundbreaking anthology gave me the language, courage and sense of community I needed as a young queer woman.” —Daisy Hernández, A Cup of Water Under My Bed The 25th Anniversary Edition Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out first debuted in 1991. This groundbreaking book helped catalyze a national movement for bisexual identity, justice and equality. Often dubbed “the bisexual bible,” Bi Any Other Name was on Lambda Book Review’s Top 100 GLBT Books of the 20th century and became a beloved reference text in many classrooms, doctors’ offices, libraries, and pulpits. A 2007 Mandarin translation was published in Taiwan. The new 2015 introduction of this book updates readers to the enormous changes the past quarter century has brought – for bi people, the larger society and the sexual rights and liberation movement of which we are a part. When did you know? How did you come out? What was your experience? The coming out stories in this book speak to the many ways bisexuals embrace realities outside rigid either/or categories throughout the passage of our lives. Everyday stories of women, men, transgender bisexuals, teenagers to octogenarians, from many different cultures and family arrangements. The fierce truth of these lives made visible puts a check on bisexual erasure, exposing the binary constructions of gay/straight and male/female as oversimplifications that reduce spectrums to mere opposites. Caught between the mainstream culture’s persistent discounting of bisexuality, the sensationalizing characterizations presented in media, and the sexual liberation movement’s continual disregard of bisexuality as a serious identity, bisexual people are often not seen or heard when they speak out. There is a vital need for these earnest voices to be heard in the new century. Enormous cultural changes have occurred in the past 25 years, yes, but understanding bisexualities has just begun.

Sophie Shrimpton

My impression of this book changed the more I read. At first, I had a few concerns - there were a few things that didn't age well. Though this is a bi-positive book meant to empower bi people, a lot of the content shocked me and came across as heterosexist, cissexist, and just plain sexist (not to mention even biphobic!). Though, that's just the curse of writing about a developing area of politics- especially identity politics. I didn't feel like it encapsulated my bisexual experience, especially with it's obsession with binaries. I was especially disturbed about potentially not including men because 'their views of equality [are] ten years behind' (because women had the feminist movement). Seriously?

However, it definitely grew on me. My partner and I read out stories to each other before bed and we discovered some that we really related to. One thing that stuck out was bisexual women talking about the radical equality they experience being in a relationship with a woman that just isn't present/is much harder to foster in a relationship with a man. We can both relate to that.

However, since it was an interloan I had to return it today without finishing it. I was about 80 pages in. Maybe I'll finish it one day - probably not. There are much more valuable things I could read.

Bi Any Other Name Bisexual People Speak Out

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