The Psychopolitics of Bisexuality

This article begins with the observation that multiple current uses of the term “bisexuality” render the practice of sexual desire for both men and women invisible. It then centers on the use of the term in contemporary psychoanalytic gender theory and argues that here, too, its use to mean the mix of male and female genitals or of masculinity and femininity renders bisexual desire invisible. Although theorists suggest that psychic bisexuality can work clinically to deconstruct gender polarities, the essay argues that any use of masculinity and femininity reinstates rather than challenges such polarities.