Paula C. Rust

“COMING OUT” IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM: Sexual Identity Formation among Lesbian and Bisexual Women

This article examines sexual identity formation among 346 lesbian-identified and 60 bisexual-identified women. On average, bisexuals come out at later ages and exhibit less “stable” identity histories. However, variations in identity history among lesbians and bisexuals overshadow the differences between them and demonstrate that coming out is not a linear, goal-oriented, developmental process. Sexual identity formation must be reconceptualized as a process of describing ones social location within a changing social context. Changes in sexual identity are, therefore, expected of mature individuals as they maintain an accurate description of their position vis-à-vis other individuals, groups, and institutions.

Bisexuality: The State of the Union

Abstract In many contemporary Occidental societies, bisexuality is paradoxical. Commonly conceived as a combination of heterosexuality and homosexuality, bisexuality as such became conceivable only after the popularization of the hetero/homosexual dichotomy during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Paradoxically, however, the concepts of hetero- and homosexuality, reflecting the cultural belief that an individuals feelings of sexual attraction are naturally directed toward the other sex or, alternatively, toward the same sex, simultaneously renders bisexuality—as an attraction to both genders—inconceivable. In this article, I review the historical and cultural processes that produced the paradoxical conceivability of bisexuality. I then discuss the cultural attitudes toward bisexuality that result from this paradox and show how scientific research on bisexuality has been guided by popular conceptions of, and attitudes toward, bisexuality. Finally, I review efforts to reconceptualize bisexuality for both political and scientific purposes, and summarize recent research on bisexuality using these reconceptualizations. This summary includes research on the prevalence of bisexuality, prejudice against bisexuals, patterns of bisexual behavior, and the meaning of bisexual self-identity.

Bisexuality: A Contemporary Paradox for Women

The cultural construction of ‘lesbian’ and ‘heterosexual’ women in late-nineteenth-century European cultures created both the possibility of conceiving the “bisexual” woman and the belief that bisexuality cannot exist. Social scientists have suggested several alternatives to dichotomous constructions of sexuality to facilitate the conceptualization of, and therefore empirical research on, bisexuality. This article reviews these alternatives and summarizes the current state of researchon bisexuality, including research on ‘situational homosexuality’ (behavioral bisexuality), recent national probability studies on sexual behaviors and identities in the United States, the meanings of bisexual self-identities among women, masculinist biases in methods of assessing and theorizing sexual self-identities, and prejudice against bisexuals. The article concludes with suggestions for future social scientific research on bisexuality.

Two Many and Not Enough

Abstract Developing sexual identity is a challenge for individuals who do not fit neatly into monosexual categories. This paper explores the use and meanings of bisexual identity among 917 individuals who are attracted to both women and men or have had sexual contact with both women and men. The data are from the International Bisexual Identities, Communities, Ideologies, and Politics (IBICIP) study. The main focus of this paper is qualitative analysis of the meanings individuals impute to their bisexual identities; also included are data regarding the popularity of various bisexual and non-bisexual identities, the use of multiple sexual identities, and gender and racial differences in the popularity of bisexual identity. A key point emerging from this analysis is the distinction between the meaning of bisexual identity and the definition of bisexuality.

Neutralizing the political threat of the marginal woman: Lesbians' beliefs about bisexual women.

One might expect lesbian and bisexual women to form a strong alliance because of their common marginalization in a heterosexist and sexist society. But previous research has shown that tension exists between lesbian and bisexual women and that some segments of the lesbian community consider bisexuality a threat to lesbian politics. In this article I report data on beliefs about bisexual women gathered from 346 self‐identified lesbians via self‐administered questionnaires and discuss the relationship between lesbian and bisexual women as a special case of intergroup relations. Most lesbian respondents believed that bisexual identity is more likely than lesbian identity to be a phase or a way of denying ones true sexuality and that bisexual women are less personally and politically loyal and more willing and able to pass as heterosexual than are lesbians. Lesbians’ beliefs about bisexual women were uncorrelated with demographics, but lesbians who reported having some heterosexual feelings were less incline...

Make Me a Map

Summary Traditionally, a community is a socially interconnected group of people living and working in close geographic proximity to each other for example, a small town. However, in contemporary Western societies, high rates of geographic mobility, compartmentalized relationships, and the replacement of social relationships based on factors of birth with relationships based on common interests have rendered this form of community increasingly scarce. For many individuals, the sense of belonging once provided by geographically bounded communities is now provided by other social structures, such as membership organizations and Internet connections. “Make Me a Map” explores the questions of whether bisexual men feel that a bisexual community exists and, if so, what makes it a community; whether they derive a sense of belonging from it; and how it is related to other sexual and political communities. The data are drawn from an international study of the psychological, social, and political experiences of over 900 bisexual men and women, in which respondents described their bisexual communities (or lack thereof) verbally and drew maps of these communities. These verbal responses and maps reveal feelings of both isolation and belonging among bisexual men, a variety of beliefs about what a community is or should be, and a variety of experiences with and perceptions of this bisexual community. Also explored in “Make Me a Map” are bisexual mens perceptions of racial, political, gender, and sexual diversity within their bisexual communities, issues of visibility and self-identification, and the relationships of their bisexual communities to gay and lesbian communities. The analysis concludes with a theoretical consideration of the relationship between individual perceptions of community and the concept of a collective social reality.

Designing a Course on Sexuality: lssues, Problems, and Parameters

Department of Sociology, Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323. The original version of this essay appeared in the American Sociological Association’s Teaching Resource Center publication titled The Sociology of Sexuality and Homosexuality : Syllabi and Teaching Materials, 2nd edition, edited by Paula C. Rust and Martin P. Levine. Copies of this publication can be obtained from the ASA Teaching Resource Center, 1722 N Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036. If you are designing your first course on sexuality or thinking about adding material on sexuality to an existing course, you are probably already thinking about some difficult and challenging issues. Although many colleges and universities now offer courses on sexuality and a core literature has developed, there is neither a &dquo;canon&dquo;