Bisexuality: The true norm?
By David Richardson
Many of us have heard people describe themselves as "bisexual" rather than "Gay" or straight. What does that description imply and how do bisexual people explain their "middle-of-the-road position? All animals are biologically bisexual to some extent, but only a relative few actually practice Bisexuality. Bisexuality, as used in this article, refers to more than incidental sexual encounters with members of the same sex while coupled with a sexual interest in the opposite sex.
There is not a great deal of material on the subject. Many clinicians feel it does not truly exist and, when it is recognized, it is more often than not dealt with as a form of homosexuality. However, there are a few sources that recognize Bisexuality as a distinct form of sexual expression-distinct from heterosexuality on one end and homosexuality on the other. The diversity of sexual expression is impressive, especially since most of us have been thoroughly trained to think in terms of polarities: male or female, heterosexual or homosexual.
Heterosexuality and homosexuality have always been polarized. Homosexuality was openly practiced in the days of the early Grecian and Roman empires as an ideal way of life. The same was (and is) true of other cultures outside the Judaic/Christian influences. Bisexuality was either taken for granted or not recognized. Charles Darwin was the first to use the word "bisexual." In 1868 he wrote in "The Variations of Animals and Plants Under Domestication," that Bisexuality alone could explain certain hereditary traits.
Darwin wrote, "Latent characteristics of the opposite sex can be transmitted to future generations in both fauna and flora." Sigmund Freud later expanded on the idea of Bisexuality. In "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality."
"It is well known that at all times there have been, as there are, human beings who can take as their sexual objects persons of either sex without the one trend interfering with the other. We call these people bisexual...But we have come to know that all human beings are bisexual in this sense, and that their libido is distributed between objects of both sexes, either in manifest or latent form."
This is the very essence of Bisexuality. Since it was generally agreed that biologically all humans contain something of the opposite sex, would these traits manifest if it were not for powerful social restraints which stem from the Judaic/Christian influence?
Could Bisexuality be the true "norm"? Examine: A newborn baby can be easily stimulated. It does not distinguish between a male or female stimulus; it will simply respond if the stimulus is a pleasurable one. However, if he or she was never taught to distinguish between the two (as it most certainly will be), would he or she remain open throughout its life, judging the quality of the stimulus bur not the giver of the stimulus? What part would nature play?