Bisexual Men in Culture and Society

Erich W Steinman, Brett Genny Beemyn

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317992752
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Gain a fresh perspective on this misunderstood sexual orientation!From invisible to pathological, the literary, cultural, and theoretical representations of male bisexuality have been almost uniformly negative. Bisexual Men in Culture and Society provides a clear, rational analysis of the negative stereotypes and the underlying reasons for them."The bisexual is the brutal father, the abusive husband, the violent rapist (all familiar figures of male heterosexual power), but he is also the simpering, oral-sadistic mama's boy found in psychoanalytic accounts of homosexuality.... Bisexuals are queers with straight privilege, ... straights with gay chic." Jonathan David White's caustic summary of bisexual men as seen in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet also applies to many of the representations of male bisexuality in popular and high culture. The original essays in Bisexual Men in Culture and Society deconstruct that dangerous image with blistering force and accuracy. Bisexual Men in Culture and Society offers thoughtful, insightful examinations of the cultural meanings of bisexuality, including:

• the recurring figure of the predatory, immoral bisexual man in the novels of E. Lynn Harris
• the overlooked bisexual themes in James Baldwin's classic novels Another Country and Giovanni's Room
• the murderous bisexual men in such films as Blue Velvet and American Commandos
• the portrayal in women's magazines of the bisexual husband as a promiscuous, deceitful AIDS carrier
• the conflicts within sexual-identity politics between gay men and bisexual men
• the focus on bisexual orientation, rather than sexual behavior, as a risk factor for AIDS Continuing the tradition of Bisexuality in the Lives of Men: Facts and Fictions, Bisexual Men in Culture and Society offers a brilliant analysis of the lives of bisexual men and their precarious position within a racist, sexist, and homophobic society.

Index

African American gay authors, 78-80

African American gay literature, 75-76,79-80. See also Gay and lesbian literature

African American male bisexuality. See also Bisexuality

invisibility of, 77-78

silence surrounding, 77

African American male bisexuals, 75. See also Ambisexuals; Bisexual men

in literature, 75-76. See also Harris, E. Lynn

AIDS. See also HIV; HIV prevention

bisexuality and, 98

current media representations of, 106-109

media coverage of women as victims of, 98-103

Ambisexuals, 105-106. See also African American male bisexuals; Bisexual men; Bisexual women; Women

American Commandos (1985), 3,41,42-43,47,52

Anal sex, 107-108

And This Too Shall Pass (Harris), 86-87

Ang, Ien, 27

Another Country (Baldwin), 5,57-58,65-70

Asistent, Niro, 99

Baldwin, James, 5,58

Another Country, 5,57-58,65-70

Giovanni’s Room, 57-58,61-65

Go Tell It on the Mountain, 60-61

“The Preservation of Innocence” essay by, 59

Barthes, Roland, 27

Basic Instinct (1992), 41,47-50,52

Beam, Joseph, 80

Beemyn, Brett, 3-7,57-72

Bereano, Nancy, 79

Bisexual drug gangsters, in films, 47

Bisexuality, 3. See also African American male bisexuality

AIDS and, 52,98

heterosexuals and, 52

hostility towards, 12. See also Together Alone (1990)

media coverage of, 97-106

women as victims of AIDS and, 98-103

Bisexual men. See also African American male bisexuals; Ambisexuals

attitudes towards, 11-12

challenging stereotypes...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• About the Contributors
• Introduction
• In Dialogue: Problems and Opportunities in Together Alone’s Visions of Queer Masculinities
• Bisexual Dilemma: Closets All the Way Down
• Bisexuals Who Kill: Hollywood’s Bisexual Crimewave, 1985-1998
• “To Say Yes to Life”: Sexual and Gender Fluidity in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Another Country
• Invisible Lives: Addressing Black Male Bisexuality in the Novels of E. Lynn Harris
• How Many People Can I Love at One Time? A Lot!
• “Ethically Questionable?”: Popular Media Reports on Bisexual Men and AIDS
• Index