BISEXUALITY DAY Oxford Dictionary defines bisexuality as the "sexual attraction to both men and women”. Popular myths regarding bisexuality describe the fact that bisexuals are indecisive or confused, hence this term is a phrase used as a stepping stone into a more ‘decisive’ or ‘valid’ sexual identity. This term is in itself extremely complex, thus it is very difficult to embed such complexity in the design of scientific experiments and classification of a dichotomous segregation into “heterosexual” and “homosexual” categories. Thus should any distinction be done, it is important that it is relative and any dichotomization is arbitrary. Dr. Alfred Kinsey and a team of researchers developed a rating scale known as the Kinsey Scale, published in 1948. Instead of assigning individuals on the basis of simply heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual, the team used a scale of one to six with the additional category of “X”. Individuals who reported no social-sexual reactions in interviews where classified in the “X” category. A study by Weinberg et al. in 1993 claims that the process by which individuals begin identifying themselves as bisexuals starts with identity confusion and the acknowledgement of same-sex attractions. For some it was the experience of having strong sexual attraction to both sexes while for others it was the fact that they believed these strong sexual feelings would end their heterosexuality. Some felt a strong sense of confusion and denial due to difficulty in facing up to the same-sex component of their sexuality. Following this period, those interviewed claimed to have accepted and applied the label. In some cases, the turning point was when the individuals went through sexual experiences with both men and women. The next stage was to then settle into the identity by accepting themselves and becoming less concerned about the negative attitudes of others towards their sexual preference. Ralph Greenspan and his team identified two areas in the brain that appeared to control mate selection by male fruit flies and by causing these areas to undergo female developmental pattern, researchers were able to turn the male bisexual. However, Greenspan stated that "There isn't a lot of indication that the organization of a fly brain is relevant to a noninsect brain” so the conversion to bisexuality in flies may not be applicable to higher mammals and humans. (Baringa, 1995)
The primary challenge when investigating bisexuality is to employ a measure of sexual feelings that does not depend on self-report. This is only possible for genital sexual arousal at present. (Rieger et al.) Another issue is that statistics on the number of existing bisexuals are unreliable due to the fact that individuals engaging in such behaviour do not often label themselves as bisexual. This may be because bisexuals lack an established community or culture to help ease the process since society is reluctant to recognize their existence. As M. Waldrop stated in an article in Science, “The scientific establishment could also do a lot more about collecting basic data�. References Bisexuality - definition of bisexuality in English | Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2016, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bisexuality . (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2016, from https://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/kinsey-scale.php Weinrich, J. D., Klein, F., Mccutchan, J. A., & Grant, I. (2014). Cluster Analysis of the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid in Clinical and Nonclinical Samples: When Bisexuality Is Not Bisexuality. Journal of Bisexuality, 14(34), 349-372. doi:10.1080/15299716.2014.938398 Weinberg, M. S., Williams, C. J., & Pryor, D. W. (1994). Dual attraction: Understanding bisexuality. New York: Oxford University Press. Waldrop, M. M. (2014). Diversity: Pride in science. Nature, 513(7518), 297300. doi:10.1038/513297a Barinaga, M. (1995). Bisexual fruit flies point to brain courtship centers. Science, 267(5199), 791-792. doi:10.1126/science.7846522 Rieger, G., Chivers, M. L., & Bailey, J. M. (2005). Sexual Arousal Patterns of Bisexual Men. Psychological Science, 16(8), 579-584. doi:10.1111/j.14679280.2005.01578.x