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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Rust, Paula C., 1959-

Title Bisexuality and the Challenge to Lesbian Politics : Sex, Loyalty, and Revolution.

Publication Info. New York : NYU Press, 1995.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (390 pages).
data file
Series The Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature Series
Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature Series.
Contents Foreword; Introduction; 1 Debate in the lesbian press : introducing the issues; The publications; Coverage of bisexuality in the lesbian and gay press; 2 "Experts'" voices : lesbianism, bisexuality, and the social sciences; What is a model?; The great debate--essentialism versus constructionism; A brief history of sexology in the United States; 3 Behind the scenes : how the study was done and who participated in it; A brief and nontechnical lesson in sampling theory for nonacademic readers; How lesbian and bisexual women were recruited to participate in the study; The women who participated--who were they?; 4 Lesbians' voices : what do lesbians think about bisexuality and its role in sexual politics?; Does bisexuality exist?; What is bisexuality? Or, will the real lesbian please stand up? Bisexuality as a matter of identity--or a denial of identity; What are bisexuals like?; How do lesbians feel about bisexual women?; 5 Who believes what? The impact of lesbians' personal politics and experiences on their attitudes toward bisexuality; Race, education, class, and other demographic differences; Political differences : do political lesbians speak for us all?; Personal experiences--the role of empathy; Summary; 6 The pink and blue herring : the issue is lesbianism, not bisexuality; The personal and the political : constructing lesbianism as a feminist issue; Debate over the relationship between lesbianism and feminism; Bisexuality : the issue that exposes controversies and contradictions in lesbian ideology; summary; 7 Bisexual women's voices : what do bisexual women think about bisexuality and the role of bisexuals in sexual politics?; Does bisexuality exist?; What is bisexuality? Or, why is everyone standing up?; Bisexuals' images and feelings about themselves; The impact of bisexual women's personal politics and experiences on their attitudes toward bisexuality; summary; 8 Another revolution on the political wheel : the politicization of bisexuality; The bisexual press : forum for the discussion of bisexual identity, community, and ideology; Déjà vu?; The future of sexual identity politics.
Summary The subject of bisexuality continues to divide the lesbian and gay community. At pride marches, in films such as Go Fish, at academic conferences, the role and status of bisexuals is hotly contested. Within lesbian communities, formed to support lesbians in a patriarchal and heterosexist society, bisexual women are often perceived as a threat or as a political weakness. Bisexual women feel that they are regarded with suspicion and distrust, if not openly scorned. Drawing on her research with over 400 bisexual and lesbian women, surveying the treatment of bisexuality in the lesbian and gay press, and examining the recent growth of a self-consciously political bisexual movement, Paula Rust addresses a range of questions pertaining to the political and social relationships between lesbians and bisexual women. By tracing the roots of the controversy over bisexuality among lesbians back to the early lesbian feminist debates of the 1970s, Rust argues that those debates created the circumstances in which bisexuality became an inevitable challenge to lesbian politics. She also traces it forward, predicting the future of sexual politics.
Local Note JSTOR Books at JSTOR Open Access
Subject Lesbians -- United States -- Attitudes.
Lesbians.
United States.
Lesbians -- United States -- Identity.
Identity (Philosophical concept)
Lesbians -- United States -- Psychology.
Psychology.
Bisexual women -- United States -- Attitudes.
Bisexual women.
Bisexual women -- United States -- Psychology.
Bisexuality -- Political aspects -- United States.
Bisexuality -- Political aspects.
Bisexuality.
Lesbianism -- Political aspects -- United States.
Lesbianism -- Political aspects.
Lesbianism.
Sexual behavior surveys -- United States.
Sexual behavior surveys.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Subject Lesbians.
Bisexual women.
Bisexuality.
Lesbianism.
Other Form: Print version: Rust, Paula C. Bisexuality and the Challenge to Lesbian Politics : Sex, Loyalty, and Revolution. New York : NYU Press, ©1995 9780814774441
ISBN 9780814771518 (electronic book)
0814771513 (electronic book)