Bi

This book is really all over the place. Some positives are the inclusion of trans experiences and issues, critique of whiteness in bisexual and queer communities, critique of assimilationism in mainstream queer movements, and some thought-provoking writing on bisexuality as a means of disruption and and hybridity. Some negatives include the lengthy discussions of “monosexism,” some strained comparisons of bisexuality to “racialized identities”, and the fact that I can't really find a compelling thesis in the book.

The author contradicts herself a lot, which she might argue is a quality of bisexuality and therefore not necessarily bad. In fact, the first thing she does is say that bisexuality cannot be defined. And then she defines it. I found it difficult to follow and believe her argument that bisexuality is both a unique and distinct identity/concept and also a fluid connector of many things. The author states many times that she doesn't want “monosexism” to imply that biphobia expressed by gays and lesbians is equal to biphobia expressed by straight people, and then repeatedly implies that it is. The same thing happens in the discussions of “passing,” where the writing tries to say that bisexuals “passing” for straight is not a privilege but also is. (I think we need to be honest that the emotional damage of being presumed straight is different from the potential physical violence that could result from being clocked as queer. Equating those things feels lacking in truth.)

I think other readers have mentioned this also, but it could've been a much shorter book. There are some pieces of value here but it's very esoteric.