History of bisexuality

A modern definition of bisexuality began to take shape in the mid-19th century within three interconnected domains of knowledge: biology, psychology and sexuality.

In modern Western culture, the term bisexual was first defined in a binary approach as a person with romantic or sexual attraction to both men and women.

[4][5][6] In English the word was first used in 1892 by American neurologist Charles Gilbert Chaddock when he kept the term from the source material in his translation the seventh edition of German psychologist Krafft-Ebing's book Psychopathia Sexualis.

[8] Prior to the contemporary discussion of sexuality as a phenomenon associated with personal identity, ancient and medieval culture viewed bisexuality as the experience of homosexual and heterosexual relationships.

[9][10] The cultures of ancient Greece and Rome accepted that adult men were involved in homosexual relationships, as long as they took the active role of penetration.

[15] The Greeks did not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate practices, but had a concept of aphrodisia, sexual acts that give pleasure, regardless of whether they are performed with a man or a woman.

[16] In Ancient Rome a freeborn Roman performing the penetrative role could have sex with male and female partners as it was considered socially acceptable.

Several authors have noted a strong historical tradition of open bisexuality and homosexuality among male Buddhist institutions in Japan.

Genshin, a Tendai priest criticised homosexuality in severe terms, but some interpreted his position as a condemnation of practices with an acolyte who was not under one's authority.

[24] The writings on sexuality in literature and historical records in ancient China are often allusive and implied, using phrases and words only recognizable for people who are familiar with the literary culture and background.

[24][26] One example that produced the word that describes a homosexual relationship – Duànxiù, or "breaking the sleeve" – happened between the Han Emperor Ai and his male lover Dong Xian (董賢).

His male lover Mi found a very sweet peach in the garden; after tasting it, he shared the remaining half with Emperor Ling.

Freud established his theory on a biological development basis that children in the pregenital phase do not differentiate between female and male sexes, but believe that both parents have the same reproductive powers and identical genitalia.

[36] When children reach the phallic stage, their gender identity becomes stable, and heterosexuality is the gradual result of the repression of an initial bisexuality.

[37] Carl Jung criticized the notion of bisexuality lying at the basis for psychic life, and the fact that Freud did not according to him give an adequate description of the female child.

[46]: 657 The first English-language use of the word "bisexual", in the sense of being sexually attracted to both women and men, was by the American neurologist Charles Gilbert Chaddock in his 1892 translation of the same term used in the same way in the 7th edition of Krafft-Ebing's seminal work Psychopathia Sexualis.

One notable exception was the openly bisexual poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver in 1923.

In 1914 the first documented appearance of bisexual characters (female and male) in an American motion picture occurred in A Florida Enchantment, by Sidney Drew.

The first public protests for equal rights for gay and lesbian people were staged at governmental offices and historic landmarks in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., between 1965 and 1969.

[52] In 1973 bisexual activist Woody Glenn was interviewed by a radio show of the National Organization for Women on WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Anita Bryant led an anti-gay campaign called Save Our Children against the ordinance, and Rockway began a boycott of Florida orange juice, which she advertised, in response.

A press conference was organized in opposition to Bryant with Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon and Benjamin Spock by the San Francisco Bisexual Center.

[65] Also in 1979, Dr. Marvin Colter founded ARETE, a support and social group for bisexuals in Whittier, California, which marched in the 1983 Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade and had a newsletter.

[52] The community center offered support and counselling to Bay Area bisexuals, and published a newsletter from 1976 to 1984, called The Bi Monthly.

[74] In 1986 in San Francisco Autumn Courtney (from BiPOL) became co-chair of Lesbian Gay Freedom Day Pride Parade Committee; she was the first openly bisexual person to be elected to this sort of position in the United States.

[52] Also in 1987, Barney Frank became the first U.S. congressman to come out as gay of his own volition; he was inspired in part by the death of Stewart McKinney, a closeted bisexual Republican representative from Connecticut.

[52] In 1997, bisexual activist and psychologist Pat Ashbrook produced for the first time a national model for LGBT support groups within the Veterans Administration hospital.

In 1993, Ron Fox wrote the first large scale academic study on bisexual identity, and maintained an exhaustive bibliography on bi research.

[97][98] In 1995 a group of four women, including Catherine Deschamps, from the Act Up-Paris movement or from lesbian associations met at the Centre gay et lesbien (CGL) in Paris to work on an article on bisexuality for the newspaper Le 3 Keller.

The association 360 in Geneva created in 1998[102] also responds to the need of LGBTIQ people with the wish to have a perspective of openness integrated in its statutes to tackle for the problem with a monolith perception of gay and lesbian identities.