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Hello February, the month of love! What a fitting time to hold LGBT+ History Month as well! Celebrated every February in the UK to coincide with the abolishment of Section 28, LGBT+ History Month is a time to look back on the civil rights movements that have gotten the LGBT+ community where they are today – and this year I’m focusing on the history of bisexuality!
One of the definitions of bisexuality is: “the quality or characteristic of being sexually attracted not exclusively to people of one particular gender”, and has been in practice since the times of ancient Greece, Rome, China and Japan. Alexander the Great had male lovers as well as numerous wives. Married Spartan soldiers were required to have relations with each other in order to inspire commitment and valour in battle. Julius Caesar was openly bisexual and engaged in sexual relations with many men and women including Nicomedes, King of Anatolian Kingdom of Birthynia, and Cleopatra of Egypt. His behaviour recognised him as “every man’s wife and every woman’s husband”. During feudal times in ancient China and Japan, same-sex love between males was considered more masculine than that or hetero-love, and was encouraged, celebrated and idealised, with male geishas and brothels being central to life until the 19th Century. Bisexuality was not seen as a deviation from the norm back then, but merely part of life experience. It is important to realise that it would not have been categorised in the same way as it is in modern times. Therefore, the concept of classifying oneself as bisexual as a sexual orientation would not have existed, nor the label, but it is clear it had it’s place in society. The term bisexuality was originally used in the 19th Century to refer to people who had male and female anatomy (historically known as hermaphrodites and now referred to as intersexuals). Sigmund Freud was one of the first to use the word with a meaning similar to the one we now know. He acknowledged the physical aspects of the other in males and females, like intersexuals, but also noted the libidinal drives that were experienced towards members of the same and opposite sex – the sexual desires of his patients. Although recognising that humans were born with bisexual potential, Freud’s belief was that bisexuality was not a sexual identity, but a transitional period of a psychosexual stage. He believed that successful resolution of this stage in development would result in heterosexuality and an unsuccessful fixation would lead to homosexuality. It was not until Alfred Kinsey’s research in the 1940’s and 50’s on human sexual behaviour, that a greater and more accurate understanding of bisexuality was accomplished. From a study including 18 thousand interviews, the ‘Kinsey Scale’ was created in 1948. This was a rating scale ranging from 0-6 with 0 representing heterosexuality and 6 representing homosexuality. The Kinsey Scale was the first to provide evidence that human sexuality was on a continuum. However, this research was only based on sexual behaviour and did not take into account intrapersonal thoughts and feelings or self-identification. Nonetheless, it provided a starting point for expansion of a more multidimensional scale to be developed, like the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (KSOG) in 1978. Bisexuality had become better defined, and following the Sexual Offences Bill in 1967, it was no longer illegal in the UK, and with the help of the Stonewall Riots of New York in 1969 & the forming of the LGBT+ community, bisexuality has continued to progress in recognition as it’s own category of sexual orientation. Despite this, and even though it was legal, bisexuality was still discriminated against under Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988. This clause was brought in to "prohibit the promotion of homosexuality" with bisexuality being a part of that. This meant that any teachers were forbidden from discussing same-sex relationships within the classroom, and Councils were banned from stocking any literature or film that contained LGBT+ themes in libraries. LGBT+ activists protested for many years, with notable individuals such as Sir Ian McKellen publicly coming out to stand against the clause and it was eventually abolished in 2003 in the UK, and in it's place we celebrate LGBT+ History Month. The LGBT+ community has come a long way; from tolerance to acceptance, discrimination to inclusion but still has a long way to go. Let us continue to increase visibility for the minority, enhance awareness and promote the wellbeing of those that differ from the heteronormative society. Because after all, love is love.
#lgbt #lgbtplus #lgbtqia #lgbthistorymonth #bisexuality #bisexual #gsrd #sexaulity #sexualorientation #sexualidentity #sigmundfreud #alfredkinsey #thekinseyscale #ksog #stonewall #section28