1st Edition
Bisexuality in Europe Sexual Citizenship, Romantic Relationships, and Bi+ Identities
Bisexuality in Europe offers an accessible and diverse overview of research on bisexuality and bi+ people in Europe, providing a foundation for theorising and empirical work on plurisexual orientations and identities, and the experiences and realities of people who desire more than one sex or gender
Counteracting the predominance of work on bisexuality based in Ango-American contexts, this collection of fifteen contributions from both early-career and more senior academics reflects the current state of research in Europe on bisexuality and people who desire more than one sex or gender. The book is structured around three interlinked themes that resonate well with the international research frontiers of bisexual theorising: bisexual citizenship, intimate relationships, and bisexual+ identities. This book is the first of its kind in bringing together research from various European countries including Austria, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Scandinavian countries, as well as from Europe as a wider geographical region.. Topics include pansexual identity, non-monogomies, asylum seekers and youth cultures.
This is an essential collection for students, early career researchers, and more senior academics in Gender Studies, LGBTQI Studies and Sexuality Studies.
Chapter One: Bisexuality in Europe: Introduction to the field and this book
Emiel Maliepaard & Renate Baumgartner
Part I: Sexual citizenship
Chapter Two: The untellable bisexual asylum stories
Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh
Chapter Three: The bisexual movement in the Netherlands: Developments and experiences of key bi activists since the 1990s
Emiel Maliepaard
Chapter Four: Monosexual church policies and plurisexual youth cultures
Carol A Shepherd
Chapter Five: Bifeminist antimonogamy and the politics of erotic autonomy
Christian Klesse
Part II: Romantic relationships
Chapter Six: The becoming of family relationships and friendship circles after a bisexual break-up
Annukka Lahti
Chapter Seven: Bisexual women and monogamy
Sarah Jane Daly
Chapter Eight: "I think that I’m not a relationship person": Bisexual women’s accounts of (internalised) binegativity in non-monogamous relationship narratives
Renate Baumgartner
Chapter Nine: Plurisexualities and consensual non-monogamies: Challenging normativities in Italy
Nicole Braida
Part III: Bi+ identities
Chapter Ten: Forms of bisexual injustice: Bi, being, and becoming a knower
Robin Rose Breetveld
Chapter Eleven: Bisexuality as an identity and as a conceptual tool in sexual politics in Finland
Jenny Kangasvuo
Chapter Twelve: The invisibility of bisexual and pansexual bodies: Sexuality, appearance norms, and visual identities
Nikki Hayfield
Chapter Thirteen: Concluding remarks: Proposing future directions
Renate Baumgartner & Emiel Maliepaard
Biography
Emiel Maliepaard is a researcher at Atria: Institute on Gender Equality. His work on the lived experiences of bisexual people has been published in, among others, ‘Social and Cultural Geography’, ‘Sexualities’, ‘Journal of Bisexuality, and ‘Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie.’ Emiel has a special interest in social ontologies and theories such as practice theories. He, organised (with Dr. Caroline Walters) the ‘First European Bisexuality Research Conference’ (2016), edited a special issue of the ‘Journal of Bisexuality’ on (inter)national research frontiers in Europe, and wrote guidelines for bi inclusivity in Dutch (LGBT) organizations, health care services, and (government) policies. Finally, he is also involved in projects on sexual and (ex)partner violence.
Renate Baumgartner is a sociologist and pharmacist. She currently works in sociology of sexualities and sociology of science and technology. Her work on bisexuality has been published in ‘Psychology of Sexualities Review.’ She was a lead author of the research corner in Robyn Ochs’ magazine ‘Bisexual Women Quarterly.’ Renate has published in various fields including pharmacology and medicine. She currently works as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Tübingen (Germany), where she pursues a project on discrimination and fairness in artificial intelligence in medicine.
"A much needed anthology of bi+ research and theory, beyond the standard anglo-american focus. This book brings together a wealth of exciting and important chapters from a diverse range of locations and perspectives, with a particularly rich exploration of bi+ relationships of all kinds. A must-read for sexuality and relationship scholars."
— Meg-John Barker, author of The Bisexuality Report, The Psychology of Sex, and Sexuality: A Graphic Guide.
"Framed geographically as European, this collection is far-reaching in its relevance, challenges and insights. It takes us into the depth and breadth of excellent scholarship coming from both renowned established and ground-breaking emerging European scholars about bisexualities in Europe and bisexualities globally. Another strength of this collection is its embrace of the need to connect academia, advocacy, allyship and activism when addressing important issues such as asylum-seeking, religious repression, transphobia, bisexual health, sexual intimacies, misogyny and family diversity.."
— Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, editor of Bisexuality in Education: Erasure, Exclusion by Inclusion, and the Absence of Intersectionality, author of Women in Relationships with Bisexual Men: Bi Men By Women
