Re: Half'n'Half

It seems we like to pigeon-hole people into one category or another
without making references to the soc.bi FAQ ***. Historians, for
example, infer whether celebrities or renowned persons from the past
were straight/gay/bi based on "evidence." If there is a hint of a
relationship via correspondence or whether two people spent a
significant amount of time together, historians like to make
statements about the sexuality of now deceased people. Are these
observations significant or are they just for our own amusement?
Obviously, few, if any, of these dead celebrities came out and
announced that they were straight/gay/bi. How do we decide if other
people are bi? Is it based solely on their behavior? Or do there
have to be feelings involved?

Sure, only the person in question can know their own feelings, but
plenty of people live their whole lives in denial. So if you get
married and have kids and never have sex with anyone of the same sex
does that make you straight? So the guys on the football team
stretching each other's legs on the field before the game, say that's
their favorite part of being on the team. Say they can only make love
to their wives with that image in their minds. How does that affect
their sexuality?

In the film, But I'm A Cheerleader, everyone assumes the main
character is a lesbian except the main character. It turns out she
thinks about her fellow cheerleaders while she makes out with her
boyfriend, so she eventually embraces the fact that she's gay.
However, there is a "lesbian" character of the film who has a
partially shaved head and is dressed in boys clothes who eventually
breaks down in tears because despite being thought of as a lesbian she
identifies as straight. Then there is the film, Kissing Jessica
Stein, in which the main character (Jessica) has an emotional
connection with a woman (Helen) after having a frustrating time with
men. Both Jessica and Helen were strictly straight before their
relationship. After having a "lesbian" relationship for several
months, the couple realize that Jessica is straight. Helen moves on
to lesbianism and Jessica goes back to breederism.

Are any of these characters bi? What if you think about whether you
paid the phone bill while "making love?" What does that say about
your sexuality? Are there set sexualities? Even the term
"bisexuality" seems rigid. It's just an abbreviated form of
ambisexuality, which just means "goes both ways sexually," but who
said there were only two ways to go? Nothing in life is linear.
There are an infinite number of shades of gray.

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