I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. Real Rating: 4.5* of five, rounded up for the 'Bidentity List' Drawing on her own original research-and her own experiences-this is a personal and scientific manifesto it’s an exploration of the complexities of the human sexual experience and a declaration of love and respect for the nonconformists among us. From the invention of heterosexuality to the history of the Kinsey scale, as well as asylum seekers trying to defend their bisexuality in a court of law, there is so much more to explore than most have ever realized. In BI: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality, Shaw probes the science and culture of attraction beyond the binary. Despite statistics that show bisexuality is more common than homosexuality, bisexuality is often invisible.

Ask people to name famous bisexual actors, politicians, writers, or scientists, and they draw a blank. It’s an admission, she writes, that usually causes people’s pupils to dilate, their cheeks to flush, and their questions to start flowing. For psychologist and bestselling author Julia Shaw, this is both professional and personal-Shaw studies the science of sexuality and she herself is proudly and vocally bisexual. Today, most bisexual activists and researchers define bisexuality as attraction to more than one gender, and this is a book for anyone whether they identify as bisexual, plurisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual, fluid, unlabelled, any related label or who just wants to know more.Despite all the welcome changes that have happened in our culture and laws over the past few decades in regards to sexuality, the subject remains one of the most influential but least understood aspects of our lives. This book aims to demystify bisexuality and celebrate it.

She explains the visual language of bisexuality, about bi visibility on screen and the colourful world of bisexual communities. She also questions societal reactions to bisexuality (are bi people more promiscuous? No). She asks why so few bisexual people are out, and examines the mental and physical health consequences of this. She examines the latest research on bisexual kids, parents and grandparents, and explores bisexual identities across the lifespan. She introduces some famous bi activists and scholars whom everyone should know. She looks at behavioural bisexuality in animals, and investigates whether there is a bi gene. In Bi Julia Shaw explores how people have defined and measured bisexuality during its long and important history. This book sets out to answer some of the questions that many people have about bisexuality. Bisexuality is the largest sexual minority in the world and the least well understood.

Bi dr julia shaw