ABSTRACT
Bi-eroticism, bisexual behaviour, and bisexuality have frequently been described as elusive concepts and highly misunderstood phenomena (Tannahill, 1980; Klein and Wolf, 1985) which have defied scientific explanation since the ancient times of Greek tolerant views of bisexual pederasty (Travin and Protter, 1993). Twentieth-century theorists from Freud (1905) onwards, have speculated that bisexuality is a fundamental human characteristic, and that socialization is responsible for the development of either hetero-or homoeroticism. However, bieroticism and bisexuality have not been extensively studied, and the mechanisms whereby sexual orientation is shaped have yet to be explicated (Bancroft, 1989; Levine, 1992). Most conceptual models of bisexuality explain it in terms of conflictual or confused identity development, retarded sexual development, or a defence against ‘true’ heterosexuality or homosexuality. It has been suggested, however, that some individuals can eroticize more than one love object regardless of gender (Hansen, 1985), that sexual patterns could be more variable and fluid than theoretical notions tend to allow, and that sexual desire may not be as fixed and static in individuals as is assumed by ‘essential’ sexual categories and identities (Paul, 1985).
