ABSTRACT
The frequency and complexity of bisexual non-monogamies is one way to explain the existence of an intensive and lively debate about non-monogamy in the bisexual movement. This chapter explores a range of further explanations for this phenomenon. It begins with an analysis of how bisexual men's and women's non-monogamous relationships are framed in dominant discourses on bisexuality. The chapter further explores lines of conflict in movement debates about non-monogamy and link them to an analysis of bisexual politics and modes of community conceptualisation. It deals with positions on same-sex and other-sex marriage. Non-monogamy is a troubling issue for many bisexuals, because dominant discourse constructs bisexuals as non-monogamous by necessity. Theories of biphobia tend to identify the assumption that bisexual men and women are promiscuous as an important trope in anti-bisexual discourses. Feminists have highlighted that women are particularly vulnerable to the strategic deployment of anti-promiscuity discourses. The sexualisation of bisexual women in biphobic representation has material effects in women's lives.
