ABSTRACT
Julia Kristeva’s work on abjection can provide a general framework for thinking about transference-countertransference dynamics that arise with bisexual patients. While any patient’s sexuality can evoke the countertransference responses of fascinated disgust and abjection, bisexual patients are particularly likely to find themselves the objects of such responses, for a number of reasons. Fathers, in particular, tend to distance themselves, often in profound discomfort and disgust, from homo- and bisexual boys who seek their love, yearning to appear sexually attractive and desirable in the father’s eyes. Bisexuals evoke fascination and are commonly objectified and fetishized. Women who identify as bisexual on dating websites are likely to be offered threesomes and other forms of random sex; even if they clearly state that they are looking for a long-term relationship or monogamy. Patients whose sexualities are understood to be childish are bound to evoke complex emotional reactions.
