ABSTRACT
Adolescence is a time of glorious but painful agonies when, in the face of great uncertainties about oneself, a gender identity gels. The pressure to settle that sexual identity, however, is not the only force exploding tumultuously within the young person. It is often forgotten that there is a unity that precedes individuation and a sexuality that is non-gendered but comes before both bisexuality and male/female identity and indeed extends more broadly than that simplistic dualism would suggest. The place of undifferentiated sexuality in Shakespeare’s plays informs us of its origins in individual development. Perhaps “engendered sexuality” more properly should be thought of as an infinitely variable range of gender identities. Reclaiming comfortable access to such unfettered equal-opportunity sexuality enriches our understanding of our patients and ourselves, as well as of Shakespeare. Psychoanalysts know that a large part of the appeal of young adolescents to more mature adults is their seeming bisexuality.
