Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics
By (Author) Jennifer Baumgardner
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
12th July 2008
United States
General
Non Fiction
306.765
256
Width 135mm, Height 216mm
For the acclaimed author and activist Jennifer Baumgardner, bisexuality has always been more than the "sexual non-preference of the '90s." In "Look Both Ways", Baumgardner takes a close look at the growing visibility of gay and bisexual characters, performers, and issues on the national cultural stage. Despite the prevalence of bisexuality among Generation X and Y women, she finds that it continues to be marginalized by both gay and straight cultures, and dismissed either as a phase or a cop-out.With intimacy and humour, Baumgardner discusses her own experience as a bisexual, and the struggle she's undergone to reconcile the privilege she's garnered as a woman who is perceived as straight and the empowerment and satisfaction she's derived from her relationships with women. That Baumgardner argues have bridged feminist aims with those of the gay rights movement. "Look Both Ways" is a compelling and current study in bisexual lives lived secretly and openly, and an exploration of the lessons learned by writers, artists, and activists who have refused the either/or paradigm defended by both gay and straight communities.
"Jennifer Baumgardner's Look Both Ways is a jaunty, fearless, personal and political look at bisexuality today. Because she knows that sex is a way we communicate, not just procreate, she gives us a glimpse of a freer future in which sexuality is less about who is talking and more about what is said." --Gloria Steinem
Jennifer Baumgardner, co-author of Manifesta and Grassroots, frequently writes and lectures on feminism, activism, and popular culture for magazines and on college campuses around the country.