Fall 1997--Gender/Sexuality and Its Discontents性／別及其不安
Part II: Seminar on Bisexuality
Ho (Office Hours: Wed 2-5, also available Thur 2-5)

This is a follow-up course on the (IN-)stability of gender/sexuality politics. Last semester we read several recent works on cross-dressing and the categorical crisis that it provokes, as well as the highly political perverse dynamic at work in all forms of sexual dissidence. This semester we will move on to investigate another dimension of gender/sexuality discontent: the dimension of time and the changes that necessarily accompany it. As the dimension of time enters the scene, it brings on a host of other thorny questions in relation to the nature of love, of infidelity, of aging, of falling out of love, of uncertainty, and in sum, of the basic fact of change-and the challenges they bring to identity politics. In the end, bisexuality may turn out to be a term we use at the present moment to designate a variety of things that we are not quite sure how to deal with. To earn credits for the course, you will be required to keep up with the reading assignments, to bring observations to the class and give thought-provoking presentations, to write a 3-page mid-term paper and an 8-page final paper. (Xeroxed readers are available from Gauguan.)

Readings:(in chronological order)
  • Geller, Thomas, ed. Bisexuality: A Reader and Sourcebook. Novato, CA: Times Change Press, 1990.
  • Weise, Elizabeth Reba. Closer to Home: Bisexuality & Feminism. Seattle, WA: Seal, 1992.
  • Tucker, Naomi, ed. Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions. New York: Harrington Park P, 1995.
  • Rust, Paula C. Bisexuality and the Challenge to Lesbian Politics: Sex, Loyalty, and Revolution. New York: New York UP, 1995.
  • Garber, Marjorie. Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
  • Beemyn, Brett & Mickey Eliason, eds. Queer Studies: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Anthology. New York: New York UP, 1996.
  • Phelan, Shane, ed. Playing With Fire: Queer Politics, Queer Theories. New York: Routledge, 1997.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:(only hoping)

9-24 Intro to Course (張學友與鄭中基的左右為難)
　The Urge to Emerge 
10-1 Come out, come out, bisexuality (Geller, Weise -127--definition) 
	　Andy Plumb, The Transgender Dance 
	　Pamela Walker, Reflecting on Physical Disability and (Bi)sexuality 
	　Ruth Gibian, Refusing Certainty: Toward a Bisexuality of Wholeness 
	　Dvora Zipking, Why Bi? 
	　Stacey Young, Breaking Silence About the "B-Word"?: 
	　　Bisexual Identity and Lesbian-Feminist Discourse 
	　Rebecca Ripley, The Language of Desire: Sexuality, Identity and Language 
	　Sharon Gonsalves, Where Healing Becomes Possible 
10-8 You are! Are You? (Weise 127-231--Practice) 
	　Robyn Ochs, Bisexuality, Feminism, Men and Me 
	　Rebecca Shuster, Bisexuality and the Quest for Principled Loving 
	　Amanda Yoshizaki, Breaking the Rules: Constructing a Bisexual Feminist Marriage 
	　Diane Anderson, Living With Contradictions            
	　Eridani, Is Sexual Orientation a Secondary Characteristic? 
	　Amanda Udis-Kessler, Closer to Home: Bisexual Feminism and 
	　　the Transformation of Hetero/sexism 
	　Kathleen Bennett, Feminist Bisexuality: A Both/And Option for an Either/Or World
　United We Stand 
10-15 Who's afraid of bisexuality (Weise 233-310--Community) 
	　Beth Elliott, Holly Near: And Yet So Far            
	　Karin Baker, Bisexual-Feminist Politics: Because Bisexuality Is Not Enough 
	　Rebecca Kaplan, Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Bisexual Existence: 
	　　Toward a Bisexual Feminist Understanding of Heterosexism 
	　Paula C. Rust, Who Are We and Where Do We Go From Here: 
	　　Conceptualizing Bisexuality 
10-22 The birth of a movement (Tucker 31-107--Bisexual identity)
	　Stephen Donaldson, The Bisexual Movement's Beginnings in the 70s: 
	　　A Personal Retrospective 
	　Liz A. Highleyman, Identity and Ideas: 
	　　Strategies for Bisexuals Tamara Bower, Bisexual Women, Feminist Politics
　Divided We Fall 
10-29 Match of the century (Tucker 151-249--Les vs. Bi)
	　Carol Queen, Sexual Diversity and Bisexual Identity 
	　Elizabeth Armstrong, Traitors to the Cause?: Understanding the Lesbian/Gay "
	　　Bisexuality Debates" 
	　Stacey Young, Bisexuality, Lesbian and Gay Communities and the Limits of 
	　　Identity Politics 
	　Kory Martin-Damon, Essay for the Inclusion of Transsexuals 
11-5 Beyond binary thinking (Tucker 251-314--Who else wants in?) 
	　Orna Izakson, If Half of You Dodges a Bullet, All of You Ends Up Dead 
	　Rebecca Kaplan, Your Fence Is Sitting on Me: The Hazards of Binary Thinking 
	　Annie S. Murray, Forsaking All Others: A Bifeminist Discussion of Compulsory 
	　　Monogamy 
	　Jill Nagle, Framing Radical Bisexuality: Toward a Gender Agenda 
11-19 Mid-course catch-up and catch-all day
　So What Else Is New 
11-26 Bi and Transgender (Rust) 
	　Paula C. Rust, Another Revolution on the Political Wheel: 
	　　The Politicization of Bisexuality 
	　Ki Namaste, "Tragic Misreadings": 
	　　Queer Theory's Erasure of Transgender Subjectivity 
12-3 Fighting our way through (Beemyn & Eliason) 
	　Amber Ault, Hegemonic Discourse in an Oppositional Community:
	　　Lesbian Feminist Stigmatization of Bisexual Women 
	　Christopher James, Denying Complexity: 
	　　The Dismissal and Appropriation of Bisexuality in Queer, Lesbian, and Gay Theory 
12-10 Bi words & bi politics (Garber) 
	　Marjorie Garber, Bi Sexual Politics 
	　Marjorie Garber, Fatal Attractions
　From The Person to the Movement 
12-17 The eternal triangle (Garber) 
	　Marjorie Garber, Erotic Triangles 
	　Marjorie Garber, Jealousy 
12-24 Queer Bi (Phelan)
	　Judith Butler, Critically Queer 
	　Stacey Young, Dichotomizing and Displacement: 
	　　Bisexuality in Queer Theory and Politics 
12-31 Bi all means, we might get a holiday

1-7 Paper Presentation