Monday, June 13, 2005

   Bisexuality

Bisexuality
Bisexuality in the news

Bisexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by romantic love or sexual desire for members of either or both genders, contrasted with homosexuality, heterosexuality, and asexuality.

The terms pansexual, omnisexual and pomosexual are generally used synonymously with one another, but compare with Terminology below. Bisexual people may have simultaneous relationships with partners of any gender, practice serial monogamy with partners of either gender, have relationships with partners of only one gender, or practice celibacy. Bisexuality refers to desires and self-concept, not necessarily behavior.

Many bisexual people consider themselves to be gay or lesbian (or part of the LGBT community), and there is an argument that Bisexualtiy, defined as neither exclusively straight nor exclusively homosexual, is the majority sexual preference, but is typically repressed (see Alfred Kinsey)

Bisexual orientation can fall anywhere between the two sexual orientations of homosexuality and heterosexuality, and can be a unique combination of characteristics. Another view of bisexuality is that both homosexuality and heterosexuality are monosexualities, whereas bisexuality encompasses all monosexual orientations.

Terminology
Pansexual,omnisexual and pomosexual (post-modern sexual) are neologisms that also refer to people who are attracted to more than one gender. Rather than both or "bi" gender attraction, they refer to all or "omni" gender attraction, and are often used mainly by those who wish to express their understanding and acceptance of all gender possibilities including transgender and intersex people, not just two. Pansexuality sometimes includes an attraction for less mainstream sexual activities, such as BDSM.

Trysexual (sometimes "trisexual") is a neologism and a pun on bisexual. It is used as a humorous term for someone who will try any sexual experience at least once.

People who are not bisexual are either "monosexual" (attracted to only one gender) or asexual (attracted to no genders).

Prevalence of bisexuality
Some studies, notably Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), have found that the majority of people appear to be at least somewhat bisexual. Most people have some attraction to either sex, although usually one sex is preferred. According to Kinsey, only about 5-10% of the population can be considered to be fully heterosexual or homosexual. An even smaller minority can be considered truly bisexual, that is, having no distinct preference for one gender or the other.

History of bisexuality
Bisexuality has a universal history. People in most known societies have exhibited varying degrees of bisexuality, and most of what is called homosexuality in previous cultures is in fact bisexuality (it should be noted, however, that the terms heterosexuality and bisexuality, and particularly homosexuality, may not be appropriate in the historical context. In most ancient societies, behaviour was considered homosexual while people were not labeled using such terms. Similarly, heterosexuality and bisexuality are also relatively modern concepts).

For example, in Ancient Greece men often engaged in same-sex relationships, yet most also had wives. Ancient Rome, Arab countries up to and including the present, China and Japan, all exhibit patterns of analogous bisexual behaviour. Perhaps the most famous and militaristic example is Alexander the Great who had many wives, but also a sexual relationship with his close friend Hephaestion, but the same could be said of almost all the Roman emperors, the shoguns of Japan, the Chinese emperors, and others in every country and every age.

Ancestral law in ancient Sparta mandated same-sex relationships for all adult men so long as the men also had wives and produced children. The Spartans thought that physical relationships between older and younger soldiers would solidify combat loyalty and encourage heroic tactics as men vied to impress their lovers. Once the younger soldier passed a certain age, the relationship was supposed to become non-sexual, but it is not clear how strictly this was followed.

In the Arab world, same-sex sexual behavior between men is very common; some sources describe it as near-ubiquitous. It is also a topos celebrated by some of the greatest artists of the Middle East, such as the famous poet Abu Nuwas and the Persian painter Riza i-Abbasi. This is despite prohibitions against homosexual behavior in the Qur'an and severe penalties for offenders in some nations, including the death penalty. The Qur'an however requires that the transgression be witnessed by four men or eight women in order to convict the participants. Therefore, while among Arabs bisexual behaviour is known to be very common, and men are not given much trouble about these behaviors so long as they marry and raise families and fulfill other societal duties, it is something which remains very covert, and an open declaration of homosexual preference would be unacceptable. In this way, bisexuality in the Arab world is somewhat similar to the DL culture prevalent in some African-American communities.

Bisexuality in Western Culture
Gay and lesbian people have sometimes perceived (and adopted) the bisexual label as a way of holding on to heterosexual privilege. This often leads to the misperception that anyone who identifies as bisexual is really gay or lesbian but afraid to admit it. This misperception is often evident in popular culture, in film, television and in music and in the popular saying in gay culture: 'Bi now gay later'. The television show "Friends" sported a short song about the topic that expresses a common (if misinformed) opinion on the subject:

"Sometimes men love women,
Sometimes men love men,
Then there are bisexuals
Though some people say they're kidding themselves"


Because many bisexual people often do not feel that they fit into either the gay community or the heterosexual world, and because they have a tendency to become invisible in public (fitting in rather seamlessly into both homosexual and heterosexual society), some bisexual persons are committed to forming their own communities and movement.

Biphobia is a neologism that describes either the view that people are either heterosexual or homosexual, or expresses disapproval of bisexuals. Bisexual persons may also be the target of homophobia.

"A bisexual is a person who reaches down the front of somebody's pants and is satisfied with whatever they find." -- Dana Carvey as the church lady, Saturday Night Live
The bisexual pride flag

The bisexual pride flag

In an effort to create both more visibility, and a symbol for the bisexual community to gather behind, Michael Page created the bisexual pride flag.

The bisexual flag, which has a pink or red stripe at the top for homosexuality, a blue one on the bottom for heterosexuality and a purple one in the middle to represent bisexuality, as purple is from the combination of red and blue.



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Gay Muslim Poet
Abu Nuwas, the first and foremost Islamic gay poet

Abu Nuwas, “Father of Curls,” so named for his long flowing hair that hung down to his shoulders, was the greatest Arab poet of his time, or as some claim, the greatest Arab poet of all time. His full name was Abu Nuwas al-Hasan ibn Hani al-Hakami. Abu Nuwas’s mother, Golban (Rose) by name, was a Persian weaver, and his father, whom he never knew, a soldier from Damascus. The mother sold the young Abu Nuwas (b. 756) to Sa’ad al-Yashira, a Yemeni druggist, who took him from Ahvaz, the town of his birth (presently in south-western Iran) to his home in Basrah (presently in south-eastern Iraq), in those days a great seaport, and abode of the mythical Sinbad the Sailor.

In Basrah, the boy studied the Qur’an and grammar at mosque. His grace and beauty attracted the attention of his older cousin, the handsome blond poet Waliba ibn al-Hubab (d. 786). The druggist having granted the boy his freedom, Waliba became his lover and teacher, taking his student to live with him in Kufa. A couple of year later, the adolescent Abu Nuwas returned to Basrah to study under Khalaf al-Ahmar, a master or pre-Islamic poetry. He then spent a year among the Bedouin (desert nomads) to gain purity of language. But the young man, already a lover of the finer things in life, was not enamored of the primitive life of the ascetic nomads:


Critic, relent!
Your hope for repentance
Will meet with disapppointment.
For this is the life,
Not desert tents,
Not camel’s milk!
How can you set the bedu
Beside Kisra’s palace?
You, mad to expect repentance,
Tear your robe all you want;
I will never repent!

(Diwan, 11-12; after Kennedy, p. 223)




Abu Nuwas set aside older, traditional writing forms for drinking songs (khamriyyat) and witty, erotic lyrics on male love (mudhakkarat and mujuniyyat) that resonate with an authenticity born of experience, soon becoming famous, if not notorious. His love poems celebrate love for a beautiful boy, often embodied in the figure of the saqi, the Christian wine boy at the tavern. The theme was picked up time and again over the ensuing centuries by the best poets of Iran and Arabia, such as Omar al-Khayyam, Hafiz, and countless others who shared his tastes.
Around the time the young Harun al-Rashid ascended to the throne, Abu Nuwas set up shop in Baghdad, in those days capital of both Arabia and Persia. The time was a golden age of Arab culture and learning, and the city was the biggest in the world of its day. Perhaps he was hoping to curry favor with the new caliph[1], a more enlightened ruler than his brutal predecessor. However, being a court poet exposed Abu Nuwas to the whims and vagaries of an absolute monarch. Though not as capricious as some, Harun al-Rashid was conscious of having to maintain the aura of propriety incumbent upon the Defender of the Faith, and more than once threw Abu Nuwas into prison for his drinking and his impertinent verse.

The final break came shortly after Harun al-Rashid ruthlessly crushed the Barmakis, one of the leading families at his court and his closest friends and advisers. Abu Nuwas, a friend and client of the enlightened and generous Barmakis, wrote an elegy to them in response. Forced to flee into exile to escape the wrath of the caliph, he made the Hajj to Mecca and traveled as far as Egypt. He was only able to return years later, after the death of al-Rashid in 809. The new caliph, Muhammad al-Amin, aged 22, who had inherited the throne, welcomed back Abu Nuwas, his old teacher, with open arms. Unlike his father, Al-Amin shared the poet’s tastes for hunting, wine and boys, and was famous in his own right for his affair with his eunuch.[2] But even he grew impatient with the poet, and had him thrown in jail for his exploits at the tavern table, as we can deduce from the following poem:


What a lesson, O, Ibn ar-Rabi,[3] have you given me
And the excellent habit of austerity.
Not as pointless, not as dumb, my inclination now
Tends to chastity and solitude.
…
Want to witness an amazing matter?
Set me free, and see how often God I flatter.
I have been so long in jail,
Will happiness come from your generosity?

(From Prison; after Monteil, 160)



Abu Nuwas however outlived caliph al-Amin as well, who lost his life in a war over the succession waged by his brother only four years after ascending to the throne. The new caliph, Abdullah al-Mamun, was a patron of the arts and sciences as well, but no great friend of drinkers and lovers. There are conflicting stories about the death (ca. 815) of Abu Nuwas. Some say he died in prison, some that he was poisoned.[4] Fortunately, much of his poetry has survived,[5] thanks to his patrons of the day. In his eloquent odes one can see his ongoing battle with the imam. At times he is defiant:


Always I have and will
Scatter god and gold to the four winds.
When we meet, I delight in what the Book forbids.
And flee what is allowed.

(Diwan Abu Nuwas, 62, after Kennedy, p. 220)



And also,


I bought abandon dear
And sold all piety for pleasure.
My own free spirit I have followed,
And never will I give up lust.

(Diwan, 164, After Kennedy, p. 221)



But Abu Nuwas was quick to change his tune, if that was the price for getting out of jail:


What has become, said I, of my tender youth,
Given over to pleasure, each day, each night?
All possible mischiefs I am guilty of.
Forgive me, Allah. I hear and I tremble.

(What Has Become of Your Youth;
after Monteil, p. 161)



His erotic poems range from the dewily romantic,


I die of love for him, perfect in every way,
Lost in the strains of wafting music.
My eyes are fixed upon his delightful body
And I do not wonder at his beauty.
His waist is a sapling, his face a moon,
And loveliness rolls off his rosy cheek
I die of love for you, but keep this secret:
The tie that binds us is an unbreakable rope.
How much time did your creation take, O angel?
So what! All I want is to sing your praises.

(Love in Bloom; after Monteil, p. 95)



to the provocative,


For young boys, the girls I’ve left behind
And for old wine set clear water out of mind.
Far from the straight road, I took without conceit
The winding way of sin, because [this horse]
Has cut the reins without remorse,
And carried away the bridle and the bit.

(A Boy Is Worth More Than a Girl;
after Monteil, p. 91)



to those letting on that sex can cost money,


…
A gentle fawn passed around the cup
Delicate of waist and slim of flank,
“Will you be on your way, come morn?” he chirped.
“How can we bear to leave?” came the reply.
He glided among us and made us drunk,
And we slept, but as the cock was about to crow
I made for him, my garments trailing, my ram ready for butting.
When I plunged my spear into him
He awoke as a wounded man awakes from his wounds.
“You were an easy kill,” said I, “so let’s have no reproaches.”
“You win, so take what you will, but give me fair reward.”
So after I had placed my saddle bag upon him he burst into song,
“Are you not the most generous rider ever, of all Allah’s creatures?”

(Tu’atibu-ni ’ala Surbi Stibahi; after Kennedy, p. 262)



and on to others which we today would have to qualify as odes to rape:



O, starry night of good omen,
When drunkard mounted drunkard,
We whiled away the time in worship to the Devil,
With fervent faith,
Until the monks rang death’s bell and dawn,
And the young lad took off, dragging his delightful robe
Touched by my impure desire.
“Woe is me,” he said through his tears,
“You have torn away the dignity I had long treasured.”
“A lion saw a gazelle and lunged at it,” said I,
“Such are the vagaries of fate.”

(Ya Sahir al-Tarf; after Kennedy, p. 67)



Abu Nuwas’ outrageous deeds were immortalized in The Thousand Nights And A Night, a collection of ancient tales from Persia, India, and Arabia dating to the ninth century, in which he appears as a ribald folklore character, together with many other historical figures of his day. His best poetry, imitated but never equaled, celebrates hunting, the love of wine, and the love of boys, diversions widely appreciated by educated Muslims everywhere, despite the ongoing fulminations of fundamentalists.

From: http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Arabian/AbuNuwas/AbuNuwasBio.html
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What Will You and Your Couple Look Like?::male and female:: by angel_drifter
Name:
Partners/want to be Partners name:
How Long Have You Know Them:
What You Look Like As A Couple:
What Makes Them Special:	they whisper sweet nothings in your ear
Quiz created with MemeGen!

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Saturday, June 11, 2005

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