This is an interesting question, but as I see it, virtually impossible to research. Behavior is one thing, but what seems to concern all of us is identity.

Even though some Christian fundamentalists insist it is strictly behavior and choice, I think they revile it above other sins because deep down they fear that it is an unchangeable identity. After all, after stealing, you simply need confess, repent, or "accept Jesus" and then not do it again. The fundamentalist horror of homosexuality seems to derive from an unspoken fear that perhaps it is unchangeable, and thus a sin ingrained in certain human natures. (This has serious implications for some theologies.)

That said, where does bisexu...

This is an interesting question, but as I see it, virtually impossible to research. Behavior is one thing, but what seems to concern all of us is identity.

Even though some Christian fundamentalists insist it is strictly behavior and choice, I think they revile it above other sins because deep down they fear that it is an unchangeable identity. After all, after stealing, you simply need confess, repent, or "accept Jesus" and then not do it again. The fundamentalist horror of homosexuality seems to derive from an unspoken fear that perhaps it is unchangeable, and thus a sin ingrained in certain human natures. (This has serious implications for some theologies.)

That said, where does bisexuality exist? Pure "Straight" and "Gay" are easy enough to define, perhaps because they are artificial categories. What might make me "gay" or "bisexual"? If I looked at a naked man and for a moment was excited, does that mean I am no longer straight? Sexuality seems arrayed upon a gray scale, not divided into distinct groups. But does that gray scale mean that everyone is at heart bisexual? I don't believe so. The fact that many people have inexplicable yet highly specific sexual inclinations remains a persistent fact, even if there is a greater variety of these orientations than we at first realize...

But also sexual attraction and orientation change over time. This has been demonstrated anecdotally and scientifically. Thus the famous Kinsey Scale is similarly unnatural, since it attempts to reduce such elusive feelings to a single integer, and fix it for all time. Much better is the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid, which considers past and present feelings on a number of issues.

On this subject, the work of Fritz Klein is pretty good all around.

Personally, I believe there are more bisexuals than we suspect, but not as many as some suggest. I do not believe that everyone is bisexual. It seems to be something unique, with key differences from "Hetero" or "Homo" sexuality.

Well, in the end, because I believe that "identity" should be respected as an intrinsic part of a person's humanity, I differ with the majority of the gay movement in that I would not rush to insist that it is an issue of "being born that way."

Before anyone goes all Stonewall on me, hear out my reasoning:

Our personal identity is something we construct from a complex variety of factors. Some may be inherently biological, and those certainly influence it, but they are not the only factor. We base our identity on our perceptions and our feelings, whatever their sources. If we reject the legitimacy of a person's feelings in order to mold society to our own model, we are treating them as a me...

Well, in the end, because I believe that "identity" should be respected as an intrinsic part of a person's humanity, I differ with the majority of the gay movement in that I would not rush to insist that it is an issue of "being born that way."

Before anyone goes all Stonewall on me, hear out my reasoning:

Our personal identity is something we construct from a complex variety of factors. Some may be inherently biological, and those certainly influence it, but they are not the only factor. We base our identity on our perceptions and our feelings, whatever their sources. If we reject the legitimacy of a person's feelings in order to mold society to our own model, we are treating them as a mere means, and robbing them of their humanity. This cannot be morally justified.

So imagine if we do find a "gay" gene, and are fortunate enough to live in a society that doesn't then choose to eradicate it. What if a person who was demonstrably biologically heterosexual chose to identify themselves as gay? Should we reject their personal identity on the basis of their physiology? That would rob them of their humanity, by saying that they do not have the right to determine their own identity because the identity they determined conflicts with society's preconceived notion of what their identity should be. This would be no different than telling gay people that they should be straight because of more obvious parts of their physiology.

I am interested in understanding the psychological identities of people, so I find this subject fascinating, but reducing any person to a mere product of their genes seems very cold and inhuman indeed.

In thinking more about it, it may well be that it is not a single biological factor that determines sexual orientation, but in fact many working together in a matrix of influences. (This is a key advantage to the Klein Grid.) Thus, although our lexicon essentially gives people three or four choices to describe their sexual identity, on a biological level, we may find that in fact everyone has a different sexual identity.

Although we may not be able to alter our personal biological sexual orientation, at different times we may perceive and feel different things, which leads us to draw different conclusions. What I believe in is respecting the conclusions that an individual draws about their ...

In thinking more about it, it may well be that it is not a single biological factor that determines sexual orientation, but in fact many working together in a matrix of influences. (This is a key advantage to the Klein Grid.) Thus, although our lexicon essentially gives people three or four choices to describe their sexual identity, on a biological level, we may find that in fact everyone has a different sexual identity.

Although we may not be able to alter our personal biological sexual orientation, at different times we may perceive and feel different things, which leads us to draw different conclusions. What I believe in is respecting the conclusions that an individual draws about their own identity, and that even if they could "change" it, it would violate their basic human rights to force them to do so.

Perhaps, also, although most people display a clear preference and that preference may be influenced by biological factors, I don't believe it is as simple as that. I think that heterosexual attraction and homosexual attraction, although both sexual attractions, may in fact be separate things. After all, I doubt that a gay man is simply a man who wants to play the role of a woman, or a lesbian is a woman who wants to play the role of a man. There is a difference between gender-dysphoria and homosexuality.

I don't believe that the revulsion many people have for homosexual acts is a product of nature. After all, different bisexuality is extremely common among many types of animals. What is more, in societies such as ancient Greece or feudal Japan where social values were different, nobody expressed this revulsion, and even people who were no doubt essentially "straight" engaged in recreational homosexuality without guilt or disgust.

This does not mean we are all bisexual, or that we all should be, but it does suggest that humans may be more flexible than the societies that they create.

THANK you for bringing that up Jorjor! I'd like to talk about biphobia for a moment. Bisexuals are much slower to come out of the closet I think for a multitude of reasons, and I have to be honest here. There are some indiviudals in the gay community that are not really receptive to bi's. We are perceived as fence sitters, as sleeping with the enemy, as eating our cake and having it too, as not being able to make up our minds, as on our way to becoming gay and not being able to admit it, or they just plain don't get it. And I have to admit this is particularily hurtful coming from the gay community as this is a community that has been historically discriminated upon and you...

THANK you for bringing that up Jorjor! I'd like to talk about biphobia for a moment. Bisexuals are much slower to come out of the closet I think for a multitude of reasons, and I have to be honest here. There are some indiviudals in the gay community that are not really receptive to bi's. We are perceived as fence sitters, as sleeping with the enemy, as eating our cake and having it too, as not being able to make up our minds, as on our way to becoming gay and not being able to admit it, or they just plain don't get it. And I have to admit this is particularily hurtful coming from the gay community as this is a community that has been historically discriminated upon and you would think that they would police themselves against such discrimination because they should know just how hurtful that is. Now, I don't want to give the impression that all of the gay community is like this because I have met so many gay people who have been kind and understanding and receptive. But I don't want to pretend that it doesn't exist or sugar coat it because I have experienced it myself.
What kind of discrimination have I experienced from the straight community? Well, the idea that I am just dying to be straight girls experiments or that I'm loose or that I love threesomes for starters. Or that straight women aren't safe around me because OMG, I am bi so I must be attracted to every female on planet Earth for Heaven's sake! There is also the notion that because I'm married I can put away feelings for the other sex. Now, I can choose NOT to act on those feelings, but to say that I can't have those feelings are like asking me to put a mask on my face and pretend I'm something I'm not and that hurts.

Great article Jorjor, thank you for the link!

Why is a woman less of a person, or (my favorite) "dirty," because she has sex?

Does a penis have some bizarre dirtymaking power that I'm unaware of?

Every time I have sex, do I lose a bit of my moral compass?

I did a clip on this subject Jojor:
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/F019FFF6-47F8-4D71-B5C8-5BCB57BDB009/

And just for you Jojor, I will reveal the reason I made this clip. At my job, we are required to do apartment inspections every 3 months and to say the tenants don't like them is an understatment. We had to write up quite a few tenant...

Great article Jorjor, thank you for the link!

Why is a woman less of a person, or (my favorite) "dirty," because she has sex?

Does a penis have some bizarre dirtymaking power that I'm unaware of?

Every time I have sex, do I lose a bit of my moral compass?

I did a clip on this subject Jojor:
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/F019FFF6-47F8-4D71-B5C8-5BCB57BDB009/

And just for you Jojor, I will reveal the reason I made this clip. At my job, we are required to do apartment inspections every 3 months and to say the tenants don't like them is an understatment. We had to write up quite a few tenants and one marched down into the office and proceeded to verbally attack my boss, swearing and so on and so forth and by lease agreement they can be evicted for that. So I said you really need to calm down or we will have to call the police and have you served with an eviction notice and she turned around and said:
YOU FUCKING SLUT! Walking around doing your work in a sports bra!
Now, what she is speaking of is the fact that we had some hot, dirty, and physical work to do in a remote corner of the apartment buildings and I was with 3 guys who had their shirts off doing work too, but no one said anything about them, but of course, I was fair game since I had a sports bra on.
I have to tell you, that in all my years of being a woman, that was the first time I was ever called that name and I was quite shocked. So, I did the clip as an empowerment over the word and it really did make me feel better.

First and foremost, stop calling other women sluts! It doesn't behoove us to bash each other, gals. And speak out when you hear men do the same

Exactly my point.

You know, this strikes me as an interesting tangent. (Oh and I love tangents!)

What, exactly, is a slut? What makes a person promiscuous?

In our modern age, I think it is unrealistic to expect people to have only one sexual partner in their entire lives. I honestly don't know a single person who can truthfully say that of themselves.

I think our sexuality has become less prescribed and more natural, and ultimately this is a good thing. However, what should the limits be in this new world? What, exactly, defines sexual loyalty in this day and age? What defines promiscuity? What line is it that a person crosses? At what point does sex stop being a blessing and start becoming destructive?

R...

You know, this strikes me as an interesting tangent. (Oh and I love tangents!)

What, exactly, is a slut? What makes a person promiscuous?

In our modern age, I think it is unrealistic to expect people to have only one sexual partner in their entire lives. I honestly don't know a single person who can truthfully say that of themselves.

I think our sexuality has become less prescribed and more natural, and ultimately this is a good thing. However, what should the limits be in this new world? What, exactly, defines sexual loyalty in this day and age? What defines promiscuity? What line is it that a person crosses? At what point does sex stop being a blessing and start becoming destructive?

Rather than clinging to antiquated strictures (which were probably never truly respected) we need to be honest.

This also strikes me as being essential to the new debates about marriage. Gay marriage and polygamy are both condemned, but largely on religious grounds. What is more, the religious grounds on which they are condemned are usually not canonical but instead anecdotal.

Anyone wish to wager a guess?

What, exactly, is a slut? What makes a person promiscuous?

It is the extent in which a woman fails to conform to "normal" appearence and/or behavior. Because I enjoy exercise and it makes me feel good about myself to treat my body as a temple of sorts and I'm proud of the way I look, I can easily be labeled a "slut" while wearing a sport's bra on a very hot summer day while jogging or doing hot sweaty work.
Some might call me a slut because I chose to avoid further physical injury and did not fight back as a rape victim.
But, let's get to the bottom line here. Men don't get called these names for being sexually active, do they OW?
Which brings up the issue of monogamy and th...

What, exactly, is a slut? What makes a person promiscuous?

It is the extent in which a woman fails to conform to "normal" appearence and/or behavior. Because I enjoy exercise and it makes me feel good about myself to treat my body as a temple of sorts and I'm proud of the way I look, I can easily be labeled a "slut" while wearing a sport's bra on a very hot summer day while jogging or doing hot sweaty work.
Some might call me a slut because I chose to avoid further physical injury and did not fight back as a rape victim.
But, let's get to the bottom line here. Men don't get called these names for being sexually active, do they OW?
Which brings up the issue of monogamy and the "justification" of sex in the minds of a lot of people. Women, in particular, are brought up to make emotional depth of feelings a prerequisite for sex. And in all reality, monogamy is probably not a natural state for most men.
I feel there is an idea in most people's minds that there is something inherently wrong with getting pleasure from giving pleasure.
Words like "slut" make us see women as people with no feelings. How could anyone put anyone else down for their enjoyment of sex? I could think of a lot of things to put people down for. Using others, being mean or cruel, being cold or callous, being hurtful or malicious.
BTW Ow, the woman who called me a "slut" ran into me the other day at work and stopped me and said she needed to apologize. I took one look at her and took her into my arms and gave her the biggest hug ever. She cried and said she was sorry and I whispered to her that it was ok and everyone has a bad day now and then. It's amazing how better forgiveness and being forgiven can make make one feel.