Mapping the Monosexual Imaginary

"Bisexuals, pansexuals, queers--people who "fall in love with a person, not a gender"--form a slight majority of LGBTQ+ people. And yet, overall, we fare worse than gay men and lesbians in nearly every measure of wellbeing. Nearly everyone seems to stigmatize and erase us--heterosexuals, gays and lesbians, even each other and ourselves. For instance, bisexuals are criticized for not "growing up and picking one" sex to be attracted to, and for being too "binary," as if the prefix "bi-" (which many see as meaning "same or different") is more "binary" than being attracted only to men or only to women.

In this engaging, interview-based study, Lain Mathers explores how people who identify as bisexual, pansexual, fluid, and/or queer navigate the many and contradictory stigmas they face. Ze ultimately identifies their source as monosexism, the assumption that male and female are mutually exclusive categories whose opposition is so profound that everyone on Earth must experience binary gender as the primary criterion of others' attractiveness. Mathers argues that to abolish heteronormativity and patriarchy, we must get to the root by addressing the monosexism that scaffolds them both--and create an intersectional, coalitional politics in the process. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in sexual and gender justice.

"For nearly two decades, students have clamored for more bi+ research and come up short in their search--at last, they will be thrilled to find this deeply theorized, empirically rich, and thoroughly definitive investigation into the 'monosexual imaginary' and its sweeping social consequences."

"With crystal-clear prose and captivating interview excerpts, Mapping the Monosexual Imaginary illuminates the interactional processes through which bi+ people are erased, dismissed, and oppressed. Mathers challenges social scientists, sexual minority communities, and society at large to recognize and dismantle implicit monosexism."