Både-och och varken-eller. På besök i bi-positionernas gränsland

Abstract

This artide discusses constructions and reproductions of social groups by using examples from two areas of research - bisexuality and biraciality. If bi-positions are ignored in the study of sexual categories, the dominant positions of hetero- and homosexual tend to be represented as stable opposites. The author therefore finds it important to include the function of bi-positions to problematize this polarity. A deeper analysis of bi-positions, the "abjected börder terrorists", is likely to destabilize both poles.The author also questions the naive idea of bisexuals as independent in relation to the dominant sexual discourse, making them free agents. On the contrary, whether we understand bisexuals as either marginalized or in between hetero and homo, they are nevertheless part of the sexual discourse. Bi-positions, such as bisexuals, biracials and other kinds of social in-betweens are analyzed in terms of "both/and", "either/or" and "neither/nor".