Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way

Klein, Fritz, Pete Chvany and Ron Suresha. "Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way", Routledge, 2002. Understanding Bisexuality Amos Lassen "Bi Men" is an anthology, a collection of essays from bisexual men and from those that love them--a deep look at what it means to be a bisexual man. The essays include coming-out stories, family problems, marriage, identity, acceptance, affirmation and the place of bisexual men in today's world. It is the honesty that is explicit here that makes this book so interesting. There seems to be a phobia with bi men in America today. Some look at bisexuality as a transition to homosexuality or a straight life or as a refusal to accept oneself is being of one lifestyle or another. We have new voices here who describe their intimate experiences and we have the voices of experts on what bisexuality is. We see that bisexuality has come out of the closet and is more widespread than many of us have been led to believe. What I noticed immediately was that there was no repetition here and we get into the individuality of the men here. It also seemed to me that the majority of the men featured in the book are gay simply because there is not a selection of a man leaving another man for a woman while the opposite is true. The African American community is not represented here and we are told that by the editors. The book serves a need in helping us understand what goes on in the bisexual world and it is an objective look at it. It is a good resource from which to learn more.

This book has been the most helpful book out there helping me understand what is gong on with my bisexual husband. All other books have been condemning and negative regarding married couples. Suresha does an excellent job showcasing all different men in an humanistic light. I highly recommend this book for both women and men interested in finding out more about male bisexuality.

BI MEN is an excellent, wide-ranging introduction to the bi male psyche. Despite its somewhat scholastic format (it was published as a double issue of the Journal of Bisexuality, and the publisher retained elements such as chapter keywords and abstracts usually not present in trade books), is a moving collection of coming-out stories by bi men from a wide variety of perspectives, as well as several non-bi male contributions. As in most anthologies, there is some unevenness in quality of writing, but overall the book is quite readable and successful in its attempt to present the actual lived experience of the bi man in all its complexity.