Intimacy Negotiated: The Management of Relationships and The Construction of Personal Communities in the Lives of Bisexual Women and Men

Bringing into dialogue conceptual literature on bisexuality, intimacy, and personal community, this paper illuminates the lived experiences of 80 bisexual women and men. The data was collected through questionnaire and individual interview. The paper discusses two empirical themes, beginning with the participants’ narratives on their engagement with the dominant sexual and gender order - which hegemonizes ‘monosexuality’ and ‘compulsory monogamy’ - in their negotiation of relational intimacy. This is followed by an exploration of the features and functions their personal communities, especially the significance of friendships. The paper argues that, despite the ambivalence and misperception surrounding bisexuality, the participants enacted creative agency in negotiating intimacy and social support in their everyday lives.