#julia shaw

[toneelspeelster]

Participant quote from the study 'The positive aspects of a bisexual self-identification' in Psychology and Sexuality 1 (2) by S. Scales Rostosky, D. E. Riggle, and D. Pascale-Hague pp.131-44

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

“He goes on to explain that in the period before World War II, gay people “did not speak of coming out of what we call ‘the gay closet’ but rather of coming out into what they called homosexual society or the gay world, a world neither so small nor so isolated, nor, often, so hidden as closet implies.”

Chauncey draws on an example from a 1931 headline in the newspaper the Baltimore Afro-American, which announced “the coming out of new debutantes into homosexual society” at a ball referred to as a “frolic of the pansies.” Apparently large drag balls were popular at the time and were a classic place for men to come out into gay society in America. ”

Bi : The hidden culture, history, and science of bisexuality by Julia Shaw

[higherentity]

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Nonfiction Books Bracket: Round 1A

Choose a book:

Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw

Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion

Voting ended onMay 30

Book summaries below:

Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw

Despite all the welcome changes that have happened in our culture and laws over the past few decades in regards to sexuality, the subject remains one of the most influential but least understood aspects of our lives. For psychologist and bestselling author Julia Shaw, this is both professional and personal—Shaw studies the science of sexuality and she herself is proudly and vocally bisexual.

It’s an admission, she writes, that usually causes people’s pupils to dilate, their cheeks to flush, and their questions to start flowing. Ask people to name famous bisexual actors, politicians, writers, or scientists, and they draw a blank. Despite statistics that show bisexuality is more common than homosexuality, bisexuality is often invisible.

In BI: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality, Shaw probes the science and culture of attraction beyond the binary. From the invention of heterosexuality to the history of the Kinsey scale, as well as asylum seekers trying to defend their bisexuality in a court of law, there is so much more to explore than most have ever realized. Drawing on her own original research—and her own experiences—this is a personal and scientific manifesto; it’s an exploration of the complexities of the human sexual experience and a declaration of love and respect for the nonconformists among us.

Nonfiction, sociology

Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion

Long before people identified as transgender or lesbian, there were female husbands and the women who loved them. Female husbands - people assigned female who transed gender, lived as men, and married women - were true queer pioneers. Moving deftly from the colonial era to just before the First World War, Jen Manion uncovers the riveting and very personal stories of ordinary people who lived as men despite tremendous risk, danger, violence, and threat of punishment. Female Husbands weaves the story of their lives in relation to broader social, economic, and political developments in the United States and the United Kingdom while also exploring how attitudes towards female husbands shifted in relation to transformations in gender politics and women's rights, ultimately leading to the demise of the category of 'female husband' in the early twentieth century. Groundbreaking and influential, Female Husbands offers a dynamic, varied, and complex history of the LGBTQ past.

Nonfiction, history

[tailsbeth-writes]

Thanks for the tags @suseagull5914 & @dizzymisslizzie! My answers are not short, once you get me started on books there's no stopping 😂🥰

Number of books you've read so far: 14

Best book you've read so far in 2025: The Honeys by Ryan La Sala & Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw. My only 5 star reads this year!

Best sequel you've read so far in 2025: Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch

New release you haven't read yet but want to: Absolutely tons! Sunrise on the Reaping by Susanne Collins, The Survivor Wants to Die at the End by Adam Silvera, Lady's Knight by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner, The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith to name a few.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch (I have this pre-ordered, very rare for me) & The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala.

Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you): Sara Raasch (I started The Nightmare Before Kissmas end of 2024 & finished in 2025 so she counts 😂) & now I'm planning on making my way through all her books, love the range she's done & I appreciate her as a writer a lot.

Newest fictional crush: Rhysand (I've finally caved, currently on A Court of Mist and Fury) and can I say almost all the characters in the Royals & Romance series? They're chaotic bisexuals, how can I not? 😇

Book that made you cry: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin and The Honeys by Ryan La Sala. Giovanni's Room was for my book club so we had a virtual group hug after that one 🥺

Most beautiful book you've gotten so far this year: I bought a pink spray-edged signed copy of I Kissed Shara Wheeler to complete my CMQ physical collection 🥰 (it was only £9, second hand but immaculate condition!)

Book that made you happy: Mismatched by Anne Camlin & Isadora Zeferino.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year? I'd like to finish ACOTAR and get back to one of the other fantasy series I started (Court of Broken Bonds series by Ben Alderson or The Raven and the Dove series by Kaitlyn Davis). One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, only 1 I haven't read of theirs. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun, I'm annotating a copy then giving it to a friend who's going to do the same, so we can chat in the margins. She's doing Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood for me so that too!

Tag You're It: @onthewaytosomewhere @run-for-chamo-miles @judasofsuburbia @taste-thewaste @thighzp @littlemisskittentoes @miss-minnelli @priincebutt @emmalostinwonderland @royal-chandler & anyone else who wants to chat books 📚

[starsalvation]

"The reason the alliance between trans and bi people is so natural is that both represent a fluidity and a destruction of binaries that make people uncomfortable. What's layered with bi trans people is that they are destroying both binaries at once."

—Julia Shaw, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality

[positively-bi]

Picked this up from the library! Excited to read it!

[robynochs]

What People Get Wrong About the History of Bisexuality

Bisexuality introduces nuance, which has always made it easier to discard than accommodate it

There's a new article in TIME Magazine by Dr. Julia Shaw about bi history. Thanks for the shout out, Julia.