Bisexuality

Almost each and every human being, at a certain point in their lifetime, they do express themselves as being sexual beings by having erotic experiences.  They are able to recognize themselves as either being females or males. Above this, they are able to get attracted to other humans. This is what is referred to as human sexuality.  With humans, their sexuality is quite different from that of other animals as many times it is practiced for not only copulation but for other purposes.  The term human sexuality can also cover legal, political, cultural, philosophical, religion, theological and ethical aspects.

The way humans feel in relation to their sexuality can be heterosexual, where a person is attracted to people of the opposite sex from that of their own, bisexual, where a person is attracted to both sexes, and homosexual, where a person is attracted to people of same sex as that which they are in.  The reasons that people engage in sexual behaviors vary from the major purpose which is to get pregnant and childbirth, to having pleasure. Moreover, sexual behaviors have other benefits like relieving stress, increasing immunity, acquiring better sleep and reducing prostate cancer and heart attack.

From the various subjects to choose from, in my essay, I will focus on bisexual topic. This is where a person is attracted to people of both genders. My reason to focus on this topic first is to increase my knowledge on this people mostly to know if they were born this way or they just decided to change from being heterosexual to being bi-sexual and know the reason why one would want to become a bisexual. Moreover, if they were born like this, I would like to understand if this is natural and if there is any treatment that can be given to change them to become heterosexuals.

In addition I would really want to know the problems that this bisexual people go through in their communities as in most communities; bisexuality and homosexuality are not accepted. Moreover, do this people feel comfortable being bisexuals and are they open publicly that they are bisexuals or do they keep it inside them and pretend to be heterosexuals? How one can be able to know if their friend is a bisexual is still a question that I would like to get an answer. Another question that may arise is if bisexuals are mostly females or males and is there are any difference of male bisexuals and female bisexuals.

Having had a friend who was a bisexual and knowing how my feeling toward her changed after recognizing her sexuality, knowing how to cope with such situations and how to help such people would be a crucial thing to learn in order to avoid developing more hatred towards bisexual and homosexual people.  Learning practical suggestion of famous people in the world that were bisexuals and how their sexuality affected them, is still a thing I would really like to know.

Many people have different views mostly men. Many men would prefer to be with bisexual girlfriends so that they may end up having multiple girlfriends with no conflicts, while other people would hate to have bisexuals due to their faith and beliefs. Clarifying these opposing views by different people is still a reason of choosing this topic. The time when bisexuality became known in human race is still another reason for researching on this subject.

At end of my research I am confident that my reason for doing this research will be fully answered. Owing that different communities have different cultures with varying beliefs, knowing why those communities that accept bisexuality as a normal thing and also why other communities term this as an act of abomination and a sinful act would still be a great reason of focusing on this topic

It is apparent that bisexuality varies greatly among different bisexuals. Some bisexuals love both women and men the same while on others they prefer one gender more than the other. To explain this, some people are heterosexuals but they end up developing some feeling toward people of same gender as theirs, others are homosexuals but have little feelings for the people of opposite sex.

Many bisexual people do not accept that they are normal hence they end up feeling that they should be separated and be made in another community of only bisexual people. Others feel contended with their sexuality and do not feel as outcast in their community. This is greatly influenced by the beliefs and customs of the people around those bisexual people. People in Africa and Middle East greatly object the practice of bisexuality in their societal concept, while in Europe and western countries, there is a split between the east and the west. Majority of people in Western Europe say bisexual should be legally accepted in the communities while others like Ukrainians and Russians disagree. For the Americans, only a small number of people accept bisexuality in the communities. In Latin American's countries, they have increasingly accepted the legality of bisexuality (Ross, 1981).

In a study done by National Centre for Health Statistics, concluded that 2 percent of all men aged between 18 and 44 are bisexuals. But for women, 3 percent of them in that same age bracket are bisexuals. In conclusion, there are more women that are bisexuals than men. According to the many theories developed to explain the reason why people are bisexual, no exclusive conclusions have been reached but there are varying reasons. One main reason is that birth order that is fraternal, in that a boy is born where his elder siblings are girls and he was born a heterosexual. The boy may end up becoming a bisexual. Another reason given is by American Psychological Association is that bisexuality is determined by combination of various factors which include hormonal, genetically and environmental factors.

To some other researchers, every person in one time of their lifetime, they must become bisexuals. It may be practically, unsought, sought or being fantasized. This becomes an attachment to her or his desires and needs in social upbringing. This is according to Sigmund Freud a theorist. He added that bisexuality is a normal part of development. After his research on many bisexual people, he found out that this people are normal in all other ways as heterosexual people are, the only defect is that they have bisexual feelings, hence terming this as not a defect.

Researchers have indicated that bisexual people have higher sexual activity rates than heterosexual people. According to a research done by Geist and Wyk Van in 1984, bisexuals had more sexual fantasy, masturbate more, have better orgasms and had more family problems than heterosexuals. While according to Goode (1977), bisexual women matured earlier sexually than normal people. In a recent research, it is only in women that high sex drive is linked and is increased by attraction to people of both sexes. While in men mostly the bisexuals ones, their sex drive is better and more when they are more attracted to one sex gender.

People that may have been exposed to excess levels of hormones of sex, end up having masculine brains that make them show an increased bisexuality. To support that, some bisexuals are born as by sexual, there is some evidence that males having an extra chromosome Y are more likely to become bisexuals and even those women that may have an extra chromosome X. To many, those in bisexual behaviors, some end up like that due to peer pressure, where one was earlier a heterosexual but with time their friends who are bisexuals or homosexuals make them end up being bisexuals. Others, are in places that there are no people of the opposite sex and owing this people have to fulfill their sexual behaviors, they end up engaging in sexual activities with people of the same gender as theirs even though they are heterosexuals, hence they become bisexuals.

There is clear evidence that bisexuality did exist many centuries ago. One of them is in the ancient Roman Empire. Augustus Caesar was termed as every woman's husband and every Man's wife. Moreover a boy called Antinous had a relationship with roman emperor called Hadrian who was a bisexual. They greatly expressed their love for each other and even sacrificed everything for each other even though they had wives. In ancient Greece, one of the leaders called Spartans developed a policy to make his solders more united by allowing them to practice bisexual behaviors. Even in the bible there many verses that mention on the bisexuality and homosexuality in early times (Dolen, 2007).

Owing that many bisexuals feel they are like outcasts in the communities they are in, many have come together and come up with their own communities, political movements and cultures. Bisexual people can face discrimination by both heterosexual and homosexual communities. It is evidence that the social pressure on the bisexuals for going against the rule of monogamy by having feelings for other sexes may affect their mental health and some specific therapies have been brought forward to treat these bisexuals on this matter.

Bisexual communities have even launched their flag that is termed as bisexual flag of pride. It has stripes of deep pink that represent homosexuality and a stripe of deep blue to represent heterosexuality and a purple stripe in the middle that is blend from mixing the two colors to represent bisexuality. Other symbols used to represent the bisexual community is a pair of downward facing overlapping triangles where one is pink and the other is deep blue. Also used is a double moon of the same mixture of colors (Koymasky, 2006).

To depict there is wide acceptance in bisexual people in modern communities than in the earlier communities, there have been many films, television programs, music records and literature that have themes of bisexual people. On films, some of the films that have depicted bisexuality include the movie Wild Things (1998) where characters Kelly and Suzie were bisexuals. Also movies like Rules of Attraction and Alexander. In the television series, the series 'House' by Fox Television features Remy a bisexual female doctor. Also The O.C has a character Kelly Alex who is bisexual. Songs like 'I Kissed A girl' by Katy Perry and 'Poker Face 'by Lady Gaga depict the theme of bisexuality. In literature, Novel like the Twyborn (1979) has a character Patrick who is bisexual (Gordinier, 2010).

In real life, some of the famous people that have confessed to be bisexual in public include David Bowie a rock musician (Collis, 2002). He declared this on an interview in 1972 with Melody Makers. Also Lady Gaga has stated as being attracted to both men and women. Others include Stephanie Adams, rock star Joe Armstrong and Tracey Adams. In the field of politicians a Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Adams was a bisexual. She lived in Boston and was in a relationship with another woman.

In a move of recognizing if a person is a bisexual. The foremost is that bisexuals like relating well with people of both sexes and they like touching the hands and other parts of people of both sexes in a sexual way. Others like flirting both sexes and discussion some topics like those of anal sex. Sometimes these clues might be false and in real sense it is very hard to recognize a bisexual person unless he tells you or you find them in such bisexual activities.

Bisexuality cannot be treated as it is not a disease but a mind concept that come up with time or one is born with. The only thing treatable is the stigmatization that comes with one being a bisexual and the stress that occurs when bisexuals term themselves as being abnormal. In recent times many countries have legalized bisexuality and even some religions have accepted bisexuality and even gone further to allow bisexual marriages to happen in churches.

Upon completion of my research, my views have greatly changed and the many questions that I had have been answered. Foremost, recognizing that bisexuality occurs in every person once in their lifetime even though it does not mean one is a bisexual, this has made me realize why some people get weird fantasies on people of their sexes while still they are straight. To add on this, I have come to realize many bisexual people are born like that hence they should not be discriminated but be helped to enjoy life. One should be able to relate with them well and make them understand that for us we are not bisexuals hence they should accept us just like friends.

Owing that the world has changed a lot. I do now think that people should be given authority to make decisions about their sexuality as long as they do not interfere with other people's freedom and beliefs. The communities need to be taught to accept bisexuals as they are and hence live with them in harmony in order to avoid the stresses that this bisexual people go through in every day of their lives.

Still the research has changed my view and now I cannot find a reason to hate those that are bisexuals. All I need to do is to appreciate them and make them understand that for me I am straight and hence they should appreciate that and respect it. I have even realized that bisexuality did start long time ago as before I thought that it only started in the modern world.

By know I clearly understand the topic well and I plan to educate those friends around me that I know they do have a negative approach towards those bisexuals in our community. The reason why I understanding the concept better, is that there have been clear explanations of the reasons why bisexual people are like are bisexual. Also even more reasons that have made them to be the way they are.

In conclusion, all humans either fall in the three orientations of sexuality. Each one of them should have rights and freedom to express them as long as they do not do it excessively or violate the beliefs of others. For bisexuality it is not a disease and that for those born being like that they should be appreciated as God created them. For those who end up being bisexual, if they cannot change, the community should understand them. For those who do not want to end up being bisexual or their children, then they should avoid practices that may lead to them becoming bisexuals. In long run all human species shall live in harmony if we appreciate who we are and understand others as they are.