Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life

by Marjorie Garber and Merjorie Garber

Book Overview

Gathering evidence from art, literature, history, pop culture, science, and psychology, Marjorie Garber offers a startling new take on the nature and influence of bisexuality in our culture. Now in paperback. The first important cultural study of bisexuality . . . an instant classic.--The Boston Globe Books.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684824124
• ISBN13: 9780684824123
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 606 Pages
• Weight: 1.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Work!

This is an amazing book for anyone who is bisexual or just plain interested in gender studies. It is well written, informative and all encompassing when it comes to the many realms of sexuality outside the terms "gay" or "straight". Through reading this book I was able to realize that although I am a bisexual women, I often identify myself as a male gender phsycologically. That you Marjorie for this wonderful piece of literature!

Bisexuality made visible

Garber's book is an eminently readable study of the invisibility of bisexuality in our culture. She reveals the bisexuality in everything from Shakespeare's sonnets to the real-life relationships of Vita Sackville-West and others. The book is chock-full of specific details and quotations--much of it reads like a narrative (sometimes almost gossipy in a fun way!), while continuing to make Garber's point. She breaks down binary and essentialist ideas of sexual orientation with examples drawn from a huge range of literature, culture, film, and biography.

Beyond Words almost

This book affects me daily. It asks me: to probe deep inside my mind for the why. It asks me: what my actions will mean to what labels I have chosen. It asks me: to refine and/or reject certain ways I once thought about historical people. It preaches nothing and for that I am thankful.

Fascinating and indepth

Although its more than 500 pages may seem a bit overwhelming, the content is fascinating. Garber has explored the world of bisexuality from every angle and back to antiquity until today. Reading it will make you question your own feelings about the meaning of "sexuality." All done authoritatively without being scholarly, although it is not light reading.

really interesting reading

It's unfortunate that this book probably will be read mostly by people who don't need convincing of its arguments. But those of us who do read it will gain some fresh ways to articulate what we knew all along -- that bisexuality is sexuality, period. It's an excellent book -- 500 pages of anaylsis, argument, discussion, anecdote, research... in a style that reads better than many novels. This is the kind of book you can get a lot out of. It's a serious work by a scholar, but not a bit boring. Whether you're interested in your own sexuality, or that of someone you know, or that of people you see, read this book.Garber asks us to consider that maybe sexuality isn't perfectly categorized into "homosexual" and "heterosexual". She asks us to think about the categories and how exactly we define them and whether they cover all the options. If a person does X or thinks about Y or looks like A, what shall we label that person? There are times when what a person labels herself is not what others label her; what does this tell us? Garber's answers are fascinating; the anecdotes (stories from books, movies, psychologists, magazines, research, famous folks and not-famous folks) are thoroughly engrossing and perfectly blended with the logical analysis. Fascinating discussion of sexuality through history, too. It's just a heck of a good book.