From: daveb@harlqn.co.uk (Dave Berry)
Subject: Re: soc.bi Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ)
Organization: Harlequin Ltd, Cambridge, UK
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 15:18:27 GMT

>MOTAS         Member(s) Of The Appropriate Sex,

I don't think that this is an appropriate term for soc.bi!

How about an addition:

People.		Members of either (or any) sex.

half :-)

>1.   Aren't bisexuals just confused about their sexuality?   
>
>     It is natural for people who are coming out to themselves about their
>sexuality to be feel confused. Bisexuals are people who are attracted to
>both sexes; their reasons why they are attracted to one sex may be very
>different from their reasons why they are attracted to the other, but this
>does not mean they are "confused."

This paragraph mixes two points.  I'd move the first sentence to the start
of the second paragraph.

>3.   Are bisexuals equally attracted to both sexes?
>
>     Most bisexuals feel they have a "preference" for one gender over
>another, but they do not deny their attraction for that other gender.
>
>     Some bisexuals, however, will deny any preference as such, and
>instead focus their attractions on qualities they see in an individual,
>regardless of that person's gender.

I'd change "Most" to "Many", and  "however, will deny any preference" to
"have no preference".   I'd also add "Sometimes these qualities involve
gender, sometimes not.  For example, some people find men attractive as
men, and women attractive as women; others find people's gender irrelevant."

This FAQ seems to use "gender" and "sex" interchangeably.  Often they are
used to mean different things.

>4.   Do bisexuals have to have lovers of both sexes to be bisexual?
>
>     Being bisexual simply means having the potential for involvement
>with either gender.  This may mean sexually, emotionally, in reality or in
>fantasy. Some bisexual people do have concurrent lovers of both sexes;
>others may relate to different genders at different times. Most bisexuals
>do not feel a need to see both genders simultaneously in order to feel
>fulfilled.

I'm not sure I agree with this - what is meant by "potential"?  I'd say:

      Sometimes it is useful to distinguish bisexual identity and bisexual
behaviour.  People who call themselves bisexual are saying that they are
attracted to both men and women.  They don't necessarily have to act on
that attraction.  Conversely there are many people who lovers of both sexes,
but who don't think of themselves as bisexual.

>5.   Are bisexuals capable of monogamy?

I'd just add this question to the previous one.  They're different ways
of asking the same thing.

>9.   Why would gays discriminate against bisexuals?

s/gays/lesbians or gay men/

>     Because we are sometimes perceived as "hiding," a sense that some
>bisexuals use their bisexuality to look heterosexual at work, in straight
>social settings, to enjoy the "heterosexual privilege" that is part of
>the social norm.

Also because many lesbians and gay men have put a lot of effort into building
a strong sexual identity in a hostile world.  Bisexuals are sometimes seen as
blurring the issues and weakening the leasbian and gay movement.  Bisexual
activists disagree with this view!

Some lesbians and gay men also have sex with MOTOS.  Often they can't admit
this in the lesbian and gay communities, and see bisexuality as a threat to
their safety.