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WE HOPE TO SHOW in this paper that certain fantasies of a bisexual nature observable in individuals have their counterpart in imaginative productions which serve important functions in the developmental processes of small groups. A bisexual fantasy shared on a group-wide basis may at times reduce the threat of hostile and competitive strivings within the group, enhance a sense of group symbiosis, and give expression to a desire for immortality at points when the group seems threatened with dissolution and death. Particular group members appear to play crucial roles in the dramatization of the bisexual dilemma. Of special interest is the member whose performance in the group can be described as "heroic." The hero more than any other member is inclined to act out all aspects of the dilemma as well as to portray a variety of possible "solutions" to both individual and collective conflicts. This paper represents an attempt to elucidate the inter-relationships among phenomena sampled from three levels: the intrapsychic (individual), the interpersonal, and the suprapersonal (group-as-a-whole).
It was Freud (1908) who first elaborated the unconscious bisexual significance of some hysterical symptoms. The concept of bisexuality has played an important role in the psychoanalytic understanding