Bisexuality1

Freud has said, 2 'Since becoming acquainted with the aspect of bisexuality I hold this factor as here decisive, and I believe that without taking into account the factor of bisexuality it will hardly be possible to understand the actually observed sexual manifestations in man and woman'.

This statement was made over twenty years ago, and I conclude still holds good at the present time; yet it is a remarkable fact that this aspect of the sexual life of men and women has received scant attention by psycho-analysts. The reason for this neglect to investigate and elucidate a subject which is of fundamental importance must be due to some deep psychological resistance to it even among psycho-analysts.

In this connection I am reminded of what Karen Horney says in her paper on 'The Problem of the Monogamous Ideal'3 when she complains that this subject has not been investigated psycho-analytically. She says, 'Perhaps the whole question touches us too nearly to form an attractive object of scientific curiosity and ambition. But it is also possible that it is not the problems but the conflicts which touch us too closely, lie too close to some of the deepest roots of our most intimate personal experience'. I think these remarks of Karen Horney are equally applicable to the question of bisexuality and perhaps even more so. There are numerous instances in Freud's writings where he has stressed the importance of problems and their need for elucidation, and psycho-analysts have seized upon them and investigated them from all sides. But in this particular instance of bisexuality no real scientific work has been done along psycho-analytical lines, although Freud has expressly stated its fundamental importance. One might ask the question: Are we sure we really know very much