The Half Embrace of Psychic Bisexuality

Abstract

The discourse on psychic bisexuality is explored as it unfolds in Freud’s writings, in contemporary papers by LGBTQ psychoanalysts, and in a volume of essays, Psychic Bisexuality, published in 2018 by a group of prominent French and British analysts (Perelberg 2018). The greater acceptance of nonnormative sexualities and genders is reshaping the discourse on bisexuality and gender in many corners of our profession, yet, as the Perelberg volume attests, that evolution is far from universal. A strain of unquestioned heteronormativity and cisgenderism is evident in Perelberg et al.’s description of the fundamentals of psychic life, a strain that has roots (via a certain one-sided reading of Lacan) in Freud’s unresolved mourning of his inchoate homosexual self. A more embracing vision of bisexuality would seek to “hold,” rather than enact, the grief and anxiety associated with the development of myriad diverse personal patterns.