The becoming of family relationships and friendship circles after a bisexual break-up
Year of publication
2021
Authors
Lahti, Annukka
Abstract
This chapter explores how bisexual women’s family relationships and friendship circles unravel after a relationship breakup. It intervenes at the conjunction of three under-researched areas: bisexual people’s relationships, LGBTIQA+ separations, and social networks after relationship breakups. The becoming of social or friendship circles after a bisexual relationship breakup is approached through the Deleuzo-Guattarian concept of assemblages, where multiple and complex elements come together, connecting in various ways and taking various forms. Further, the chapter offers a novel perspective on bisexuality as a process of “becoming” as part of these relational assemblages, rather than as “being” a stable identity. Bisexuality’s function during a breakup is not determined by participants’ identities, but rather by the specific assemblages that bisexual bodies form with other bodies, relationships, and affects. In particular, binary notions of gender and sexuality give energy to the intensification of affects when bisexual women start to date a partner whose gender is different from that of their previous partner. Yet, as all assemblages are complex and unique, the gender of a bisexual woman’s partner matters differently depending on the other elements and relationships in the assemblage. Some assembled relationships and affects have the power to (dis)connect bisexual bodies with (from) relational assemblages. This can radically diminish the vitality of bisexual bodies. However, bisexual becomings continue because they are connected with other relational assemblages, highlighting multiple bisexual potentialities.
Show moreOrganizations and authors
Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Compendium
Article type
Other article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A3 Book section, Chapters in research booksPublication channel information
Parent publication name
Bisexuality in Europe : Sexual Citizenship, Romantic Relationships, and Bi+ Identities
Parent publication editors
Maliepaard, Emiel; Baumgartner, Renate
Publisher
Pages
85-99
ISBN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
3
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
Yes
Open access of publication channel
Fully open publication channel
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Sociology; Other social sciences
Keywords
[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Publication country
United Kingdom
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
No
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.4324/9780367809881
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes