2 of 9: Bisexuality, Gaia, Eros: Portals to the Arts of Loving

"Bisexuality, Gaia, Eros: Portals to the Arts of Loving"

BiReCon: Selected Proceedings from the 2010 Int'l Bisexual Research Conference

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD, Keynote Speaker

Part 1 - Preamble: Manifesting Bisexuality

It was a pleasure and a privilege to be invited to give a keynote address at BiReCon.  As a scholar of bisexuality who comes from the arts and humanities, and as an author who, admittedly, lives her life as an experiment in traversing sexual cultures, I had been waiting for this conference to happen.  I had been wishing and rooting for it.  I had been wondering what was keeping it from happening--was anything wrong in the Bi movement?  When the invitation came I was overjoyed.  It took me a while to secure travel funds and confirm acceptance.  Thanks to Meg Barker, Christina Richards, Regina Reinhardt and others at the American Institute of Bisexuality for making that trip possible.  I prepared to speak of bisexuality as a portal to a world where Eros, the energy of love, is recognized as the force that makes Gaia, the third planet, alive.[1]  My summer plans got organized around the BiReCon/BiCon appointment in London, UK, beginning August 26^th, 2010.

As I said, my intention in giving the address was that of presenting bisexuality as a portal to a world of amorous sensibilities beyond the homo/hetero divide.  I consider sexuality the cultural construct of Western modernity that organizes love as a need or an instinct.  I find this to be reductionist.  Love is of course a need and an instinct.  But it’s also, and perhaps most importantly at this time, an art.  The art of loving is what makes all styles of amorous expression fun, playful, and amusing, including hugging, cuddling, spooning, playing with toys, leather and Jacuzzis, gender-bending, sporting sexy outfits, swinging, threesomes, tantric breathing, and a bunch of other activities that are consensual, inventive, spontaneous, romantic, exciting, intimate, and humorous.  These activities keep artists of love in balance with the amorous communities in which they participate.  The art of loving, in my view, is inspired by the energy of Eros that infuses Gaia with life.  Hence my title: “Gaia and the New Politics of Love: Notes for a BI Planet,” which almost coincides with the title of my latest book.  Gaia, for the web of life that sustains our species on the third planet; the New Politics of Love, that places love, the source of life, at the new center of the political stage; all of which bodes well for a Planet that’s getting BI, with useful Notes provided toward that process. 

According to Gaia science, the web of life that sustains our species on the third planet is interconnected.  Our first ancestors, bacteria, are four billion years old.  They have sex with their neighbors to rejuvenate themselves--regardless of gender or reproduction—and to exchange genes.  As artists of love, their behavior is—to say the least—orgiastic.  Yet it has been evolutionarily rewarded!  We humans, the “new kids on the block” among earthly species, have been at war with Gaia now for quite a while--which has resulted in climate change and other assorted environmental disasters.  We could be extinct tomorrow while bacteria are still around.[2]  Why?  There is one simple explanation: Unlike humans, bacteria, our most resilient ancestors, allow the energy of Eros to circulate among them free of needless fears.  Gaia is blue, and green, and white.  It teems with life.  Without our ancestors, it would be as brownish as its neighbors Mars and Venus: A rock where nothing moves.  Given this scientific perspective, there is no reason why human bisexuality should not be the most natural, the healthiest thing on the planet. 

So the idea of a portal seemed fine.  It would open new horizons.  It would resonate with the work of Robyn Ochs, another keynote speaker, whose book, Getting Bi, registers voices of bi people across the planet.  Yet it felt a bit off and perhaps not quite in tune with what was out there in the melee of early third-millennium bisexual life.  After all, I came out in the early 1990s, I’ve organized my personal and professional life largely around bisexuality, and I’ve had plenty of time to select extraneous influxes out of it.  Attendance in BiReCon and BiCon combined provided a unique standpoint to get the pulse of where bisexuality is at in a variety of geo-cultural locations and from the multiple perspectives of research, scholarship, theory, creative expression, advocacy, and community building.  (For insights on those dynamics I refer readers to “BiReCon,” in this volume, a contribution by the organizers.)  The context was perfect for producing knowledge in action.  At the time of this writing, I’ve had a chance to reflect on my own keynote remarks, on the experience of participating in the two events combined, and the process of creating the present volume from contributions thereof.  I choose this as an opportunity to offer the wisdom of what I learned in the process, along with a written elaboration of my keynote remarks.

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[1] Gaia is the ancient Greek name for the Earth/fertility goddess central to the matrifocal civilizations of the Neolithic (Gimbutas 1989, 2001).  Thanks to James Lovelock and Gore Vidal, it is now also used in science (1979, 1988). 

[2] My sources in Gaia science are Margulis and Sagan, 1991 and 1997.  Their work as a team shines a significant light on the connections between sexuality, symbiosis, and the evolution of life from bacteria to humans.  It falls within the aegis of Gaia theory, respected yet still controversial in many scientific circles.  I also refer to my own work (2009), and to Lovelock’s classics (1979, 1988, 2001, 2006).

  

Read the article as it continues to appear in Poly Planet GAIA.  Section will be posted every three or four days.  Become a follower of the blog and be notified every time a new posting appears. 

Acknowledgment: This piece is pre-published here with permission of Routledge, New York, a division of Taylor and Francis.   

BiReCon | 28 BiCon | 10 ICB

Bisexuality Research Conference, 28th Bisexuality Conference, 10th International Conference on Bisexuality, London, UK, August 26-30, 2010

BiReCon Proceedings: A forthcoming issue of The Journal of Bisexuality

1 of 9: Bisexuality, Gaia, Eros: Portals to the Arts of Loving

"Bisexuality, Gaia, Eros: Portals to the Arts of Loving"

BiReCon: Selected Proceedings from the 2010 Int'l Bisexual Research Conference

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD, Keynote Speaker

Abstract

This article presents bisexuality as a portal to the arts of loving where Eros, the energy of love, is recognized as what makes Gaia, the third planet Earth, alive.  It is a reflection on the author’s experience as a keynote speaker at BiReCon, and as a participant in both BiReCon and BiCon.[1]  The article is organized into three sections.  The “Preamble” muses about how bisexuality manifests today, the current status of the bisexual movement, and how bisexuals (bis) are positioned within LGBT communities, their institutions, and in mainstream society.  In this first section the author reflects upon her experience at the events.  “Addressing the Audience” is a rendition of her actual keynote address.  This second section focuses on why it’s key at this time to see bisexuality as a portal to a world that is more eco-friendly and erotophile.  By way of Annie Sprinkle’s evolving work, the section establishes continuity between bisexuality and ecosexuality.  The author also uses her own experience of bisexual erasure at the French libertine resort of Cap d’Agde in order to encourage more research and education about bisexuality and the multiple contexts where it manifests.  The address also invites readers to imagine the world behind this portal, where a paradigm shift has already occurred.  Love is considered an art, Gaia is recognized as the “gay” planet, the homo/hetero divide has disappeared, and the energy of Eros circulates beyond socially constructed binaries.  The third section or “Conclusion” suggests ways to initiate this shift by considering “organic bisexuality” and “holistic sexual health.” 

Keywords

Eros, Gaia, bisexuality, ecosexuality, erotophilia, gay planet, art of love, Annie Sprinkle, Cap d’Agde, bisexual men and women, organic bisexuality, holistic sexual health

Read the article as it appears in Poly Planet GAIA.  Section will be posted every three or four days.  Become a follower of the blog and be notified every time a new posting appears. 

Acknowledgement: This piece is pre-published here with permission of Routledge, New York, a division of Taylor and Francis.   

BiReCon | 28 BiCon | 10 ICB

Bisexuality Research Conference, 28th Bisexuality Conference, 10th International Conference on Bisexuality, London, UK, August 26-30, 2010

BiReCon Proceedings: A forthcoming issue of The Journal of Bisexuality

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[1] BiReCon: Bisexuality Research Conference, BiCon: Bisexuality Conference: 10 ICB: Tenth International Conference about Bisexuality.  These three events took place at the University of East London, Dockland Campus, on August 26-30, 2010, in a coordinated, almost simultaneous way, with BiReCon on opening day, the 26^th.  

Is Monogamy Unnatural? Book Argues It Isn't and CNN Talks About This!

When yours truly read about this on Facebook, she rushed to read the article and fund out is is a review of the book, Sex at Dawn, abut the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality.  The authors are Cacilda Jetha and Christopher Ryan.  The argument does not seem very new, and is still quite interesting.
  
Foraging societies did not have a sense of personal property and this applied to people as well as things. Groups of humans moved around with personal possessions reduced to a minimum, and no one really bothered to find out who belonged to whom. Women breastfed children regardless of who delivered them, and men helped parent them regardless of who sired them.  This was normal for humans before agriculture became prevalent, before, in other words, we knew about seeds, and wombs, before the concept of paternity was part of human knowledge systems.  

This argument started with Bachofen, in the late 19th-early20th century, who, in Myth, Religion and Mother Right, argued that matriarchal social organizations were prevalent throughout the Neolithic for that precise reason: that paternity was not a concept yet, and so men did not think they should know who put the seed in.  Women were more revered and also more free: they had sex with multiple partners, especially in the fertile period, to make sure someone would make them pregnant. 

This line of thought developed further with feminist philosophers and theorists of the 'second wave,' including, to my knowledge, Adriana Cavarero, who, in In Spite of Plato (translated by yours truly), argues that this ignorance of paternity was a good thing, because it empowered women with sovereignty over our bodies, and the decision to be hostesses to the reproductive process necessary for the species was ours and ours alone.  Two other theorists on this topic are of course Riane Eisler and Marija Gimbutas.  Eisler links the social practice of competition to the social construct of paternity and the ensuing practice of controlling the female body that hosts the seed to ensue its authenticity, the fact that the resulting child is sired by the man who parents it.  This, Eisler observes, not only disempowers women, but also preempts the possibility of a society organized on partnership.  Because partnership requires trust and equality, and these are impossible when men's self esteem is predicated on their ability to certify paternity. Matrifocal societies are better candidates for partnership systems.  The Romans, who learned a lot from the Greeks, and the matrifocal cultures that preceded them, put this very simply: "maternity is always certain, paternity never is."  So, if it isn't, let's shift our focus away from it, argues Gimbutas, who studies the matrifocal cultures of the Neolithic in the pre-Indoeuropean Mediterranean, to find out that they indeed were organized around the sacred feminine, myths of fertility, the management of waters, the practice of sharing resources, including amorous, sexual,and reproductive resources, the commons, and social peace.  social peace.  

Obviously, with us humans having been around for about a million years now, monogamy and paternity, which came about as social constructs only about 10 thousand years ago, it follows that our species is not monogamous from an evolutionary viewpoint: indeed, our bodies, our biology are not programmed for sexual exclusivity.  How could they be?

Many will say that neither is our biology programmed for sitting hour after hour at the computer, like yours truly and many other bloggers and other social media people do.  Obviously, we don't need to be biologically programmed for something to enjoy doing it.  We can enjoy sexual exclusivity when we choose it.  That's why yours truly often claims that monogamy is a version of polyamory: it's a spontaneous occurrence which is good as long as it is not enthroned as a social rule or billed as 'superior' because, supposedly, it represent the endpoint of evolution for our species and the biota as a whole.  

Reclaiming that polyamory is 'natural,' as Ryan and Jetha do, is a very good thing.  It helps to reconfigure 'nature' in the human mind as something quite closer to what it is: an ecosystem of interconnected life forms that is, per se, quite queer, namely odd, irregular, diverse, interconnected, happy, gay, and cheerful.  Able to heal itself because it does not follow mechanical rules.  Alive per se because it enjoys the pleasure of being.  Yet claiming that non-monogamy is 'natural' as opposed to monogamy not being so is deceptive too.  It is extremely important to bring back polyamory within the range of what is natural, spontaneous, and healthy for humans to do, but not at the expense of, or in bipolar opposition to, what is commonly known as monogamy or sexual/amorous/romantic exclusivity.  

More to the point, this new acquaintance with polyamory as a natural, biologically-programmed, and long-standing prevalent tradition that goes back all the way to pre-history is a way to revisit the past to invent a new future.  If something was done in pre-historical times we often consider it bad, backward, 'primitive.'  But what is 'bad' about primitivism?  What we often call 'history' is actually a very short period in the life of our species.  A well documented one, for sure!  But a 'good' one?  The past ten thousand years have been filled with wars, empires, exterminations, genocides, tortures, competitions, extinctions and other forms of destructive behavior that we humans have inflicted on fellow creatures and a whole bunch of other species, not to mention entire habitats, climate and ecosystems, based on ever more powerful weapons and domination systems that have, ultimately, had the effect to make us, the inventor species, also a rather unhappy species, with very few individuals still able to connect with the magic of nature, the ability to contemplate existence in the present as a state of pure bliss.  

Maybe those matrifocal 'primitives' who knew nothing about paternity, and were 'naturally' polyamorous because they loved nature in all its manifestations, including several people, were happier than today's average person.  So, by finding out how these poly primitives lived, by looking at the origins of sexuality in the long-standing life of our species, we can also come to a better understanding of a different time in our 'history,' a time when 'history' was actually more of a 'herstory,' as fellow second-wave feminists Susan Griffin and others would put it.  

This will help us also dispell another myth: that women naturally 'suffer' polyamory while men are the ones who want it.  Really?  How come today's women would 'naturally' demand monogamy when historically the times when polyamory was natural are times when women were revered, sovereign, and free?  If paternity, the cultural construct of male insemination as 'cause' of female fertility, is what caused dominant societies where women lost that sovereignty and that freedom, then perhaps sexual exclusivity is a result of patriarchal social organizations too? 

In any event, all reflections on these topics are very significant at this time.  Sexuality, in itself an invention of modernity and its wish to study the expression of erotic love in view of general laws to be considered 'scientific,' is now being re-envisioned as mainly a way to revitalize our species and the biota that hosts it, not necessarily as a way to reproduce it.  The mandate to 'go and populate the earth' has been fulfilled.  We need forms of erotic expression that are about pleasure, connectedness, health, holism, not about possession or release.  We need ecosexual people, people whose erotic inclinations are ecological too.  That's the only way to invent a new future. And of course the potential and ability to express these inclination respectfully with multiple people of various genders is a bonus to this future too.  

An ecosexual future is also a Gaian future, a future when the fact that our planet Gaia is gay will finally be recognized by our sad and ingeniously destructive and self-destructive species and when we will decide to use our ingenuity to finally keep Gaia gay too.       

Read full article here 

Christopher Ryan is a psychologist, teacher and the co-author, along with Cacilda Jethá, of "Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality," published by Harper Collins.

Gaia and Amorous Resources: What's Holistic about Poly?

Hi everyone!

This is Serena, a.k.a. Gaia, writing from Kalikalos, a holistic community in Kissos, on Mount Pelion, Greece.

This is a stop in my journey for two main reasons: wanting to become acquainted with the mythologies of my childhood, and wanting to bring the ideas and practices of poly-amory, multiple loves, to people and communities already attuned to holistic styles of living.

Here's a quick report from part one, an introduction to the relation between Gaia, the concept of a living planet, and amorous resources, resources of love that we can share amorously if we learn a little bit about what poly people do.

We had scheduled this intro for the Wednesday morning slot, on August 4, 2010, during the Family Experience Week, for participants in two campuses, Kalikalos, where I am staying, and Anilio, a nearby village in the same area.

It was announced the previous evening at a wonderful taverna dinner, where people responded with a certain enthusiasm. Parallel activities for children and teen-agers were arranged, even though we also opened the option for their participation too.

The next day almost the whole community showed up. We had prepared the Round House, a pretty summer building made of pine, canvas, and bamboo. Over twenty people showed up, everyone with their own dosage of curiosity and enthusiasm.

The conversation went very smoothly, with everyone responding eagerly. "When people mention Gaia, what comes up for you? What comes up when you hear polyamory? And, last but not least, the million dollar question: jealousy?" The presentation unfolded from the diverse responses the group generated. And at the end it was decided to offer another session, with bioenergetic exercises that help people experience 'compersion,' in little increments. It was amazing how quickly this group got the idea of what compersion is. It was a new word for them, initially proposed as 'the opposite of jealousy.' They came up with a parallel definition that compares it to the Buddhist concept of Maddhitta, or the joy of rejoicing in someone else's joy.

Individual coaching sessions were also offered, and one was scheduled right after the meeting. It was a joy to share my knowledge and experience with this brave woman from the UK, a gift to listen to her story and empathize with her situation and predicament. Often, the internalized idea that monogamy is superior is the real obstacle to the unfolding of a happy and free amorous life. I do hope that obstacle was at least temporarily removed from her mind, at least for the time being . . . . so that her path of personal and spiritual growth can naturally unfold.

So this group really gave me a sense of wider possibility: I do feel that it is my mission on this planet to open up all kinds of holistic communities to the ideas and practices of poly love styles. One of my two purposes for being here in Greece is now very tangible and real. As for the other one, well . . . it was so magical to mention Gea, or Gaia, on the very land where this concept was created, in times so ancient that it is sometimes difficult to find their traces on the land that hosted them about three thousand years ago. Greece has been colonized and culturally reorganized various times since, by the Orthodox Christians, the Ottoman Turks, and more.

Still . . . there was one participant in the group who is originally from Greece. She often functions as an interpreter for the English-speaking group with local people. When I mentioned the Titans, or first generation of Greek deities, that were not people but forces of nature that one would interpret, second, and revere rather than control, it was clear that she knew what I was talking about. She even gave us the name of Gea spelled and prononuced in Greek! I wish I could reproduce it here, but it will have to be for some other time, since I'm too ignorant to remember the letters of the Greek alphabet she used!

In any event, it was great to see that what I came up with in relation to Greek mythology made sense to a person who was educated in modern Greece. It must be real then, and not just a fantasy of yours truly. The day unfolded with people silently metabolizing the new ideas. Facilitator extraordinaire Dorota Owen showed great enthusiasm. One could observe the afterglow on people's faces at dinner.

And on this note, my blog entry will come to a conclusion. I definitely will come back to Kalikalos for more summers and more groups. I also highly recommend these vacations. The cool air of a mid-mountain village, a nice residence, a cozy holistic community, access to fabulous beaches, moderate prices and the option of offering services, a sense of family, and healthy vegetarian food. What else could one expect from a vacation in Greece?!

For anyone reading this blog, and interested in knowing more about polyamory and holism, I recommend my latest book, Gaia and the New Politics of Love. Discount buy here.

For those interested in my life as Gaia, the experiment that lead to the Gaian awareness I have today, I recommend Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves. Discount buy here.

Fianally, for those interested in fabulous holistic vacations in Greece, I recommend the Kalikalos Blog, http://kalikalos.blogspot.com, and Website http://www.kalikalos.com. Make sure you stay up to date on what's coming up and what they are doing!

Namaste,

Gaia,

a.k.a. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

author of Gaia and the New Politics of Love, a Silver Winner for the 2010 Nautilus Award in Cosmology and New Science, and of

Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves, a Lambda finalist for Bisexuality in 2007

Is Polyamory Revolutionary? by Micah White via Adbusters

My comment and critique to this piece.  Why bi, ecosex, tantra, and fluidity make what we mean by 'poly' and 'orgy' different today from what they meant in the 1960s.

Interesting article. 

Emphasizes importance of love revolutions, or 'lovolutions.'

Argues that the 'orgy' was your staple way of being sexually revolutionary in the 1960s, 'polyamory' is today's way.  But what is polyamory and what is an orgy?  The very concepts of polyamory and of sex with multiple partners have changed since then.

Here's how Micah puts it:

"Polyamory is an outgrowth of the free love movement but instead of looking to the orgy as the model for rebellion it is the notion of a tribe that excites their imagination. There are many visions of polyamory, but the one that many find intriguing is a world where partners are not exchangeable, relationships are stable and promiscuity is often frowned on."

Read full article here 

I'd like to comment and expand on this.  I would object to the idea that today's polyamory and the 'orgy' or group sex don't get along.  Perhaps it's the very sense of what group sex is or can be that has changed, because we are more aware of the arts of loving via tantric practices and teachings, and because we have reactivated more sophisticated ways to be erotic, and affectionate, and sensual.  This is probably due to safety and health and the awareness that a free exchange of fluid is not always healthy for people, especially when partners are multiple.  

We are also more familiar with queer sexualities, and everyone is more in tune with being a bit bi and fluid.  This has resulted in a sexuality or practice of the arts of loving that is more energetic and nurturing, with more emphasis on pleasure and less on release, and in general more attuned to the yoni, the ying, and what women typically enjoy.

We are a bit more ecosexual, to put it simply, we are more aware of our bodies as ecosystems, and of how they synergize with those of our partners too. I'd say that's party the result of a general sense of fluidity in the cultural notions of what sexual orientation is, and that fluidity, I would argue, is largely the result of the ecofriendly intentions of the bisexual movement: the idea that we love people for who they are and not based on their gender, and that this love finds it own level of erotic expression too, if you let it.

For those interested in more on this, the new collection Bisexuality and Queer Theory, edited by Jonathan Alexander and yours truly, is now available from Routledge/Taylor and Francis.  Also, of course, this is discussed in Gaia and the New Politics of Love. Finally, I am going to talk about it at BiReCon, the research session of BiCon, the 10th International Conference on Bisexuality, in London, August 26-30. 

Click here for information and to register

 — Serena Anderlini

A Gut Feeling: Anal Pleasure and Holistic Sexual Health

We plan to publish a series of dialogs on anal pleasure and holistic sexual health.  The idea is that the two go very well together--in moderation.  In anticipation, we offer the vernacular science available on the topic.  Today's science often serves profit.  See expose of corruption in Our Daily Meds.  Vernacular science is science by the people and for the people.   

The author of the main source is Tony Lance, an American hero who self-trained as a scientist to save his own life and now is sharing his knowledge to save others . . .

   

As we learn from Reduce the Burden, Tony Lance is a healthy gay man who turned 'poz' 13 years ago.  He refused conventional treatment and practices holistic health.

"His experience of the AIDS era has made him feel increasingly lonely and isolated. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, like many gay men, he performed the sad New Year’s Day ritual of crossing out names in his address book of friends who had died of AIDS.

  . . . . . 

Lance witnessed the shocking transformations his friends went through. 'These were strong, vibrant men turned in a matter of months into ghoulish caricatures of what they used to be,' he recalls. 'Their hair turned grey, their skin turned a purplish color, their gums receded and their teeth fell out; they lost weight; and some couldn’t leave the house because of uncontrollable diarrhea. . . .

The impression convinced Lance that, 'if my time came, if I tested HIV positive, I would not take anti-viral drugs.'  . . . .

Later he discovered Peter Duesberg's book (Inventing the AIDS Virus, 1996) in a gay and lesbian book store.  He read it in one sitting and became a dissident."

When some of his fellow dissidents died of AIDS, he was crushed.  Initially he felt guilty and wrong.  Then he began the process of training himself as a scientist and doing research on Intestinal Dysbiosis.

His article explains almost everything we know as AIDS in LGBTQ communities in terms of Intestinal Dysbiosis.  It's an admirable piece of genuine science: science by the people and for the people.  A must read for any lover of anal pleasure like yours truly. 

GRID = Gay Related Intestinal Dysbiosis?
Explaining HIV/AIDS Paradoxes in Terms of Intestinal Dysbiosis
by Tony Lance
tony.lance@gmail.com

One thing that those who reject the HIV/AIDS hypothesis agree on is that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. But when it comes to alternative theories of causation, disagreement abounds. And some of the most vexing questions surround the earliest cases of AIDS, those that were initially dubbed Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID). Why did it originate in some gay communities? Why did this happen in the late 1970s and early 1980s? Why in the particular form of PCP (Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia), candidiasis, KS (Kaposi’s sarcoma)? And why still do gay men so often test “HIV+”? Why do some “HIV+” people thrive without medication while others get ill? Here’s a suggestion that answers all those questions in a coherent way.

Read complete article on HIV/AIDS Skepticism

Tony Lance speaking at First Rethinkign AIDS Conference, Oakland 2009