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Uneven: Nine Lives that Redefined Bisexuality
Uneven tells the stories of nine pioneering bisexual artists, writers and musicians that will change our understanding of the world's largest sexual minority.
Bisexuality is often seen as something temporary, in spite of increasing openness around a sign of immaturity or a waystation on the road to a different sexuality altogether, rather than its own distinct entity.
In this beautifully written cultural history, Sam Mills reclaims bisexuality as its own identity, interweaving her experience of being bisexual with illuminating portraits of a clutch of artists, writers and musicians, including Colette, Bessie Smith, Marlene Dietrich, Anaïs Nin, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna.
Celebrating the resilience, diversity and spirit of the bisexual community through the ages, Uneven explores how each of these trailblazing figures have been misunderstood; how social attitudes affected their sexuality, their relationships and their work; how LGBTQ+ identities have been portrayed from the Victorian era to the present day; and how attitudes have progressed.
Illuminating, personal and entertaining, Uneven paints a nuanced portrait of a sidelined community.
Bisexuality is often seen as something temporary, in spite of increasing openness around a sign of immaturity or a waystation on the road to a different sexuality altogether, rather than its own distinct entity.
In this beautifully written cultural history, Sam Mills reclaims bisexuality as its own identity, interweaving her experience of being bisexual with illuminating portraits of a clutch of artists, writers and musicians, including Colette, Bessie Smith, Marlene Dietrich, Anaïs Nin, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna.
Celebrating the resilience, diversity and spirit of the bisexual community through the ages, Uneven explores how each of these trailblazing figures have been misunderstood; how social attitudes affected their sexuality, their relationships and their work; how LGBTQ+ identities have been portrayed from the Victorian era to the present day; and how attitudes have progressed.
Illuminating, personal and entertaining, Uneven paints a nuanced portrait of a sidelined community.
- GenresNonfictionLGBTHistory
409 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 23, 2025
88 people want to read
About the author
Sam Mills
25Ìýbooks21ÌýfollowersSamantha Mills
Sam Mills was born in 1975. After graduating from Lincoln College, Oxford University, she worked briefly as a chess journalist and publicist before becoming a full-time writer. She has contributed short stories to literary magazines such as Tomazi and 3am and written articles for the Guardian, The Weeklings and The Independent.
She is the author of 3 young adult novels, published by Faber, including The Boys Who Saved the World, which is currently being adapted for film and the award-winning Blackout. Her debut novel for adults, The Quiddity of Will Self (Corsair) was described by The Sunday Times as “an ingenious, energetic read� and the Guardian as “an extraordinary novel of orgiastic obsession.� Sam is one of the founding members of the Will Self Club.
Sam Mills was born in 1975. After graduating from Lincoln College, Oxford University, she worked briefly as a chess journalist and publicist before becoming a full-time writer. She has contributed short stories to literary magazines such as Tomazi and 3am and written articles for the Guardian, The Weeklings and The Independent.
She is the author of 3 young adult novels, published by Faber, including The Boys Who Saved the World, which is currently being adapted for film and the award-winning Blackout. Her debut novel for adults, The Quiddity of Will Self (Corsair) was described by The Sunday Times as “an ingenious, energetic read� and the Guardian as “an extraordinary novel of orgiastic obsession.� Sam is one of the founding members of the Will Self Club.
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February 3, 2025
Back in 2022 I reviewed Julia Shaw’s Bi: The hidden culture, history and science of bisexuality, which took a social sciences approach. By contrast, this is a group biography of nine bisexuals � make that 10, as there are plenty of short memoir-ish passages from Mills, too. Oscar Wilde, Colette, Marlene Dietrich, Anaïs Nin, Susan Sontag: more or less familiar names, though not all of them are necessarily known for their sexuality. The chapters deliver standard potted biographies of the individuals� work and relationships, probably containing little that couldn’t be found elsewhere in recent scholarship and not really living up to the revolutionary promise of the subtitle. However, it was worthwhile for Mills to recover Wilde as a bisexual rather than a closeted homosexual. A final trilogy of chapters comes more up to date with David Bowie, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna. The closer to the present day, the more satisfying connections there are between figures. For instance, Madonna looked to both Dietrich and Bowie as role models and fashion icons, and she and Basquiat were lovers.
Mills and Shaw consider the same fundamental issues: bi erasure, with bisexuality the least understood and most easily overlooked element of LGBT and many passing as straight if in heterosexual marriages; and the stereotype of bis as hypersexual or promiscuous. Mills is keen to stress that bisexuals have very different trajectories and phases. Like Wilde, they might have a heterosexual era of happy marriage and parenthood followed by a homosexual spree. Or they might have simultaneous lovers of multiple genders. Some might never even act on strong same-sex desires. (Late last year I encountered a similar unity-in-diversity approach in Daniel Tamet’s Nine Minds, a group biography about autistic people.)
The 1890s to 1980s window allows for a record of changing mores yet means that the book seems rather dated. Were it written by an author of a later generation (Mills, who I knew for The Fragments of My Father, is around 50), the point of view and terminology would likely be quite different. Also, including a section on Bessie Smith within a chapter mostly on Colette felt tokenistic. (Though later considering Basquiat separately does add a BIPOC view.) Ultimately, though, my problem with Uneven was that I don’t want to know about behaviour � which is all that a biography can usually document � so much as the internal, soul stuff. Even from Mills, whose accounts of her long-term relationships and flings (including, yes, a threesome) can be titillating but not very enlightening, I didn’t get a sense of what it feels like. So neither the Shaw nor the Mills gave me precisely what I was looking for, which means that the perfect book on bisexuality either doesn’t exist or is out there but I haven’t found it yet. Any suggestions?
Originally published on my blog, .
Mills and Shaw consider the same fundamental issues: bi erasure, with bisexuality the least understood and most easily overlooked element of LGBT and many passing as straight if in heterosexual marriages; and the stereotype of bis as hypersexual or promiscuous. Mills is keen to stress that bisexuals have very different trajectories and phases. Like Wilde, they might have a heterosexual era of happy marriage and parenthood followed by a homosexual spree. Or they might have simultaneous lovers of multiple genders. Some might never even act on strong same-sex desires. (Late last year I encountered a similar unity-in-diversity approach in Daniel Tamet’s Nine Minds, a group biography about autistic people.)
The 1890s to 1980s window allows for a record of changing mores yet means that the book seems rather dated. Were it written by an author of a later generation (Mills, who I knew for The Fragments of My Father, is around 50), the point of view and terminology would likely be quite different. Also, including a section on Bessie Smith within a chapter mostly on Colette felt tokenistic. (Though later considering Basquiat separately does add a BIPOC view.) Ultimately, though, my problem with Uneven was that I don’t want to know about behaviour � which is all that a biography can usually document � so much as the internal, soul stuff. Even from Mills, whose accounts of her long-term relationships and flings (including, yes, a threesome) can be titillating but not very enlightening, I didn’t get a sense of what it feels like. So neither the Shaw nor the Mills gave me precisely what I was looking for, which means that the perfect book on bisexuality either doesn’t exist or is out there but I haven’t found it yet. Any suggestions?
Originally published on my blog, .
Displaying 1 of 1 review
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