“Bisexuality and Beyond” – A Book by Martha Robinson Rhodes on the History of Multiple-Gender-Attraction in the UK
Martha Robinson Rhodes’ historical study explores the experiences of bisexual people in Britain from the 1970s to the 1990s.
In May 2026, Oxford University Press published the English-language book “Bisexuality and Beyond: A History of Multiple-Gender-Attraction in Modern Britain”. Its author is Martha Robinson Rhodes, a historian, researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a former employee of the LGBT charity Stonewall.
The book is the first in-depth historical study of bisexuality in Great Britain between the 1970s and the 1990s. Drawing on seventeen original oral history interviews and archival records from gay, lesbian, and bisexual organizations, the author examines how gay liberation and lesbian feminism movements played a significant role in creating a strict divide between homosexuals and heterosexuals, frequently sidelining people with more complex sexual behaviors.
In her research, Martha Robinson Rhodes uses the concept of “multiple-gender-attraction” as an umbrella term to move beyond rigid labels. This approach allows her to explore the experiences not only of those who explicitly identified as bisexual, but also of individuals who described themselves as “not 100% gay,” as well as married men who engaged in sexual relationships with other men while maintaining emotional bonds with their wives.
By detailing these historical processes, the book reveals how political and social categories of sexuality were formed in the late 20th century. The publication challenges common assumptions about the universal inclusivity of radical LGBT politics in the 1970s and provides a deeper understanding of the history of the LGBT community.
