A Walk On The Bi Side

Say what you will about bisexuality," said Woody Allen. "You have a 50 percent better chance of finding a date on Saturday night." Indeed, as Basic Instinct showed us, the possibilities are endless. From curious college undergrads to gender-benders to icons such as Madonna and k.d. lang, it's a whole new ball game out there--with or without the balls--as women experiment with the changing rules and roles of sex play. At the front of the pack is the bisexual woman--a pleasure-seeker who shuns labels in pursuit of carnal attraction in all its forms. She is the ultimate rule breaker. There have always been bisexual women, of course. But until recently, they never quite fit in: Lesbians were wary of them because they like to sleep with men. Yet because they also slip between the sheets with women, many straight guys didn't know what to make of them. The media and gay activists, meanwhile, charged them with sitting on the fence. We say bisexual women enjoy the best of both worlds--and why not? Both have so much to offer. "If I handn't had sex with women, my sex life wouldn't have improved with men," explains Angeline Straatman, a bisexual New York fashion model and safe-sex advocate. "Many of the things that excite women also excite men. Why choose between them when I can have both?" Hugh Hefner, an emblem of the heterosexual lifestyle, has this to say about the bi bunch: "If you are sexually adventurous, then I don't think heterosexuality should preclude you from trying whatever is out there."