Narrating Self Identity in Bisexual Motherhood
Abstract Our qualitative study investigated the ways in which bisexual mothers came to identify as such and how their identity interconnected with their personal relationship and parenting histories within the social contexts they experienced. Eight women (ages 28 to 56 years old) who had experienced sexual relationships with both women and men over their life span were interviewed. At the time of their interview the participants were mothers to children of various ages from infancy to adulthood. A Labovian narrative analysis was conducted to highlight key points in their understanding of their sense of self in relation to particular social contexts and their story of how they came to identify as a bisexual mother or not. Our findings pointed to involvement in various self identity projects that were variously integrated and resolved within their life course story, namely, the construction of a positive sexual identity and the development of a romantic relationship and the desire to parent. Our life course development study emphasized sexual self identity as providing a source of agency and organization with respect to personal development in embracing or sidelining opportunities as these occurred or did not occur within changing social contexts over time.