Jan Clausen reasons carefully through essentialist vs. constructionist views of homosexuality. "Natural" and "universal" sexuality are examined, especially in light of other cultures' more open views toward a "sliding scale" of sexual expression. This is a careful set of ideas beautifully expressed: Careful to take readers through issues such as whom one has sex with, who is emotionally most important, which acts one chooses as "sexuality," how sexual identity in relation to biological sex might be modified by choice of occupation and dress, etc. Clausen is not afraid of "confusion" on these issues. She wants us to think about either-or thinking in our sexual categories. She helps us to think about passages in humanity's sexual history and the times & places of personal sexual expression in profound ways. A good deal of her reasoning focuses on how, where, and why some cultures see boundaries between "male" & "female" sexual expression as fluid or rigid. She argues that far from fixed, sexuality is the burden of freedom. This is a wonderful, thought-provoking book, still relevant in a time when religionists denounce sexual choices as sin and damnation and some gay theorists speak of getting "beyond gay." Its tone and its stories reflect the profound truths of a PFLAG (Parents, Family, & Friends of Lesbians & Gays) dictum in a pamphlet written for helping young people who are questioning their sexuality: The youth asks, "How can I tell if I'm gay?" The PFLAGers answer is: "You'll know when you know." There is profound compassionate counsel in that simple PFLAG statement, and there is compassionate examination of all human sexuality in Jan Clausen's Beyond Gay or Straight: Understanding Sexual Orientation. I love this book. I share this book with many people who are SERIOUS about sexual expressions.

Jan Clausen wrote a very intellectual and profound moving book especially for this very book, Apples & Oranges. I am very moved by the depth of feelings in which Jan Clausen described herself and her experiences. The character development is a real suspense and this book gave me thrill and also could have helped people who are in search of their sexuality. Moreover, I really could not get my hands of the book, and if I could, I would read it from dawn till dusk. A real life experience full of colours of life which brought an aspect in my real life. Very Good !

Jan Clausen has been walking on the wild side of sexual preference all her life. First she came out as a lesbian, in a world that is not particularly friendly to the sexually deviant. Then she left her 12-year partnership to be with a man, a decision which alienated her from the lesbian community she had been so instrumental in building. In this book, she tries to make sense of it all, for herself and for the reader, exploring what it means to be a lesbian or not.

The central idea of the book is that either/or sexuality is too confining, that women's eroticism flows in a way that makes all labels into prisons. This summing-up misses a great deal, however, as she covers the ground of her own intense life experience, the ways in which the lesian community deals with sexual outlaws, and the ways in which our principles sometimes get in the way of living authentic lives.

This is a great book, just because of the ideas discussed. However, the author is also a poet, and so the prose is dense and lovely, with a rhythm that supports the philosophical discussion in a profound way.