Bisexuality bi Vanessa, prefaced bi Mandy (S3E4) / by Mandy Wintink

If you want to sit in on a class presentation on the research related to bisexuality please listen to this podcast! Vanessa is a MicroMasters student (part of the Centre for Applied Neuroscience MicroDegree in Psychological Neuroscience) supervised by me, Mandy Wintink. This week’s seminar class was on Sex and Gender and Vanessa’s topic was “Bisexuality” and she presents on the topic according to the guiding questions that provoked the research (see below). The other voices you can hear are that of the other MicroDegree students.

Vanessa chose to do bisexuality because it is often considered a hidden sexuality because those who are bisexual are often seen as heterosexual if they are in a monogamous opposite-sex relationship or gay if they are in a same-sex relationship, neither of which can feel complete for someone who is bisexual. Through her research, Vanessa discovered that bisexual erasure is prevalent and so is bisexuality as well. In fact, some statistics show that bisexuality is the majority of the LGTB2QS community.

Word of wise: You may want to slow this episode down to .75 speed because Vanessa and her brain present very fast…

Resources:

Kinsey Scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_scale

Rosa Diaz’s Comes Out on Brooklyn Nine-Nine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDGkCeElzhM

Guiding Questions for the MicroDegree Topic of Sex & Gender:

Choose a topic within the realm of sex, gender, or any sex-linked behaviour and learn about some aspect of neuroscience related to it. Some examples may include: sex, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, gendered toys/clothes/behaviours, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, development, sex roles, gender/sex stereotypes, etc.

Answer These Questions to the Best of Your Ability:

  1. Describe the topic that you chose in general terms.

  2. Why did you choose this topic and/or what interested you about this topic?

  3. Can you describe the public's general understanding or thinking associated with this topic?

  4. [How] does this topic relate to the concept of binary/non-binary categorization.

Choose Whichever Of The Following Apply To Your Topic:

  1. What are the neuroscience issues surrounding this topic?

  2. Is there a neuroscience explanation/description for the phenomenon you are talking about?

  3. What brain mechanisms or neurochemicals are associated with your topic?

  4. Has your topic ever been considered a "disorder" or "disease"?

  5. Are there known sex differences related to your topic?

  6. How might our understanding of this topic change if we took a non-binary understanding approach to it?

Answer These Too Please:

  1. What do you think is important information that the general public should know about this topic, as far as you can tell?

  2. What was the most important thing you learned about this topic?

  3. What was the most random/novel thing that you learned about this topic?

Now that you have done your research... and hopefully come out of the custard... choose any 5 of these questions to answer for your presentation.