I happen to think that the human experience is quite broad and we ought to not narrow it to little categories.
In my past, I had used the labels, when I was doing survey research. But when I began actually talking to young people, and interviewing them, all the young people hated the categories that adults seemed to want to impose on them. So when they got to a question on a survey that say, “are you gay, straight, or bi?” they skip it, or even tear up the questionnaire.”
– Ritch Savin-Williams
What does it mean to be bisexual? Does everyone experience romantic and sexual attraction the same way? How can we best love our children in growing up to explore and discover their unique sexuality?
Find out in this week’s episode of The Learn to Love Podcast, where your host Zach Beach interviews the psychology professor and author, Ritch C. Savin-Williams on What It Means to Be Bisexual.
Listen on:
Apple Podcasts || Stitcher || TuneIn || Google Podcasts || Spotify|| Amazon Music || Castbox
about Ritch Savin-Williams
RITCH SAVIN-WILLIAMS is Professor Emeritus of Developmental Psychology at Cornell University and a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in identity, relationships, and family issues among sexual-minority young adults.
He is the author of nine previous books, including Mostly Straight: Sexual Fluidity Among Men and The New Gay Teenager. He has served as a consultant for MTV, CNN, 20/20, and the Oprah Winfrey Show, and his work has been cited in Fortune, Newsweek, Parent Magazine, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Time, Utne Reader, Chicago Sun Times, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today.
His new book is called BI: Bisexual, Pansexual, Fluid, and Nonbinary Youth, which offers answers through the voices of young people who don’t identify as either gay or straight.
Cornell Website|| Psychology Website || Amazon Author Page
Links from the show
- Prejudice, Social Stress, and Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations: Conceptual Issues and Research Evidence
- It Gets Better Project
- The Invention of Heterosexuality
- The Kinsey Scale
- Savage’s Hierarchy: The Sexual Identity Layer Cake
- The Lies and Dangers of Efforts to Change Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
- What Is Biromantic Asexuality?
- Olympian Tom Daley: I’m Bisexual
- The Eyes Have It: Sex and Sexual Orientation Differences in Pupil Dilation Patterns
- Gender nonconformity, intelligence, and sexual orientation
- Omnisexual, gynosexual, demisexual: What’s behind the surge in sexual identities?
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