On this week's episode, Christine and Shannon discuss the myth that you can "choose" to be one sexuality or another. Instead, they unpack ideas around sexual identity, outdated terminology, and the ongoing debate of whether or not "bicurious" and "heteroflexible" are appropriate terms.
Follow us on social @sexeddebunked or send us a message at sexeddebunked@gmail.com
On this week's episode, Christine and Shannon discuss the myth that you can "choose" to be one sexuality or another. Instead, they unpack ideas around sexual identity, outdated terminology, and the ongoing debate of whether or not "bicurious" and "heteroflexible" are appropriate terms.
Follow us on social @sexeddebunked or send us a message at sexeddebunked@gmail.com
Hi, this is sex ed debunked a cross generational podcast hosted by mother daughter duo Christine and Shannon Curley.
Shannon:Every episode we tackle a new myth about sex, sexuality and pleasure and use research and expert insights to debunk stereotypes and misinformation from the bedroom and beyond.
Christine:In 2022, we won the American Association of sexuality educators, counselors and therapists Award for Best podcast
Shannon:and also managed to not totally freak out our family and friends along the way. We believe
Christine:in healthy sex positive pleasure focused sex education, backed by real research and real experience.
Shannon:Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter at sex ed debunked or emails at sex ed debunked@gmail.com to share your sex, miseducation tales and the myths you'd like to hear us debunk.
Christine:Thanks for listening.
Shannon:Hi, and welcome to sex ed debunked across generational podcast about sex positivity, sexual health, and why Tumblr is my go to resource for the sexuality lexicon.
Christine:Really? Yeah, no, they
Shannon:know everything. There's so many terms on there. There's a term for being a non committal but like committed relationship called a waiver ship. Yeah, and the reason why I like it is because when you're involved in a waiver ship, you're not a partner or a boyfriend or girlfriend or significant other, but you're called a waffle.
Christine:waffle. Yes. Cheers for you only hanging around at breakfast.
Shannon:You can't get as serious as a dinner date. But breakfast is is right on. Yeah.
Christine:Can you include whipped cream on the waffle?
Shannon:Awesome. That's a whole episode.
Christine:Well, anyway, on today's episode, we're going to revisit a myth that we covered in the very first semester. Last year, the myth that you either have to choose to be gay or straight, and there's no in between. It's false. Of course,
Shannon:we've talked about the Kinsey scale, and we've talked about sexual fluidity. But in this episode, we're going to talk about sexual orientation and how people may experience that word orientation across their lifespan.
Christine:And when we kind of started talking about this, we and Shannon, a few weeks ago, because as most of our listeners know, I do a fair amount of research and sexuality. And one of the things you do when you do research is you want to understand the demographics of the people who are answering the questions. And in order to be as diverse and inclusive as possible. On my surveys, I leave a blank, I asked people, what is your sexual orientation slash identity? And some of you might have taken surveys and usually it's like, okay, check, a heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, instead, I left. My favorite is other other and that's
Shannon:figured out.
Christine:But what happens is in the course of doing this kind of work, then I've got to go through all the answers encoded, how many? How many different answers? Do you think I get Janet? Oh, my
Shannon:gosh, so many, which I understand is why others put there as as a catch all. But that's kind of how you refute that whole question in the first place where
Christine:it is. And the first time I did some, when I did my master's thesis at Rhode Island College, I had 21 different responses. And it led me to think what are these different responses? And what does that mean in terms of sexuality and sexual orientation? The two that I really kind of want to touch on today and really kind of talk to you about and break down are these areas where people identify as either bi curious, or hetero flexible. Oh, so Shannon, do you have feelings about the
Shannon:term? Okay, okay. Okay. Okay. i Yes. And you and I have talked about this before, and we talked about it when we recorded our bisexuality episode, because I think we either talked about it during the episode, or it was part of our briefing for the episode. But I do take issue with the term Buy, buy curious and I do take issue with the term hetero flexible, but I feel like with good reason and tell us as well as a word person, right, I like to break down words. And so by curious, the reason I don't like the word Buy Curious is because it implies that there's only two sides of things, which is the same reason that I don't love the term bisexual is because it implies, again, that there's only gay or straight. So your curiosity can only go in one direction or the other. So I don't love that. I don't love the idea that it's one or the other. I think when we talk about sexual fluidity, and we talk about the fluidity of sexual orientation, anytime you put a bi on it, you're continuing to fall into a dichotomy that isn't actually accurate to how sexuality works.
Christine:I could also suggest either you're curious or you're not. Well, and
Shannon:that's a good point, too. And we totally support curiosity. I think curiosity is essential to learning more about yourself, but then why tak by on it,
Christine:you know, just say I'm curious. Yeah, like, I
Shannon:am curious and exploring more and I you know, and but why are you curious and exploring more? Well, because Sexuality is fluid. You're not curious, exploring more, because you're straight? Well, like tomorrow because you're gay.
Christine:So I do think, Shannon, what, what we're seeing in the research is there's a hesitancy because we're still, sadly, there are parts of our culture that are still rather homophobic or if you have been brought up a certain way Have you have believed yourself to be heterosexual and straight your whole life? To say bi curious is kind of a softer way of saying you're interested and attracted to people that you weren't attracted to maybe a few years ago? It's a hesitancy I think to be maybe you don't want to identify as queer or lesbian or gay. But you don't want to say you're 100% Straight, either.
Shannon:Well, I think that the and I agree with you, but I think the you know, quote, unquote, correct term, then is sexually fluid or sexually curious. I think the BI for me is the problem is where I take issue because again, it's not like there's only two options. You're not only being curious, because you're either 100% straight or 100%. Gay, you're curious, because sexuality is a spectrum.
Christine:And what do you think about the term hetero flexible, Hate it? Hate it, hate it? Are we surprised? No,
Shannon:here's why. It's because hetero flexible implies that hetero is the norm eggs, it implies that anything that flexes outside of that is is is deviant, and implies that hetero is the core. And that's the expectation, and that's the norm. And then when you flex away from that you're doing something aberrant.
Christine:And that is definitely a perception that's quite valid, especially from your point of view in the queer community. But the research looking at and granted, I say, research, there's not a lot of it, there is some research about the lexicon, and the expanded lexicon around sexuality. But the suggestion is that hetero flexible flexibility is used by once again, people who are used to saying calling themselves heterosexual. And so this is their kind of step into saying, Well, I am most of the time, but sometimes in certain situations, certain parties, maybe I'm attracted to the other sex. It's not a great solution. But I think what it does speak to Shannon, is people trying to at least break out of the norm of being one or the other, and at least trying to allow themselves to be fluid and to accept themselves that way.
Shannon:I think that's fair. And I think, you know, it's a stepping stone, and it is progress on an individual level. But also, as we talk about a lot on the show, you know, words and language make a really big difference, they make a really big impact, even when you talk about something like, you know, the switch from, you know, what are your pronouns, when it used to be what are your preferred pronouns? Well, they're not my preferred pronoun, that's my identity. So these are, these are my pronouns, there's no preference. And the same thing is you don't really say, sexual preference anymore, because it's not a sexual preference. It's your sexuality, it's your sexual orientation. So, you know, those are subtle changes in language that make a really big difference. And you know, when we talk to members of the trans community, they'll always say, like, it's not my preferred pronoun, it's my pronoun, right? And I wouldn't say, Oh, my sexual preferences, women or men, I would say, my sexual identity is queer, or I'm sexually fluid or mean, or my sexuality is on a spectrum. And it's kind of always changing. But I wouldn't say it's what I prefer. Because there's really not a lot of active choice in the matter. It's really who you are. And I think we need to be more accepting of who people are, wherever they are, whatever they are, at whatever stage of their life. And the truth is that intentional, conscientious language is a big part of that.
Christine:I agree. And it's important for our listeners to realize that language is important. And I think I've heard that message a lot. The other question, though, that to really, when you're delving into this use of language, is to realize that so much research on sexuality and sexual identity and sexual orientation is done with young people and emerging adults. And there's a whole generation of people my age out there, who have been taught gay, straight, gay, straight, gay, straight, and then all of a sudden, are reaching a point in their lives where they're realizing hmm, maybe there's more to me than that. Maybe there's more to me than the box I was put into, when I you know, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. And there's a there's a, I think there's an interesting story there about the sexual identity and sexual orientation does not have to be fixed when you're 17 or 21.
Shannon:Yeah, so this is a good point to make to that. So the new A League of Their Own series, which we talked about before our summer break, as recommended viewing. And so of course, we were waiting for it to come out pun intended, I suppose. And it did. And it it does an amazing job, I think of touching on so many different queer stories at so many different stages of life. And one thing that's really great about it is that Abbi Jacobson who's the plays the lead character Carson. She kind of bases her character around her own personal story and that's that there's just an interview I'm gonna read a quick quote from but it speaks to what you were just speaking about where, you know, they asked her what's it like carving out a compelling character as Carson someone who's finding their queer identity well into their her adulthood, and Abby says, I can resonate with it because it's very much my story, I came into my sexuality super late that you can really come out even older than I was.
Christine:And how old was she about? It's like 35, or something
Shannon:around that, and she goes, but in terms of finding yourself as a full grown adult, realizing that the world is way bigger than what you thought and realizing that there's so much more to know about yourself, I really resonate with that. And I feel like a lot of people will resonate with that.
Christine:That's a great, interesting story, it makes me want to tune in actually, it's really good. I
Shannon:mean, it's they not to digress too much. But part of what's really beautiful about this reboot is that they took a lot of the stories that were not told in the original movie, but should have been, because realistically, of course, there were a bunch of queer women in the baseball. I mean, come on, it's, it's a stereotype. But it's a stereotype for a reason. Of course, there were a ton of career women playing baseball, and also they touch on the Negro Leagues, and like the importance of women in baseball, and those leagues as well. And those were things that weren't talked about, really, there was a very, very, very brief nod to it. In the original movie, where there's a black woman who throws a softball or right there was a baseball to, I think, to Gina Davis, a Gina Davis's character. And it's kind of like, we can't talk about this now. But we will eventually. And that's kind of what's nice about the show is that it returns to those topics, but it returns those topics. Because as we're talking about, as you move through life, and you move through history, and we move into a stage of acceptance, as a society, we're able to touch on those stories and media helps to create pathways for personal expression and personal experience.
Christine:Yeah, and I think you see that, as we talked about, good luck to you, Leo grant, you know, media has given an acceptance to a woman who was exploring her own sexuality, and much that that movie talked about a woman exploring her heterosexual sexual being and her sexual energy. There are individuals who are exploring their sexual identity well into their 30s 40s 50s. Because, as you said, society is giving people permission to do so. There was a research study recently in Australia, looking at the difficulty of coming out as an older person. And one of those difficulties is because people knew us straight for so long. And you knew yourself that way for so long,
Shannon:right? And we've talked about that, too, that coming out is not a one and done process. And I think, you know, if you come out when you're 16, then you're gonna keep meeting people, but you're gonna meet people, and that's already going to be your set identity, you know, like, yes, there's always a degree of coming out. But when you come out when you're a teenager, any new people that come into your life kind of come into knowing you as that person that way, versus Yeah, if you don't come out until you're 40, or 50. And even if that coming out is just, is just the fluidity of sexuality, it's still, you have to then return to people who you've already established an identity with and say, Well, this is a new part of me that that is new to me. But now it's going to be new to all the people in my life
Christine:to well, and what the what the research shows is that the term bi curious tends to be used by women who don't want it to identify as lesbian or queer, but are acknowledging that maybe they have an attraction. And and that's kind of a spectrum that to talk about is when does attraction become orientation become identity? Because in some instances, it could simply be attraction. Well, and
Shannon:I think that's a really like, why though, is there more comfort with saying bi curious than there is saying bisexual because the truth is, if you are bi curious, then you are in some way, bisexual?
Christine:Well, in some way, you're not straight. And I think that's just a way of saying, I'm not 100% straight, and I can hear you on the term being less than ideal. And perhaps, as we talk about the terms, and as we talk about sexual fluidity as being a positive thing, maybe someone maybe I'm, I'm going to see on the next round of research, I do sexually fluid. That's what I'm hoping that we'll see that as more of and maybe even more than seeing bisexual human, because I know you don't have the term bisexual, either. I mean, so maybe we'll go
Shannon:back to our old episode to talk about why that is. But again, though, it all comes down to the dichotomizing of sexuality, and when you put it into two camps, but to your point with, with the, you know, survey questions, it's like, in a perfect world, I think we'd come to a point where it's not important to slap a label on it, and people just understand that it's a spectrum. And I know that that's reductive in a way you know, it's like, it's it is in some ways, like saying, you know, I don't see color, like I'm colorblind, like we do
Christine:have different attraction and you acknowledge it
Shannon:right. And I challenged the attraction with I think we can acknowledge that the attraction is fluid and that different people sit on different parts of the Kinsey scale and that sucks. Throughout the spectrum without forcing someone to put a label on themselves, and I think that's why queer has been reappropriate. I think that's why sexual fluidity is important. I think that's why it would be great to say sexually curious if you don't feel like you're, if you don't feel like you are bisexual, but you are sexually curious, because the problem I have is not with the term sexual. The problem I have is with the term buying, right,
Christine:exactly. And unfortunately, for those of us who are doing research, we do need a way to understand the demographics of the people who are answering the question, right? And, you know, those of us who do sexuality research, do struggle with the best way to do that, and to be as inclusive as possible. But yet, nobody know. As we've talked, sometimes labels are good, it gives you language and sometimes labels are bad if they give you a box. And this way gives people options to do that.
Shannon:And the term queer now that we're talking about it, I think it is a very community charged word exact right. So for those of us who are in the LGBTQ community, queer has become a term recently that, you know, we feel comfortable using, and it's like, I don't have to put myself in one camp and the other I can, I can be a part of the beautiful spectrum that is queer. But for someone who is new to sec, who is new to sexual fluidity, or is discovering new parts of their sexual identity as they're getting older, I can absolutely see the struggle of not wanting to slap the label of queer on yourself when that is a term that has been so historically a part of the LGBT community,
Christine:right. And if you end if you do that, you you're talking also about people who may have been part of a straight community for so long. Well, exactly.
Shannon:You know, depending on the age, remember when queer was purely derogatory, right, right. I mean, the reclamation of queer is a pretty recent thing.
Christine:And, and to your point, someone who is acknowledging and attraction to a different sex, and they'd be attracted to all their lives in their 40s, or 50s, have lived with this knowledge that queer was a negative word, but the terms that were thrown around when I was in high school, and these are the terms that in the back of their head, they're still there.
Shannon:And they were also terms that were used, again, as part of an outdated lexicon, but it used to be what was your, you know, your lifestyle, right, it was a homosexual lifestyle, or a sexual lifestyle. And when you think about it, as previously, being considered a lifestyle, of course, someone who's late to coming out, isn't going to want to smack like, you know, slap a label on themselves that says, your whole life has to change, right. And that's something that, I think, is a direction we need to progress in as a society is an end we have, but your sexuality doesn't dictate your lifestyle, no, great your sexuality is what you want her to be unless you want it to unless, unless you're like, their community is a huge part. And that's great. And we're not knocking that. But there definitely used to be more of a, if you are gay, or you are a lesbian, or you are whatever, you are living a, a homosexual lifestyle, and you better
Christine:act a certain way and be well, and
Shannon:you're going to it's not even you better, it's that you're going to it's that this is so completely and utterly who you are, that there is no life outside of it. And so that makes sense to me why it will be difficult for older generations to say, yeah, like, definitely, I'm bisexual, or I'm queer, or whatever, because there is a much deep, more deeply ingrained set of associations from, you know, the past that, you know, newer, younger generations have not had to experience in its totality.
Christine:So I think what we're talking about here kind of is, is to embrace a term of either say, you're sexually curious, or you're sexually fluid, and that it's great to be curious. And it's great to be fluid, and especially, you know, they're seeing in the research that hetero flexible tends to be used more by men, right, because of that homophobia. But if you could
Shannon:be flexible is not as active as curious and I think men struggle with, with adapting different sexualities. And so flexible almost is like a knee jerk thing.
Christine:Exactly. Flexible, flexible, implies, well, if I have an attraction in the moment, maybe that's not all nice back, right?
Shannon:But I'll bounce back to my hetero side, right? Whereas curious is a much more active and intentional, I am curious, versus I'm flexible, because my body bends that way. But I'm curious because I'm intentionally thinking through something and I want to experience that's
Christine:something that's a really smart perception, Shannon, you're smart girl.
Shannon:So interesting.
Christine:But I want to encourage our listeners to explore that use of words. I mean, I, I you know, we've chatted before Shannon and I know in the course of you know, my life, I've explored different types of sexuality. And I find myself you know, quite honestly, more attracted to women as I get older and I suspect that is because in my life, I was you know, married heterosexual woman cisgendered bla, bla, bla, all that stuff. Now, whether I would say my attraction is anything more than just an attract Action. I don't know yet. But part of this and part of sex positivity is to be open to the fact like, let's see where it goes. And I'm not going to keep myself in a heterosexual box, or I'm not gonna put myself in a bi curious box. I'm just going to be what? Curious, curious?
Shannon:Well, we want to keep those doors open. And I think we actually talked, we touched on this a little bit in our episode, last week, or two weeks ago with Elizabeth wood and Dan powers when we were talking about sex being a skill. And a big part of that conversation, when we were talking about alignment and talking about, you know, can you be unaligned with your partner and does being unaligned mean, you're incompatible, we had a whole conversation, so much of what it came back to was allowing yourself and allowing your partner to be curious. And all that can really do is is allow them to experience and discover new ways of like finding pleasure, and enjoying attraction. And so when we talk about across the lifespan, and you know, coming out later in life, the hope is that you're allowing yourself to see new possibilities and experience new possibilities, whether that's talking with a group of friends, and you're realizing there's other options out there for you, or it's listening to a podcast. There's a lot of people who are on the field this way, or watching TV and watching Abbi Jacobson and her story or watching Mrs. Fletcher and, you know, the Mrs. Fletcher experience on HBO of because, of course, one of the things that that show did really well, for those of you who have seen it, you'll know but for those of you who haven't, it's we've talked about it before, but it's a woman whose son goes off to college, she's a divorcee. And then she goes through a myriad of sexual experiences. But they're not all heterosexual experiences. She's curious about women, she's like, you know, she's curious about people of different ages,
Christine:and just allowed herself to be curious because her husband left her and she was getting divorced. And part of our point is, you don't have to leave the relationship you're in to still be curious. And it may not be strictly about quote, unquote, coming out. It's more just like coming out of your own shell coming out of what you might have believed you were expected to be. And understanding, you know, back to our, to the very beginning. Sexuality is a continuum. And it's a continuum that is not only on Continuum for for you at a certain point of time, but it can be a continuum for your whole life. Absolutely. You guys think about that?
Shannon:You can do it. I like your point that you kind of have to come out to yourself first. Yeah, right. I mean, it seems really obvious. And for me, that seems really obvious as someone who's like, obviously come out and been living with this identity. A long time
Christine:reminds me Shannon of the story you told, and and I think I know women of my generation can feel this way too. There's a there's a time where you kiss a girl and you like it. And it's very performative. And it's very much like, Hey, we're at a party, we're gonna kiss each other, because the guys think it's hot. And then at some point, you think it's hot, too. I remember that story. You told, Oh, wait, I'm not just doing it, because it's a party.
Shannon:But you also, you know, part of where that shift happens, though, is is opening yourself up to the possibility that it's not just performative. You know, like, when that that was my college experience, right? It was like, all the girls want to make out because like, No, we're at a frat party, whatever. And you're like, sure, whatever. You're cute, but like, truthfully, you know, it was still something I thought about before then. And it was really only through the process of, you know, going on Reddit and talking to people online and going. And again, this is a good reminder to our listeners who may be sexually curious is, it's okay to find forums that that help you feel validated and that identity, so go on Reddit, or go there's a bazillion Facebook groups, or watch these shows, or whatever. Because, truthfully, that turned for me from this is fun, because I'm in college, too. This is fun, because I kind of like girls was facilitated by the fact that I was also doing the research and becoming more engaged in that community and watching shows and listening to podcasts and being in chat rooms in places where I was told, yeah, it is fun, but it could be deeper than that. And that's okay, too.
Christine:And it's okay, at any age. And just feel not to feel that. You have to use terms like vicarious you have to use terms like hetero flexible. You can use the term as you become comfortable with your own curiosity. sexually curious, sexually fluid, rocket,
Shannon:rocket, whatever you want, and it doesn't have to just be gay or straight. That's right. study break. If you missed out on myth number five, your only options are gay or straight from semester one of sex ed debunked. Here's a quick clip to catch you up on what Christine and Shannon talked about.
Christine:So they're the bottom line with Kinsey and everything, everything in science after that, is there a very few people in the world who are all one or the other? I want to tell little story about one of the classes I took when I was getting my Master's at Rick, one of the professors who was teaching human diversity in psychology, who is now a mentor and a colleague and a friend. She actually did an exercise in class around the Kinsey scale. At the time, I didn't know it was around the Kinsey scale. But what she did was she gave us all piece of paper with a series of questions about attraction, sexual romantic, along the whole spectrum, and had us answer the questions honestly, on the paper. And then we put it in a pile. And all the students took one that was not their own. And then she proceeded to line us up in a row, and ask the questions. And if we answered, Yes or No, we'd take a step forward, or take a step back. And it was all anonymous, because I had someone else's paper. But at the end of those series of questions, nobody was at the all one end, and nobody was at the old gay end. And everyone had different staggers in between, and to look around the classroom, and realize a diversity in a class of 24, or 28, was a very eye opening experience for me. And it was a great demonstration of the spectrum that we are all existing on.
Shannon:Well, that's such an important exercise, because it shows you that like, again, going back to representation, but just like, I mean, that's contact theory, too, right, is that when you see, you know, someone who's who's on the spectrum, like it's not just fiction, it's actually in real life in front of you, then you're able to identify more with that.
Christine:Well, I think that was that was the powerful aspect of that demonstration. Because, like you were talking about your coming out story, and I'm sure others have that same story thinking. It's only me that feels this way. Like,
Shannon:I kissed a girl and I liked it. Don't get me standard on how, by earth shattering that song was for me. cherry chapstick never, never felt the same ever again.
Christine:But you know, I've kissed a girl and I liked it. And so for me to find that. Well, it was a little more recent than that.
Shannon:The song you can't quote Katy Perry without knowing that the next line is hope my boyfriend don't mind that. Well, just still kind of finalizing. But I digress still.
Christine:But the point being that this is not a struggle that happens or discovery that happens necessarily just for what they term, quote, unquote, emerging adults from 18 to 29. Especially as women, we are much more erratically plastic, which means we change our attractions throughout our lifetime. And so part of this talk today talking about the Kinsey scale, and the continuum of sexuality, is to realize it's not static, you aren't born one way and stay that way forever. Some people yes, you know, Kinsey will say there are there's a percentage of people on the continuum that are all in gay, all in straight. But the vast majority of us, some are somewhere in the middle. And it's not just about sexual attraction. It could be romantic attraction. Yeah, but just like, just like you talk about the rainbow. It's a rainbow. For all of human experience. Everybody wants to taste the rainbow. Everyone does. But sorry, I realized that I said contact theory, but we didn't really explain what that is. Could you just give a brief academic overview of contact theory? Okay, so contact theory is a theory developed in the context of efforts to try to reduce prejudice, discrimination, and kind of reduce what we do kind of naturally as people as treating someone as the in group and the out group, us or them is what we're really familiar with. And so researchers who look at contact theory, have found that when we hear other people's stories, and we get to know someone on a personal level, suddenly, we start understanding that their experience, while different is not that different, as a human. And so by getting to know people who are part of the LGBTQ community, getting to know their stories about coming out hearing, what they do for fun hearing about their friends, hearing about partners, all of that reduces prejudice and reduces what we would say in psychology as othering. Because who wants to be othered? Who wants to have to fill out the other blank?
Shannon:Well, and I think the way that that develops even further is, you know, you're saying they have other interests, they are full fledged people. It's it's moving away from someone's entire identity being their sexuality. It's like it's not just So that's our one gay friend. It's like, that's our friend. They're gay. But also, they play sports. And they're a really good chef and like, you know, whatever
Christine:that ultimately, sexual identity. While while hugely important, is not the only defining characteristic of being human, and being, being your friend or being your family member, or even being like a colleague or co worker. So the more that the more there's this contact in real life, and the more the stories are told, not just in the LGBT community, but in the wider community, we as a society, can, I think I said this in the last podcast, but I'm gonna say it again, we move from tolerance to acceptance to ideally inclusion because isn't that what we all want is to be included.
Shannon:Alright, so the myths today was that sexual orientation is set in stone. It was also that there's a starting point of straightness that people deviate from. There's not it's a spectrum, spectrum and sliding scale.
Christine:And as we, as we said, and channel will link to the research shows that sexual orientation can and does change across the lifespan, gay or straight, or just different points on a wide spectrum of sexuality, that can change throughout your lifetime. And depending on who you're with, who you talk to who you're attracted
Shannon:to. That's right, and you don't have to put a label on it. We applaud the curious. We applaud the flesh. Wait, wait, wait, here we go. This is for you. We're so happy for you. Just remember that the only person who sets your starting point is you. And there's no such thing as quote unquote, normal when it comes to doing whatever or you know, whoever with consoles,
Christine:right, because you ask consent
Shannon:and consent.
Christine:Yeah. So that's another myth. put to bed.
Shannon:Thanks so much for tuning in. Remember to keep tuning in for new episodes of sex ed debunked, give us a follow on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and shoot us whatever myths you have. You can DM us on any of the socials or shoot us an email at sex ed debunked@gmail.com.
Christine:And now for our new listeners, go back and tune into our last two semesters, we've debunked some very critical and important and fun myths. With some amazing guests that are worth checking out as we ramp up our fall semester.
Shannon:Go do it, go do it. Alright, thanks for listening.
Christine:Thanks for tuning in for this week's episode of Sex Ed debunked. During the course of our podcast, we have limited time together, which means that unfortunately, many identities groups and movements may not be represented each week. The field of sexuality and gender orientations, identities and behaviors are changing and growing rapidly, and we remain committed to being as inclusive as possible.
Shannon:Please remember that all of us, including us are learning in this area and may occasionally slip up. We ask that we all continue to be kind to one another so that we can create a truly inclusive and accepting environment. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to us at sex ed debunked on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Sex Ed debunked is produced by trailblaze media along with myself Shannon Curley and Christine Curley from trailblaze media. Our engineering is handled by Ezra winters