Robyn Ochs kicks off Diversity Day with keynote address
by Maeve Dwyer
Issue date: 11/11/09 Section: News
Students and faculty filled the Alumni Performance Center Tuesday night to hear Robyn Ochs, a bisexual activist from Massachusetts, kick off Diversity Day with her keynote interactive lecture, "Beyond Binaries: Identity and the Sexual Spectrum."
Ochs was selected as the keynote speaker following recommendation by a student under the pretense of a student approval providing the best credentials.
Ochs started her talk commenting, "Finally I've made my way to Simon's Rock," reflecting on the mailings she'd received while still in high school and lamenting her inability to attend Simon's Rock.
Before addressing binaries, Ochs assured her listeners that they weren't about to hear about sexuality and religion, nature vs. nurture, and that she didn't care what the causes of homosexuality were. She intended to explore "how we experience our sexuality."
When Ochs "came out" as bisexual first to herself in 1976 and then to those around her in 1982, the subject was something rarely spoken about in public. As a result, she was thrown into the spotlight with her activism, becoming somewhat of a poster child.
When speaking about bisexuality, Ochs believes it's important to remember that it doesn't exist outside the context of other sexualities. To explain this, Ochs placed bisexuality as only one tree within a forest.
Using another self-designed metaphor, Ochs presented her conception of sexuality as a test tube. Not everyone's is the same size. Some people are incredibly sexual beings while others can easily do without such physical pleasure.
A handout was given out presenting a brief overview of the Kinsey, Klein and Storm models of sexual orientation. Using the Klein scale, attendees were asked to fill out an anonymous survey regarding different aspects of their sexual orientation, ranking areas from 0 being exclusively opposite gender attraction to 6, exclusively same-gender attraction.
These surveys were then collected and redistributed. A portion of the audience was chosen to participate in a demonstration of where people fall in different sections of the Klein model. In this way, those attending could observe trends in different categories ranging from rating of sexual fantasies to romantic attractions.
Primarily exhibited were the range of sexual orientation represented and a trend toward "gayer" tendencies as people aged.
Ochs was also careful to touch upon different gender identities as well, noting that gender, too, is a binary in which many people do not fall into "male or female" gender identities.
Another flaw Ochs addressed with the Kinsey and Klein scales was the lack of inclusion of different kinds of attractions.
As homework, Ochs suggested people think about these different kinds of attractions and how they present themselves, rather than defining attractions as to men and women.
Contact the author: mdwyer@llamaledger.com
Ochs was selected as the keynote speaker following recommendation by a student under the pretense of a student approval providing the best credentials.
Ochs started her talk commenting, "Finally I've made my way to Simon's Rock," reflecting on the mailings she'd received while still in high school and lamenting her inability to attend Simon's Rock.
Before addressing binaries, Ochs assured her listeners that they weren't about to hear about sexuality and religion, nature vs. nurture, and that she didn't care what the causes of homosexuality were. She intended to explore "how we experience our sexuality."
When Ochs "came out" as bisexual first to herself in 1976 and then to those around her in 1982, the subject was something rarely spoken about in public. As a result, she was thrown into the spotlight with her activism, becoming somewhat of a poster child.
When speaking about bisexuality, Ochs believes it's important to remember that it doesn't exist outside the context of other sexualities. To explain this, Ochs placed bisexuality as only one tree within a forest.
Using another self-designed metaphor, Ochs presented her conception of sexuality as a test tube. Not everyone's is the same size. Some people are incredibly sexual beings while others can easily do without such physical pleasure.
A handout was given out presenting a brief overview of the Kinsey, Klein and Storm models of sexual orientation. Using the Klein scale, attendees were asked to fill out an anonymous survey regarding different aspects of their sexual orientation, ranking areas from 0 being exclusively opposite gender attraction to 6, exclusively same-gender attraction.
These surveys were then collected and redistributed. A portion of the audience was chosen to participate in a demonstration of where people fall in different sections of the Klein model. In this way, those attending could observe trends in different categories ranging from rating of sexual fantasies to romantic attractions.
Primarily exhibited were the range of sexual orientation represented and a trend toward "gayer" tendencies as people aged.
Ochs was also careful to touch upon different gender identities as well, noting that gender, too, is a binary in which many people do not fall into "male or female" gender identities.
Another flaw Ochs addressed with the Kinsey and Klein scales was the lack of inclusion of different kinds of attractions.
As homework, Ochs suggested people think about these different kinds of attractions and how they present themselves, rather than defining attractions as to men and women.
Contact the author: mdwyer@llamaledger.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
resume writer
posted 12/08/09 @ 10:33 AM EST
I agree that when speaking about bisexuality it is important to remember that it doesn't exist outside the context of other sexualities.
Dy1007
Dy1007
posted 12/11/09 @ 6:14 PM EST
Ochs was selected as the keynote speaker following recommendation by a student under the pretense of a student approval providing the best credentials. (Continued…)
William
posted 1/24/10 @ 2:28 PM EST
Speaking of bisexualism.I think it is some kind of psychological anomaly.Because only 50 years before noone even spoke about gays or bisexuals.
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