My name is Stephanie Sanders. I’m the Associate Director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University, where I’m also a Professor of Gender Studies.

What is the subject matter of your presentation?
Today I was speaking about sexual orientation and what people need to know about it, and why they should care about knowing about it.

What do people need to know about sexual orientation?
People often assume that a person’s identity as heterosexual or homosexual will indicate their behavior patterns. But we find that there are many more people who are behaviorally bisexual than who identify as bisexual, and there are many people who identify as heterosexual who engage in same-sex behaviors. And this is important for public health, and to personal and mental health, because often people feel if there is a discrepancy between their behavior and their identity it causes some anxiety. Also, if you have hidden behavioral bisexuality, and unprotected sex, then the partners of the person engaging in those acts may be at risk for sexually transmitted infections. In doing any kind of sex history with patients or clients, it is important that you carefully assess both their behavioral patterns and their identities, their feelings, and what are the implications of those behaviors for their personal health and the health of their partners.

Closing Statements…
One other interesting thing is that many people assume that if a person is gay or lesbian that they have an inverted gender role, or gender identity – in other words, that gay men are effeminate, or that lesbian women are masculine. And so part of my message today was that the gender role and gender identity of people is independent of their sexual orientation.