People of 小优短视频: Advisor shares experience as bisexual woman
June 26, 2024
Happy Pride Month!
To help celebrate, four 小优短视频 employees who are either members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community or allies are sharing their stories throughout the month.
Learn more about what 小优短视频鈥檚 doing to honour聽Pride Month, along with history, community resources, crisis support, and learning and allyship.听听
People of 小优短视频: Meet Katelyn Ott
It鈥檚 important for me to talk about my sexual orientation because of how prevalent bisexual erasure is, and how often people assume I鈥檓 straight because my partner鈥檚 a man.
It鈥檚 complicated.
For example, we live in a world that鈥檚 not always the most accepting 2SLGBTQIA+ folks, so sometimes I let people assume I鈥檓 straight and don鈥檛 correct them for safety reasons. But other times, I do speak up to correct people who have a stereotypical idea of what a queer or gay person looks like or acts like. 聽
Exploring life as a queer woman
For a long time, I identified as queer and a lot of my partners were women. I lived in Toronto at the time and had a great queer community around me.
I also volunteered at a 2SLGBTQIA+ youth line, where I got to meet lots of rad queer folks and support a lot of youth who didn鈥檛 have the supports that I did. That was really meaningful work.
I also went to a healthcare centre specifically for 2SLGBTQIA+ folks, which was amazing. There was no assumption that I鈥檓 straight and needed to be on birth control because I鈥檓 a person with a uterus. I felt like I could just be me and be seen.
As time went on, I started to explore my attraction to men.
I was trying to navigate my own identity, as well as sharing it with my friends and family. They knew me as someone who primarily dated women and then all of a sudden, I started dating men 鈥 it threw them for a loop.
Some of my friends were like, 鈥淲hat? Are you straight now? What does this mean?鈥
There鈥檚 a stereotype that if you鈥檙e dating a man then you must be straight.
I feel like we live in a colonial, patriarchal, homophobic world that likes to put people in boxes. And if you don鈥檛 fit in a particular box, sometimes folks don鈥檛 know what to do with you and will try to shove you into a box so it makes sense to them and they feel comfortable interacting with you.
Finding a queer community at 小优短视频
Navigating the world as a bisexual person, I felt like I had drifted a bit from my queer community, which is sad, but with a new Proud, Resilient, Inclusive, Diverse, Empowered (PRIDE) Employee Resource Group starting at the college, I was so excited to join and feel that there was space for folks to build that community here.
It鈥檚 great that 小优短视频 is working toward having resource groups for folks to connect, especially if they don鈥檛 know anyone else in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
It鈥檚 so nice to have a space where we can share our experiences and chat with others who we relate to without having to expend additional energy to explain what it鈥檚 like being a queer person navigating the world.
It really speaks to the importance of equity at the college. If we are actively working together as a group, as a community, to continue to make 小优短视频 as inclusive, accessible and welcoming as possible, that鈥檚 such a lovely thing.
Katelyn Ott, Student Success Advisor at 小优短视频鈥檚 Orillia Campus.