“It's not Pans, It's People”: Student and Teacher Perspectives on Bisexuality and Pansexuality

ABSTRACT

This article explores how Canadian youth who participate in Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) and teachers who advise them perceive and/or experience bi/pansexuality. Participants’ perspectives on, definitions of, and alignment with bi/pansexuality are examined as they unpack mis/understandings associated with nonmonosexual identities. For GSA members, bisexual and pansexual identity labels were not interchangeable terms; bisexuality was associated with the fe/male binary and pansexuality served as a personal contestation to this dichotomy. Despite these distinctions, both nonmonosexualities were marked by invisibility, mis/understandings, and prejudice in school. Findings emphasize how students’ knowledge of sexual diversity and fluidity was more nuanced than their GSA advisors due to personal online research. GSA participation enabled bi/pansexual knowledge exchange among students and teachers, and promoted overall understandings of bi/pansexualities. Although GSA involvement facilitated opportunities to discuss bi/pansexualities, this article also highlights how an effort should be made to integrate bi/pansexual content in these clubs.

KEYWORDS:

• bisexuality
• education
• Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA)
• pansexuality
• professional development
• queer theory
• sexual and gender minorities (SGM)
• social media
• trans

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alicia Anne Lapointe

Alicia Anne Lapointe is a PhD candidate who researches Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) and student activism in Ontario public and Catholic schools. Alicia also created and instructs the undergraduate course, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Two-Spirit, Queer/Questioning (LGBT2Q) Issues in Education (2014–present).