Robyn Ochs's Blog, page 4

BWQ call for Submissions – Fall 2021

Fall 2021 – BODIESBi Women Quarterly: Call for Submissions

Let’s return to the topic of bodies—our own bodies, our embodied connections, body image, gendered bodies, health and (dis)ability, socially distanced bodies, virtual bodies, changing bodies, attraction, and sexuality.
Share your reflections on embodied experiences through personal stories, poetry, artwork, or opinion pieces.

submissions are due by August 1, 2021

more at: biwomenquarterly.com

Surviving and thriving is a form of activism

“If you are LGBTQ+, existing proudly and unapologetically in public is a form of activism. Surviving and thriving is a form of activism.”

Robyn Ochs

It’s i-dentity not you-dentity

It’s I-dentity not YOU-dentity. Respect people’s right to self-define. Our choice of label(s) is deeply personal.

Robyn Ochs

April 2021 Engagements

My speaking schedule for April, so far… I would love to visit your organization, in person or virtually, depending upon what is safe at that time; message today so we can make it happen!

Robyn Ochs’ April Engagements

4/8 – College of Lake County; Grayslake, IL
4/12 – Valparaiso University; Valparaiso, IN
4/13 – Northern Kentucky University; Highland Heights, KY
4/19 – Clark University; Worcester, MA
4/26 – College of Lake County; Grayslake, IL

March 2021 Engagements

Here’s where I’m speaking this March for #BiHealthMonth. If you or your organization is interested in virtually hosting me for a talk or webinar, reach out!

Robyn Ochs’ March Engagements
3/5 – University of Illinois; Springfield, IL
3/9 – Wellesley College; Wellesley, MA
3/15 – Ohio University; Athens, OH
3/17 Otterbein College; Westerville, OH
3/18 – HRC’s Project Thrive (Campus Pride event); Washington, DC
3/18 – UT Dallas (Campus Pride event); Richardson, TX
3/23 – Baldwin Wallace College (Campus...

What are the boundaries & borders of every identity word?

“What are the boundaries and borders of every identity word? Who gets to use it? Who doesn’t? There’s a lot of identity border policing; I think it comes from a place of stress and discomfort because we’re trying to find comfort where it doesn’t exist, sometimes at the expense of one another.”

Robyn Ochs, ‘Googling the definition of pansexual?’ Ally Head, Marie Claire, Jan 20 2021.

If you are free, you are not predictable

“If you are free, you are not predictable and you are not controllable. To my mind, that is the keenly positive politicizing significance of bisexual affirmation…. to insist upon the equal validity of all the components of social/sexual complexity.”

– June Jordan

Bi+ is an inclusive term

“Bi+ is an inclusive term we use to include all non-monosexual identities, so bisexual, queer, fluid, straightish, homoflexible, omnisexual, multisexual, all of them,” shares Robyn.

“My adaptation to the ‘bi’ in ‘bisexual’ means I’m attracted to genders like my own, and genders different from my own.”

Robyn Ochs, ‘Googling the definition of pansexual?’ Ally Head, Marie Claire, Jan 20 2021.

We Are Our Beautiful Complex Selves

“The untidiness of actual lived human experience is stressful for some people, so they want to reduce it and make it more simple than it is. They want there to be one proper word, one proper definition, and one proper understanding… But we are our beautiful complex selves, and that’s fine.”

Robyn Ochs, ‘Googling the definition of pansexual?’ Ally Head, Marie Claire, Jan 20 2021.

On Questioning & Coming OUt

“There is so much pressure to ‘know,’ and I would like to see more people give themselves permission to live with the question [of their orientation] and not feel pressured to come to a decision until they are ready.”

Robyn Ochs