LGBTQ

Nicole ‘Nic’ Johnson, PhD, started as a researcher investigating violence against women and through this work noticed a trend  –  sexual identity continuously arose as a “confounding variable.” Researchers frequently controlled for sexual identity, essentially erasing it from the research and moved on without further consideration. As a queer woman and survivor herself, Johnson began to delve into this recurrent and ignored aspect. This led to the creation of The Resistance Lab and the refocus of her research by acknowledging sexuality rather than controlling for it.

A psychology professor at Lehigh University, Nicole Johnson was researching sexual violence victimization when she noticed a trend: bisexual women experience more harm. Drawing on her own experience as a queer woman, Johnson knew better than to dismiss this as random. “Maybe that’s something we should pay attention to,” she said. In a recently published paper, she argues that three factors make bi women more likely to be abused. First, cultural stereotypes portray bisexual women as constantly sexually available, regardless of consent.