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Strange Fruit: Is There A 'One-Drop Rule' Of Sexual Fluidity?

This week we talk to author and poet Kyla Jenee Lacey, whose essay, "Why I'm Open to Dating Bisexual Men," was published last month on The Root.

At first glance, it might seen biphobic that we even need a headline like that, but it's apparently still A Thing. Or as Lacey says, "It’s 2018, in the year of our lord and savior Robyn Rihanna Fenty, and people are still 7-year-olds when it comes to sexual fluidity."

Lacey calls it the "one-drop rule" approach to sexual fluidity, and here's how she describes it:

"If a man has sex with one man and 100 women, we will still erroneously view him as gay and not bisexual, or sexually fluid, or even just a heterosexual man who experimented with a man and came to the conclusion that he didn’t like men. Women, on the other hand can have a whole bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate phase of having had sex with women and then turn around and reclaim their heterosexuality."

As you might imagine, there's a lot to unpack here, including ideas of masculinity, whether a man who has sex with men is less masculine in the eyes of straight women, and even what counts and doesn't count as "real" sex.

Lacy joins us on this week's show to help us make sense of it all, and to talk about the very robust response her essay provoked online.

We also get a visit this week from Sasha Renee, Louisville's premier femme-C (femme MC, for the uninitiated). She has a new single out called, "My City." She stops by the studio to chat about her work, her life, and how she negotiated coming out, as an already-active solo artist in the hip-hop world.

Laura is LPM's Director of Podcasts & Special Projects. Email Laura at lellis@lpm.org.