This week on Sex Out Loud I am live with award-winning sex educator, writer, scholar, and activist, Bianca Laureano who is the co-founder of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WOCSHN); co-founder of The LatiNegr@s Project, and co-director of the film BLACK PERVERT. We talk about her journey to field of sexual education, coalition building among educators, the creation of WOCSHN, and her upcoming documentary project on race, kink, and community. We’ll also discuss negative and harmful stereotypes about community, culture, and sexuality and how she works to challenge them.
Tune in to Sex Out Loud this Friday, June 5th at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET. This week’s show is LIVE so call in to Voice America with questions and comments at 1-866-472-5788, join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter, or e-mail me via tristan(at)puckerup.com and I’ll read them live on the air. Tune in to Sex Out Loud every Friday, you can listen along on your computer, tablet, or phone, find all the ways at SexOutLoudRadio.com!
Bianca I Laureano is a first generation Puerto Rican who was born and raised in the Washington, DC metro area. The oldest daughter of an artist and educator, Bianca was raised in an activist environment that valued art in all its various and dynamic forms. At the beginning of high school Bianca’s parents encouraged her to become active in a youth led program called Raising Hispanic Academic Achievement, Inc. (RHAA), where she tutored and mentored Latin@ youth in the Washington, DC metro area. Bianca has been mentoring a young woman, Candy, for 17 years. Through RHAA Bianca developed critical skills and training as positive youth development was central to the program. Beginning as a tutor with RHAA, Bianca quickly became a part of the youth leadership and began assisting with program planning. She not only tutored and mentored on Saturday mornings, she arranged guest speakers, field trips and eventually co-led the all-female Saturday School in Silver Spring, MD, where the focus was on providing Latinas a space of their own to excel and find affirmation.
Bianca attended the University of Maryland, College Park (UM) and graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Individual Studies: Women’s Health and Latino Communities. While at UM Bianca was active in peer education and mentoring programs through the University Health Center and became the Assistant Coordinator for Sexual Health Programs. The summer of 2000 she spent in Xhualtez, Espita in the Yucatan working with one of the first government funded health centers that provides western trained physicians and indigenous Mayan healers as a part of holistic health care. Upon her return she attended New York University and received her Master of Arts degree in Human Sexuality Education in 2002.
After spending one year with the Child Welfare League of America as the Program Manager of Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy Prevention and Parenting, Bianca began working on her second Master of Arts degree at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Department of Women’s Studies. Bianca’s research areas include Latina feminisms, Puerto Rican studies, sexuality, youth and media culture. Her training in feminist theory and intersectionality were developed at the Consortium on Race, Gender & Ethnicity where she was a CrISP Fellow. In 2006 Bianca received her second Master of Arts degree in Women’s Studies where her focus included race and racialization, bodies, gender, and sexualities.
While at the UM, Bianca continued to be involved in direct action and activism with a grassroots not-for-profit organization called Visions in Feminism (ViF). ViF is a collective of activists who work to create a low-cost, accessible national conference devoted to creating a space to discuss complex topics facing modern feminism. During her last year in the Washington, DC metro area, Bianca became involved with a group of young professional women who were all devoted to eliminating cervical cancer through HPV education. Bianca became the Director of Sexual Health for Tamika and Friends, Inc., (T&F) in 2005 and worked to create peer education handbooks and training’s for people interested in having HPV (House Parties of fiVe) parties. T&F is one of the first organizations to focus on educating men and youth regarding HPV and cervical cancer and that provides technical assistance and survivor support.
Bianca is co-founder of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WOCSHN) and manages the WOCSHN tumblr page and social media/communication efforts; co-founder of The LatiNegr@s Project, and co-director of the film BLACK PERVERT.
Currently residing in New York City, Bianca lives in the Bronx and provides consultation, capacity building and training, and facilitation to organizations dedicated to helping youth reach their full potential. She enjoys live music and concerts, the independent movie scene, museums, a good flea market, traveling, reading, dancing to dope beats, the beach, and is a fierce karaoke performer.
Bianca has published one book and several articles. She has presented both locally and internationally on various topics concerning activism, Latin@ sexual health, feminisms, youth and Hip-Hop culture, Latin@s and race, curriculum development, and teaching. An award-winning sexologist, Bianca was awarded the 2010 Mujeres Destacadas Award by El Diario/La Prensa for her work in sexuality and Latin@ communities. Bianca is an instructor at a private college, a freelance writer, abortion doula, and radical educator.
This Friday, July 17th at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on Sex Out Loud, listen to my interview with a true Renaissance woman: writer, performer, activist, musician, and biologist Julia Serano. In 2007 Serano released Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and Scapegoating of Femininity, a collection of personal essays that reveal how misogyny frames popular assumptions about femininity, and shapes many of the myths and misconceptions people have about trans women. Her second book, Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive, was released in 2013. We talk about both books, how her work as a biological scientist has informed her writing, and what we can do to make queer feminist spaces more inclusive.
Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, performer, and activist. She is best known for her 2007 book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity — The Advocate placed it on their list of “Best Non-Fiction Transgender Books,” and readers of Ms. Magazine ranked it #16 on their list of the “100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time.” Her second book, Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive, also garnered rave reviews and was a Publishing Triangle finalist for the 2013 Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. Julia’s other writings have appeared in over a dozen anthologies, and in magazines and news outlets such as The Guardian, The Daily Beast, AlterNet.org, The Advocate, Out, Bitch, and Ms. Magazine. Her writings have also been used as teaching materials in gender and queer studies courses across North America.
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