Julia Shaw > Quotes

“If the world is constantly telling you that a part of you isn't real, or that it is shameful, it is hard not to let that get to you sometimes.”
― Julia Shaw

“It's the between moments when kids learn what sexualities are acceptable; between lessons and lectures, between direct conversations with teachers and parents, between moments with peers.”
― Julia Shaw

“Our past is a fictional representation, and the only thing we can be even somewhat sure of is what is happening now. It encourages us to live in the moment and not to place too much importance on our past. It forces us to accept that the best time of our lives, and our memory, is right now. And”
― Julia Shaw, The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory

“Rather than being 'this not that' I am this *and* that... I've felt like a blossoming flower. As I become more fully me and as I'm more comfortable with each petal of my identity, I open myself up and look into the sun... As someone who identifies as bisexual and does see the world on a multitude of plains, my intellect and creativity, my head and my heart, are just further parallels of how I am able to find myself attracted to and love both men and women.

[Participant quote from the study 'The positive aspects of a bisexual self-identification' in Psychology and Sexuality 1 (2) by S. Scales Rostosky, D. E. Riggle, and D. Pascale-Hague pp.131-44]”
― Julia Shaw, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality

“Don’t trust your memory. If someone asks you if you can remember something, say no. Write it down.’ Identity”
― Julia Shaw, The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory

“It can be hard to make the complexity of what I'm feeling translate into something others can see.”
― Julia Shaw

“No matter what your sexual identity, you can be promiscuous or unfaithful or never want to settle down with only one person... or you can be sexually conservative or faithful or want to be married with a white picket fence. The difference, however, is that as a bisexual person you are constantly asked why. Why do you want these things? Why do you have sex with the people you do? How can you know this is what you really want? Are you sure? How can you be sure? What if you change your mind? I dream of a world where people stop asking bisexual people these questions, and instead ask themselves these questions.”
― Julia Shaw