Today's hot take:
If you LOVE bugs you babe are queer
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Probably
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Let me explain
As a queer entomologist my love for bugs and my queerness are intertwined. Growing up both my love for bugs and my queerness were disgusting and still are disgusting to some people.
Example:
Me: *picks up spider*
Some rando: EWWWWW *visibility disgusted*
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Also me: I'm lesbian and gender non-conforming
Some rando: EWWWWW you're going to H3$$
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Both of these experiences have given me a very similar feeling of otherness. Who I am and what interests me are not my choice, but someone's disgust and hatred is a choice.
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I know for a fact I am not the only entomologist who feels this way. In my first field job I was helping collect data for a master's student who also happened to be lesbian. Out of my many entomologist friends like 2 are not queer. AND according to the Entomological Society of America, 483 of their 6702 members openly identify as queer. Which means entomology may be the queerest career field out there.
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On top of that like most of not all insect species exhibit gay behavior. They don't care who they're getting freaky with XD
Some bee species and many ant species exhibit what you could call a 3rd "gender" i.e. males, breeding females, and workers which are basically sterile females that assist in the continuation of the breeding females' genes.
Bugs are inherently queer from a human cis heteronormative lense. In fact ALL of nature is queer and humans are a part of nature. Queerness can't be erased because it is inherently a part of all life. In fact the definition of life itself isn't a clearly defined box. So embrace yourself entirely because queer or not, bug lover or not, you are not meant to fit into a box ❤️🐝
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BTW If you're not queer and love bugs that's ok. The beginning was kinda meant to be rage bait XD
Anyway here's a cuckoo bee I caught for the Washington Bee Atlas:
