Lessons learned from a decade of queer performance and entomology: Teaching, outreach, and extension

For many researchers, taking to the stage for either outreach or teaching remains one of the most discordant parts of our assignments—needing to put on a new persona that best does the job of communicating our science to an audience who, mostly, don’t want another dry lecture. In a 2018 Pride Post for the British Ecological Society, I wrote about the gains to be made through a presentation style that reflects the idea of queer artistry as a new medium for expressing entomology. Musings on how queerness can help your professionalism. Three years later, in 2021 as part of the same Pride series tradition, I wrote on the inverse: what duty do we have as queer academics to the queer communities we embed in, from the relative point of privilege that academia affords us? Another three years later, in this talk, I'll examine the duality of the relationship between how communication within and outside of entomology interacts with our queer positionality, reflecting on ten years of marrying those topics in my own work, including how entomology can help break down outdated pedagogy on the evolution of sex, the risks and rewards of being upfront in your personhood in extension, and the ever-growing demand for queer scientific outreach from pride shows to museum exhibits.