Frequently Asked Questions and Made Comments
Why is this project focused on those assigned female at birth?
Generally speaking, women (whether or not they were assigned female at birth) have historically been excluded from many research studies, despite having health needs that differ from those assigned male at birth as well as intersex folks. This project aims to help build a better understanding of how health can be improved for women.
Why is this project focused on sexual orientation?
In 2011, the Institutes of Medicine (now the Academy of Science) released a seminal report highlighting the lack of research on sexual minority women.
Why can I not participate if I have or am currently undergoing testosterone therapy?
Our main research hypothesis for why there are sexual orientation-related health disparities includes examination of physiologic biomarkers, including those affected be hormonal pathways. Because testosterone therapy changes one’s physiology, we would not be able to adequately account for that in our results. However, if you are interested in this work, check back again, there will be other research opportunities for you!
The terminology used in your project doesn’t accurately reflect my identity or experiences.
We acknowledge that the use of terminology in the project is limited to terms such as “lesbian”, “bisexual”, “sexual minority”, “women”, cannot accurately reflect the diversity or fluidity of people’s identities and experiences.