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Languages vary in the information they convey due to cross-linguistic differences in the structure of linguistic information. According to the Whorfian hypothesis (Whorf, 1956), these cross-linguistic differences can affect speakers’ cognitive processes (e.g., perception, memory, categorization). One linguistic feature that demonstrates distinct cross-linguistic differences is gender marking. For example, English speakers commonly code gender of the referent when using third person pronouns (she/he). The same is true of Polish, but in addition to gender information on pronouns, Polish also uses systematic gender information in surnames, job titles and other human descriptors (in a similar way an English speaker makes a distinction between, e.g., actor vs. actress, but for all occupations, whereas most are gender-neutral in English (e.g., accountant). On the other hand, Finnish does not systematically distinguish between males and females in human descriptors, and Finnish uses a gender-neutral animate pronoun ‘hän’ when referring to males and females. Thus, when referring to animate entities, syntactically, Finnish encodes human referents more like ‘people’ rather than men/women. These linguistic differences make these three languages (English, Finnish, Polish) ideal test cases for investigations as to whether linguistic differences affect cognitive processes. The fact that Polish, and English to a lesser extent, necessitates its speakers to pay attention to gender information and to retain this information in order to talk about human referents, Polish and English speakers may expend more cognitive resources processing and retaining gender information than Finnish speakers, who can omit this information. In addition to monolingual speakers (e.g., Bylund & Athanasopoulos, 2017; Fausey & Boroditsky, 2011; Kirjavainen, Kite & Piasecki, 2020), studies investigating bilingual/second language speakers have shown Whorfian effects (e.g., Athanasopoulos, 2006; Borodistky, 2001; Cook, et al., 2006). These studies suggest that if the speaker’s first and second language differ in relation to a particular linguistic construction, the acquisition of a second language can change the speaker’s cognitive processes. Thus, a native Finnish speaker who also speaks and frequently uses English or Polish might put more cognitive resources to gender information than a monolingual Finnish speaker because the frequent use of a more gendered language (English or Polish) might result in changes in the native Finnish-speaker’s cognitive processing. However, the differences between monolingual and bilingual speakers in experimental settings might not only relate to the acquisition of a second language, but the bilingual speakers’ performance can also be affected by the language used (e.g. Finnish vs. English) in the test situation, the former language indicating that the gender related Whorfian effect found is not language specific (because the Finnish test situation does not necessitate the participant to pay as much attention to gender as they might if tested in English). In addition, there may be cultural reasons for different group’s behaviour, e.g., a Finnish-English speaker living in England vs. Finland might show different behaviour, which might be due to cultural differences between England and Finland. In the planned study, we will present participants with a series of photos in which a male or female person is performing an activity related to an occupation (e.g., a male playing the piano, a female teaching in a classroom). A memory test will follow in which participants will be asked about the gender of the people they viewed, e.g., “What did you see? A male teacher or a female teacher?” We aim to examine whether the degree to which gender is embedded in one’s language impacts the likelihood that gender is remembered. We will also examine the effect of (a) native language and second language learned later in life, (b) language used in the test situation (Finnish (gender neutral) vs. English/Polish (gendered)) and (c) exposure to culture on people’s cognitive processes and the social construal of other individuals as simply ‘people’ or as men/women. References Athanasopoulos, P. (2006). Effects of the grammatical representation of number on cognition in bilinguals. Bilingualism, 9(1), 89. Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought?: Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43(1), 1-22. Bylund, E., & Athanasopoulos, P. (2017). The Whorfian time warp: Representing duration through the language hourglass. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(7), 911. Cook, V., Bassetti, B., Kasai, C., Sasaki, M., & Takahashi, J. A. (2006). Do bilinguals have different concepts? The case of shape and material in Japanese L2 users of English. International Journal of Bilingualism, 10(2), 137-152. Fausey, C. M., & Boroditsky, L. (2011). Who dunnit? Cross-linguistic differences in eye-witness memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(1), 150-157. Kirjavainen, M., Kite, Y. & Piasecki, A. E. (2020). The effect of language-specific characteristics on English and Japanese speakers’ ability to recall number information. Cognitive Science, 44(12), e12923. Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, thought, and reality (Edited by John B. Carroll). New York: John Wiley and Sons.

© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This study sought to develop knowledge about understandings of sexuality and appearance by using a story completion task combined with an innovative visual methodology. Fifty-four (mainly female) participants were randomly assigned to complete a story about a fictional bisexual, lesbian, or heterosexual character who is going on a date, and then asked to build a Bitstrips online avatar of their character. Our social constructionist thematic analysis identified that looking good was a common feature of the stories and that this was understood in largely heteronormative terms. This imperative was also clear in stories of the date, which relied on traditional notions of gender and heterosexuality. Finally, individuality and authenticity were rewarded in participants’ stories, yet this was simultaneously constrained by (dominant) heteronormative narratives. We conclude that combining story completion with visual methods enabled deeper insights into representations of appearance, dating, and relationships, than a textual method alone.

Body image pressures for heterosexual women are well established. However, lesbian body image is less well understood, while bisexual women have largely been overlooked with the psychological literature. Further, women's investment in ‘traditional’ appearance practices associated with femininity are underexplored. The current study explored differences between 472 heterosexual, lesbian, and bisexual women on measures of body satisfaction, body hair practices, and cosmetics use. While there were no significant differences between body satisfaction scores, lesbian and bisexual women had more positive attitudes to body hair, and were less likely to remove hair from particular parts of their bodies, than heterosexual women. Cosmetics use was highest among heterosexual women, significantly lower among bisexual women, and lowest among lesbians. We argue that these results highlight the importance of exploring the distinctiveness of bisexual, lesbian and heterosexual women's appearance concerns and appearance practices.

Annukka Lahti is a Doctoral Student (Gender Studies) in the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland . Before starting her doctoral studies, she taught psychology at The Open University of the University of Jyväskylä. In her Doctoral studies, she explores how bisexuality – which is persistently culturally associated with temporariness, multiple partners and promiscuity - fits, fights and expands the normative cultural understandings of relationships. Her research specifically examines how a sample of Finnish bisexual women and their (ex-)partners of various genders negotiate bisexuality in their relationships, as psychosocial subjects. She considers how intersecting cultural constructions of relationships, genders and (bi)sexualities shape those negotiations and analyses her interview data through a psychosocial lens. Her analysis shows that negotiations around bisexuality and relationships are made not only through discursive regulation, but are also shaped in interaction with affective, non-rational psychic dimensions of being in a relationship. She has recently published on bisexual women’s and their partners’ relationships in Feminism & Psychology and has a number of papers under review. She is currently finishing her dissertation and plans to start her post-doctoral research project focusing on the separation experiences of LGBTIQ persons. Nikki Hayfield had an email discussion with Annukka over the summer to find out more about her research and interest in bisexuality.

Editorial: Bisexualities and non-binary sexualities: Reflecting on invisibility, erasure and marginalisation.