Dr. Canton Winer
@cantonwiner.bsky.social
Asst. Prof of Sociology and Gender/Sexuality Studies
Follow me for thoughts about (a)sexuality, gender, and society
Subscribe to my free asexuality research newsletter: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151034229?source=queue
Follow me for thoughts about (a)sexuality, gender, and society
Subscribe to my free asexuality research newsletter: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151034229?source=queue
Pinned
Dr. Canton Winer
@cantonwiner.bsky.social
· Nov 15
I’m not on the asexuality spectrum. But as a queer, feminist researcher, I think we should all care about asexuality.
Why? Because asexual perspectives can help us better understand sexuality—and gender, race, disability, family, love, etc.
Here’s why:
Why? Because asexual perspectives can help us better understand sexuality—and gender, race, disability, family, love, etc.
Here’s why:
Exciting to see my research with @francescorampazzo.com get so much attention!
I also appreciate how this piece pushes against the misleading reporting from the Daily Mail that claimed our study shows that lesbians are “dying out.” As PinkNews points out, that’s a transphobic dog whistle.
I also appreciate how this piece pushes against the misleading reporting from the Daily Mail that claimed our study shows that lesbians are “dying out.” As PinkNews points out, that’s a transphobic dog whistle.
Gen Z women are more likely to identify as bisexual – but no, the lesbian label is not ‘dying out’
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/12/19/gen-z-women-bisexual-lesbian-zoe-dating/?utm_content=1766150402&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/12/19/gen-z-women-bisexual-lesbian-zoe-dating/?utm_content=1766150402&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
Gen Z women more likely to identify as bisexual but lesbians aren't 'dying out'
Gen Z women are more likely to describe themselves as bisexual – but no, this does not mean lesbians are "dying out".
www.thepinknews.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Exciting to see my research with @francescorampazzo.com get so much attention!
I also appreciate how this piece pushes against the misleading reporting from the Daily Mail that claimed our study shows that lesbians are “dying out.” As PinkNews points out, that’s a transphobic dog whistle.
I also appreciate how this piece pushes against the misleading reporting from the Daily Mail that claimed our study shows that lesbians are “dying out.” As PinkNews points out, that’s a transphobic dog whistle.
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
New coverage of our global study on sexual identity and generational change, now on @pinknews.bsky.social.
@cantonwiner.bsky.social
@cantonwiner.bsky.social
Gen Z women are more likely to identify as bisexual – but no, the lesbian label is not ‘dying out’
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/12/19/gen-z-women-bisexual-lesbian-zoe-dating/?utm_content=1766150402&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/12/19/gen-z-women-bisexual-lesbian-zoe-dating/?utm_content=1766150402&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
Gen Z women more likely to identify as bisexual but lesbians aren't 'dying out'
Gen Z women are more likely to describe themselves as bisexual – but no, this does not mean lesbians are "dying out".
www.thepinknews.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:41 PM
New coverage of our global study on sexual identity and generational change, now on @pinknews.bsky.social.
@cantonwiner.bsky.social
@cantonwiner.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
Our research with @cantonwiner.bsky.social and Milan Kovačič has also been reported by @advocate.com, providing another perspective on the findings.
Work based in the @socialstats.bsky.social Department of Social Statistics at the University of Manchester @manchester.ac.uk.
Work based in the @socialstats.bsky.social Department of Social Statistics at the University of Manchester @manchester.ac.uk.
Around 45 percent of Gen Z women ages 20 to 29 use the bisexual label, compared to 42.2 percent who use lesbian.
Gen Z women are more likely to identify as bisexual, but still embrace lesbian label: study
www.advocate.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Our research with @cantonwiner.bsky.social and Milan Kovačič has also been reported by @advocate.com, providing another perspective on the findings.
Work based in the @socialstats.bsky.social Department of Social Statistics at the University of Manchester @manchester.ac.uk.
Work based in the @socialstats.bsky.social Department of Social Statistics at the University of Manchester @manchester.ac.uk.
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
"The term 'lesbian' is dying out"
Well, I'm not sure if I, as an demiromantic asexual lesbian, would have even come to the conclusion to be a lesbian, rather than "just broken", if it weren't for the a-spec labels! 🏳️🌈
Well, I'm not sure if I, as an demiromantic asexual lesbian, would have even come to the conclusion to be a lesbian, rather than "just broken", if it weren't for the a-spec labels! 🏳️🌈
The @dailymail.co.uk just reported on my research.
But their framing is wrong.
Lesbian identities aren’t “dying out.”
So-called “new” identities (like pansexual, queer, asexual, etc.) aren’t “replacing” older ones. They’re adding to the ways people can plug into queerness.
But their framing is wrong.
Lesbian identities aren’t “dying out.”
So-called “new” identities (like pansexual, queer, asexual, etc.) aren’t “replacing” older ones. They’re adding to the ways people can plug into queerness.
December 16, 2025 at 4:29 PM
"The term 'lesbian' is dying out"
Well, I'm not sure if I, as an demiromantic asexual lesbian, would have even come to the conclusion to be a lesbian, rather than "just broken", if it weren't for the a-spec labels! 🏳️🌈
Well, I'm not sure if I, as an demiromantic asexual lesbian, would have even come to the conclusion to be a lesbian, rather than "just broken", if it weren't for the a-spec labels! 🏳️🌈
The @dailymail.co.uk just reported on my research.
But their framing is wrong.
Lesbian identities aren’t “dying out.”
So-called “new” identities (like pansexual, queer, asexual, etc.) aren’t “replacing” older ones. They’re adding to the ways people can plug into queerness.
But their framing is wrong.
Lesbian identities aren’t “dying out.”
So-called “new” identities (like pansexual, queer, asexual, etc.) aren’t “replacing” older ones. They’re adding to the ways people can plug into queerness.
December 16, 2025 at 4:14 PM
The @dailymail.co.uk just reported on my research.
But their framing is wrong.
Lesbian identities aren’t “dying out.”
So-called “new” identities (like pansexual, queer, asexual, etc.) aren’t “replacing” older ones. They’re adding to the ways people can plug into queerness.
But their framing is wrong.
Lesbian identities aren’t “dying out.”
So-called “new” identities (like pansexual, queer, asexual, etc.) aren’t “replacing” older ones. They’re adding to the ways people can plug into queerness.
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
International Ace Conspiracy 💜
Asexuality is a global identity.
That’s a major finding in a study I recently published with @francescorampazzo.com in Demographic Research.
Analyzing dating app data spanning 162 countries from over 900,000 users, we found that asexuality showed up in every age group and in every region.
That’s a major finding in a study I recently published with @francescorampazzo.com in Demographic Research.
Analyzing dating app data spanning 162 countries from over 900,000 users, we found that asexuality showed up in every age group and in every region.
A global study of 913k Zoe users shows lesbian (48%) and bisexual (40%) identities dominate worldwide, while younger generations show rising diversity, with 6.6% pansexual, 3.4% queer, and 0.7% asexual. Sexuality is evolving globally.
www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...
www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...
December 12, 2025 at 3:08 PM
International Ace Conspiracy 💜
Asexuality is a global identity.
That’s a major finding in a study I recently published with @francescorampazzo.com in Demographic Research.
Analyzing dating app data spanning 162 countries from over 900,000 users, we found that asexuality showed up in every age group and in every region.
That’s a major finding in a study I recently published with @francescorampazzo.com in Demographic Research.
Analyzing dating app data spanning 162 countries from over 900,000 users, we found that asexuality showed up in every age group and in every region.
A global study of 913k Zoe users shows lesbian (48%) and bisexual (40%) identities dominate worldwide, while younger generations show rising diversity, with 6.6% pansexual, 3.4% queer, and 0.7% asexual. Sexuality is evolving globally.
www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...
www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...
December 12, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Asexuality is a global identity.
That’s a major finding in a study I recently published with @francescorampazzo.com in Demographic Research.
Analyzing dating app data spanning 162 countries from over 900,000 users, we found that asexuality showed up in every age group and in every region.
That’s a major finding in a study I recently published with @francescorampazzo.com in Demographic Research.
Analyzing dating app data spanning 162 countries from over 900,000 users, we found that asexuality showed up in every age group and in every region.
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
An early Christmas gift from @demresjournal.bsky.social: new publication with @cantonwiner.bsky.social and Milan Kovačič on sexuality using dating app data. A great example of how social scientists and industry can collaborate to produce global, inclusive research.
A global study of 913k Zoe users shows lesbian (48%) and bisexual (40%) identities dominate worldwide, while younger generations show rising diversity, with 6.6% pansexual, 3.4% queer, and 0.7% asexual. Sexuality is evolving globally.
www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...
www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...
December 12, 2025 at 9:28 AM
An early Christmas gift from @demresjournal.bsky.social: new publication with @cantonwiner.bsky.social and Milan Kovačič on sexuality using dating app data. A great example of how social scientists and industry can collaborate to produce global, inclusive research.
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one
NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House.
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:10 PM
mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
“[B]ecause sex positivity is about expanding our freedom to participate in sex—but it is also about enabling us to decline intimacy that we don’t want. Consent is core to sex positivity.”
Wait also this wristband system sounds so genuinely helpful.
Wait also this wristband system sounds so genuinely helpful.
I’ve written before about how slut politics and asexuality also share more resonance than is apparent at first glance.
You can read about that here: open.substack.com/pub/cantonwi...
But I’m eager to think more about aromanticism and the queer resources it offers us.
You can read about that here: open.substack.com/pub/cantonwi...
But I’m eager to think more about aromanticism and the queer resources it offers us.
Sluts and Asexuals, Unite!
Reflecting on a slut-affirming night out
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 9:59 PM
“[B]ecause sex positivity is about expanding our freedom to participate in sex—but it is also about enabling us to decline intimacy that we don’t want. Consent is core to sex positivity.”
Wait also this wristband system sounds so genuinely helpful.
Wait also this wristband system sounds so genuinely helpful.
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
I knew I was poly before I knew I was aro (before aro as a term even existed). Relationship anarchy best describes my flavor of polyam. I used to think I was odd for considering myself poly, aro, AND acespec, but I’ve learned lots of people are; they’re fully compatible! Challenge amatonormativity!
Aromanticism and relationship anarchy share so much resonance with each other.
October 8, 2025 at 3:31 PM
I knew I was poly before I knew I was aro (before aro as a term even existed). Relationship anarchy best describes my flavor of polyam. I used to think I was odd for considering myself poly, aro, AND acespec, but I’ve learned lots of people are; they’re fully compatible! Challenge amatonormativity!
Aromanticism and relationship anarchy share so much resonance with each other.
October 8, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Aromanticism and relationship anarchy share so much resonance with each other.
We can’t take you seriously if you think “wokeness” is a bigger threat than authoritarianism.
[cough cough Bari Weiss]
[cough cough Bari Weiss]
October 7, 2025 at 1:41 PM
We can’t take you seriously if you think “wokeness” is a bigger threat than authoritarianism.
[cough cough Bari Weiss]
[cough cough Bari Weiss]
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
In today's @latimes.com, @georgianndavis.bsky.social writes about teaching statistics as an intersex scholar, and having to choose between lying to her students about the biological realities of sex and gender or teaching what the administration insists is true.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Contributor: I'm an intersex professor. Am I supposed to lie by teaching 'only male and female'?
A campaign against teachers who acknowledge realities of human biology forces a choice: Teach truth and risk your job, or lie and maybe keep it.
www.latimes.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:33 PM
In today's @latimes.com, @georgianndavis.bsky.social writes about teaching statistics as an intersex scholar, and having to choose between lying to her students about the biological realities of sex and gender or teaching what the administration insists is true.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
My special issue of The Sociological Quarterly on queer nightlife is out! A real passion project, attempting to articulate what unique contributions sociologists can make to a vibrant interdisciplinary conversation. It’s all open access for 6 months. www.tandfonline.com/toc/utsq20/6... #sociology
The Sociological Quarterly
Queer Nightlife. Volume 66, Issue 4 of The Sociological Quarterly
www.tandfonline.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:41 PM
My special issue of The Sociological Quarterly on queer nightlife is out! A real passion project, attempting to articulate what unique contributions sociologists can make to a vibrant interdisciplinary conversation. It’s all open access for 6 months. www.tandfonline.com/toc/utsq20/6... #sociology
What if gender isn’t something everyone has, but something we’re compelled to have?
My new Substack explores compulsory gender and how some people "detach" from gender.
Dive in: cantonwiner.substack.com/p/compulsory-gender-detachment
My new Substack explores compulsory gender and how some people "detach" from gender.
Dive in: cantonwiner.substack.com/p/compulsory-gender-detachment
Compulsory Gender
Do We All Need a Gender? Challenging Compulsory Gender
cantonwiner.substack.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:34 PM
What if gender isn’t something everyone has, but something we’re compelled to have?
My new Substack explores compulsory gender and how some people "detach" from gender.
Dive in: cantonwiner.substack.com/p/compulsory-gender-detachment
My new Substack explores compulsory gender and how some people "detach" from gender.
Dive in: cantonwiner.substack.com/p/compulsory-gender-detachment
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
New research from Canton Winer! Gender identity detachment: New term allows people to skip gender entirely. share.google/uoS3hFDjV2UR...
There’s a Shiny New Entry Into the Gender Lexicon. This One Changes the Ballgame.
Turns out there’s more to the gender spectrum than we’d imagined.
share.google
September 12, 2025 at 7:58 PM
New research from Canton Winer! Gender identity detachment: New term allows people to skip gender entirely. share.google/uoS3hFDjV2UR...
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
Now that Kirk's killer seems to be caught, maybe the news could spare a moment's attention for the right wing, from the commentariat up to the GOP and president, whose immediate reaction was not mourning, but to seize the opportunity to try to incite violence against groups they hate
September 12, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Now that Kirk's killer seems to be caught, maybe the news could spare a moment's attention for the right wing, from the commentariat up to the GOP and president, whose immediate reaction was not mourning, but to seize the opportunity to try to incite violence against groups they hate
If you know much about authoritarians, you know that they pounce at the chance to exploit a crisis.
That’s one reason many people are fearful in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s shooting.
It's easy to feel hopeless right now.
But as a sociologist, I see some real reasons for hope.
That’s one reason many people are fearful in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s shooting.
It's easy to feel hopeless right now.
But as a sociologist, I see some real reasons for hope.
Surviving the Kirk/MAGA Crisis
On Finding Hope Under Authoritarianism
cantonwiner.substack.com
September 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM
If you know much about authoritarians, you know that they pounce at the chance to exploit a crisis.
That’s one reason many people are fearful in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s shooting.
It's easy to feel hopeless right now.
But as a sociologist, I see some real reasons for hope.
That’s one reason many people are fearful in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s shooting.
It's easy to feel hopeless right now.
But as a sociologist, I see some real reasons for hope.
I don’t relish seeing anyone shot. It’s horrible.
But spare me the calls for empathy for a man who built a career railing against empathy.
But spare me the calls for empathy for a man who built a career railing against empathy.
September 11, 2025 at 9:08 PM
I don’t relish seeing anyone shot. It’s horrible.
But spare me the calls for empathy for a man who built a career railing against empathy.
But spare me the calls for empathy for a man who built a career railing against empathy.
Dehumanization is a form of political violence, one that Charlie Kirk knew well.
September 10, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Dehumanization is a form of political violence, one that Charlie Kirk knew well.
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
UC-Davis is hiring for a tenure-track assistant professor in the sociology of gender. See more details here: careercenter.asanet.org/job/1311028/...
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Sociology of Gender - Davis, California job with UC Davis | 1311028
Tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level for scholars conducting theoretically-driven, empirical research in the sociology of gender.
careercenter.asanet.org
September 8, 2025 at 9:37 PM
UC-Davis is hiring for a tenure-track assistant professor in the sociology of gender. See more details here: careercenter.asanet.org/job/1311028/...
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
As I learned in critical theory: "Law is the institution by which Power declares itself Virtue."
September 8, 2025 at 10:40 PM
As I learned in critical theory: "Law is the institution by which Power declares itself Virtue."
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
September 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
Reposted by Dr. Canton Winer
The lack of arms is so dehumanizing. And I think you could reasonably argue that the placement of the crescents suggests a chest that hasn't finished puberty yet.
They published it, and it's even worse than I thought www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
September 8, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The lack of arms is so dehumanizing. And I think you could reasonably argue that the placement of the crescents suggests a chest that hasn't finished puberty yet.