Thank you for explaining how you figured out that you were indeed gay:)
Jenna, what a great article! Do you mind if I share it with some teenage girls? So many girls now are occupying themselves with their sexual orientation these days before they have even shown any interest in sexuality itself!
I live in the UK and the topic of sexual orientiation is being imposed on the kids right in the first years of school now and many kids are properly confused.
While this probably would have hugely helped a kid as you were, it is creating a new trend which worries me a bit.
Please don't get me wrong, I reall am the first person who will completely support anyone's sexual orientation. Heck, I actually don't give a damn who is what or likes what, which is how it SHOULD be actually - it's no one's business what people do in their private time (as long as we are talking about consensual adult sex).
Kids...need to explore themselves and while yes, sure, it's useful to give everyone the oportunity to ask questions and be informed about the world what's out there, in the UK they are going a bit too far.
It ends with HALF of the girls now, at 14 and 15, claiming they are either gay or actually a boy.
When a girl asked me to call her "they", I said it ends right there. I refuse to call anyone "they". Pick one, boy or girl, I don't care, but pick one.
And for the love of... why burden yourself with all this nonsense NOW, so young! TAKE your time! Experiment, sure. I know I did. I was into boys but I seemed to have a thing for girls, too.
Given that I felt masculine very often, did that make me a boy?
It was confusing. Was I a boy, a lesbian, bi-sexual?
So you try things out, with boys, with girls...
In the end I had to admit, I was heterosexual but with a special thing for female beauty, mostly from an artistic point of view.
Which didn't stop me from being kissed by a couple of girlfriends and I slept with a couple as well later on. Still, as nice as it was, it didn't do the same for me as being with a guy. Sometimes I wish it did. We women understand the concept of wanting that extra attention, of liking being seduced, slowly, gently, being teased... If I was with a woman, we could give each other all that...
Most men just don't get that. Unless they are some casanovas who have no interest in having a real relatinship... What is up with that?? LOL
Anyway, I just thought - next time a young girl claims that she's gay (without even having kissed anyone in her young life, for crying out loud), I will show her your article and say, "think about all these things if you ever experienced anything the like".
I think what's happening these days in my surrounding is, that young girls confuse good friendships and liking to be close to a girlfriend, with being gay.
And that's what's a bit sad about today. Yes, it's a good thing that young people don't feel alone any longer in case they ARE gay, great.
But the rest is not able to enjoy the innocence of simple friendships any longer without realising that that's exactly what they have and it's beyond precious.
What do you think?
