[CHAT] #BIWEEK - Awareness, acceptance and visbility!
The day that this blog goes live, the 23rd of September, marks International
Bisexual Day. It’s also a part of Bisexual Awareness Week, which was
created with the aim of achieving wider acceptance of bisexuality.
I’ve identified as bisexual for a little over 6 years now and to say that it hasn’t
exactly been a straightforward journey would be a bit of an understatement. I
never questioned my sexuality as a kid, always assuming that I was straight by
default, until I suddenly ended up with a huge crush on a girl I was friends with
at the age of 15. Even as a child of a LGBT parent who had grown up with it as a
big part of my life, this realization brought on a lot of different feelings of
confusion, frustration and worry.
It took me a while, but eventually I reached a place where I accepted who I am.
Most of the people I’ve come out to have been cool about it, but that doesn’t
mean that I haven’t gotten the occasional strange/borderline biphobic question
or comment. For example, receiving a Facebook message from a school friend
out of the blue asking if I’m “still bi” when I got my first boyfriend was a moment
that I wouldn’t really want to relive. Curiosity about other people’s sexuality is
normal, but we need to remember to be respectful about how we talk about it.
No matter what your sexuality is, we all have our own process of coming to
terms with what it means to us. We’re the ones who get to choose what labels we
use, if any, as well as how we define those labels.
Want to know a bit more about coming to terms with your own sexuality, learn
about different sexualities and how we can treat all different sexualities with
respect?
Come and join @safari93 and I when we chat about it on Monday 28th,
8pm AEST!
Hmm @redhead you have made me think about my response a bit more, you're quite right. I think it can be fluid, but for some people it can be a solid stable thing. I guess everything is a variable in sexuality, even how much it might stay the same for some people!
Welcome to the session @redhead!
I agree that it can sometimes be a solid thing, I think fluidity definitely appeals to some people more than others
Hey hey! Welcome to tonight's GR session! Let's get going!!
What is sexuality to you? Do you think it is static, or do you see it as more fluid, and changing over time?
I don't know if I have a super-precise definition of sexuality, but I usually just see it as who I am attracted to. And I definitely think it can change over time - we learn about how people present and that can change how we identify, plus we aren't always born being aware of our sexuality
What is sexuality to you? Do you think it is static, or do you see it as more fluid, and changing over time?
I think it's fluid, ever changing, different for everyone and potentially even different for every relationship you're in.
Hey guys!
LOVE the question!
What is sexuality to you? Do you think it is static, or do you see it as more fluid, and changing over time?
Sexuality for me, is how you identify with all things sexual. From whom you are attracted to and whom you are not, as well as which gender you identify with and a what level you experience sexual attraction.
Because sexuality is so diverse and changes and adapts as you grow as an individual, I like to think of it as fluid and often find myself in arguments with those who think of it more as static.
Hey @stonepixie, great you could make it!
Your definition is really interesting, I haven't heard a lot of people including gender under that before!
Really interesting stuff guys! On to the next Q:
Sexuality can be a confusing and sometimes even scary thing to think about. Have you ever questioned your sexuality? Or do you know someone who has?
Well considering the blog, I think we can all assume that my answer to the first part of the question is yes 😛
In terms of the second part, I'm pretty sure about 90% of the people I'm friends with have questioned at some point. It's so common
Sexuality can be a confusing and sometimes even scary thing to think about. Have you ever questioned your sexuality? Or do you know someone who has?
All the time! Always asking myself as to why I am so different from everyone else and why do people love to talk about sex all.the.time? I guess most people question their sexuality from time to time. Heck, the first guy I ever dated came out as gay about a year after we dated and now he identifies as pansexual.
@stonepixie Same here, hopefully some more stuff will be up on RO around those topics soon 🙂
Hi everyone, welcome to tonight’s Getting Real Session!
Tonight we’re going to be talking about questioning your sexuality, how we choose to identify our sexuality and how we can treat everyone’s sexual identity with the respect it deserves. Tonight I’m co-facilitating with @safari93 and @Ben-RO.
As always, please check out the community guidelines if you haven’t already before you join in on the sesh to make sure that it’s a happy, smooth experience for everyone. Also, talking about this kind of stuff can sometimes be pretty difficult, so if it brings up any negative feelings that you feel you need to talk about I encourage you to use the emergency help resources in the top right hand corner.
With all of that out of the way, time to get this thing started!
What is sexuality to you? Do you think it is static, or do you see it as more fluid, and changing over time?
My sexual orientation and romantic orientation are definitive. My sexual orientation changes, my romantic orientation doesn't. My sexuality, for me, is fluid. But like, about as fluid as yoghurt. Some days I'm equally attracted to guys and girls, sometimes just girls. It changes gradually over a week normally. I'm homoromantic (just date girls) and possibly bisexual, but being into dude is a new thing to me, only really becoming present over the last year. Before that I identified and felt almost entirely gay. But there's always beeen a little bit of grey area, and now that this grey area is becoming larger and more defined into something, I am embracing it.
Hi @Jaide897, welcome to tonight's chat!
It's really awesome that you're coming to terms with the grey area so well, having things be fluid when you've had a strict definition for a while can be pretty tough!
