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How Old Were You When You Became Aware of Your Sexuality?

Discussion in 'Sexual Orientation' started by bsg75apollo, Jan 27, 2022.

  1. bsg75apollo

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    I know that a lot of LGBTQIA+ people have said that they were aware of their sexuality in childhood. While there were some clues, I was pretty oblivious until I hit puberty and was in junior high. Even then, being oblivious and uncomprehending lasted a really long time and didn't start making sense until college.
     
  2. Jakebusman

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    7 in 3rd grade
     
  3. johndeere3020

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    Well, thinking back on it O thought a couple of boys were cute. Around 12-13 I think I knew something was different. Was kind of late maturing and didn't until a junior in HS at age 16. Was a great student then most everything went to shit. I couldn't deal with my feelings and no one to take with.
     
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  4. DragonChaser

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    It's been taking shape over most of my life.

    When did I ask myself, "Who am I?" Around 14. Curious interests starting popping up in my... let's say "private introspection time."
    At first, I hated myself for it. Then, gradually, I chose to explore rather than deny myself.

    That exploration has only further defined the contours of my sexual identity, as with all of us, I'm sure.

    I know it's not on topic, per se, but I've known about my womanhood for around as long as I've known I'm bi/pan, though the transgender realization was terrifying enough for me to enter into denial for about a decade.

    Now that I acknowledge it, how it will come to further modify my sexual character is something I'm only beginning to learn.
     
  5. masterofnone

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    i remember being really young, probably around 6 i saw a woman’s tits on tv and i just felt drawn to it. i started having crushes on my older brothers female friends and dreaming about women. so it was easy for me because that’s what society deems “normal” for a young boy.
     
  6. LostInDaydreams

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    In retrospect, I can see that the signs were there, but I didn’t become aware until my late twenties (around 27 or 28). Initially I thought that made me really odd, but EC taught me that it’s actually not that uncommon.
     
    #6 LostInDaydreams, Jan 27, 2022
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2022
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  7. zgaynz

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    I suspected early on and that would continue into my teenage years where I found out about homosexuality from my peers. Sex education wasn't apart of our syllabus back then so anything prior to my teenage years would mean I had no idea what was "normal" but I knew I enjoyed looking in the changing rooms. I put my eager eyes down to curiosity until my early twenties when I saw gay porn for the first time and was hooked. This was when I realised I was gay but I still would not accept it for many years, instead, I chose to suppress and deny. I, like so many of my generation, were brought up that any form of homosexuality was wrong, when in fact, it's something beautiful.
     
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  8. Rayland

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    I started questioning after I became aware who I truly was. It was after I turned 30. I knew that there were people who like the same sex, but I didn't pay much attention to it at all. It wasn't something that was really discussed either. Sexuality overall was a taboo theme to bring up.
     
  9. BiGemini87

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    I had signs pretty far back. I remember developing crushes on boys as young as 4 years of age; some of those might have been because I thought I was supposed to, but I know for a fact a few of them were genuine (I got wicked jealous of other female friends they had). My first girl crush, I was 6, going on 7. I didn't understand it for what it was back then, but I know that that's precisely what it was. I thought she was pretty, wanted to be her friend (at a time when I often shunned the company of other girls because, as a tomboy, I wanted to play more physical games with boys) and was devastated when she initially rejected my overtures of friendship. I don't recall having those feelings for any other girls until high school, in which I remained deep in denial (not coming out to myself until 31 years of age, then nearly 32 more publicly.)
     
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  10. DinoTail

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    I knew I wasnt straight in 5th grade but didnt know exactly what I identify as until 9th :3
     
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  11. PatrickUK

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    I think awareness kicked in around the age of 12-13, but there were signs a number of years earlier. Acceptance came much later, in my late teens and coming out was early 20's. A journey, for sure!
     
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  12. Y2B

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    Since puberty I wondered why I'm not interested in girls. My younger friend helped me to discover why... :blush:
     
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  13. Alex2

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    I started questioning my sexuality back in July 2021, but only in the past week was I attracted to someone of the same sex enough that I finally came to terms with the fact that I am bisexual. (I was 13 back in July and I still am now.) Of course, I can't say for sure, since I'm still young and my attractions can change, but I am confident enough about this to actually say that I'm bisexual instead of questioning my sexuality, which I wasn't a couple of weeks ago.
     
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  14. Tightrope

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    I'm seeing a lot of responses mentioning around the age of puberty. This makes total sense. That's when big hormonal changes come up and I'm going to say that it was the early to mid teens for me.
     
  15. TinyWerewolf

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    TLDR:should've known at 11, was in denial until 17.

    I started noticing a girl in my class when I was 11, but I was in love with a close guy friend of mine. I finally became fully aware of it after spending six years being completely self unaware. I didn't have time to think about who I was or who I was into really, and then it hit me like a frieght train one day. The first time I heard the word bisexual I felt as if I resonated with it, so I began educating myself more on sexual orientation to figure out why (none of the educators around me had ever mentioned the subject to teach me and I was too shy to ask). Eventually I figured it out and came out to my psych professor at 17 (only because I'd found out he was gay from someone else). He said he'd wondered if I was questioning because I never wore makeup- which I was still in denial about being trans at the time and the rest of that is a whole other story about me discovering I'm a trans man.
     
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  16. Sadness

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    I think i knew it pretty young. Maybe 4th grade. A girl gave me a kiss on my cheek and i felt amazing and other time i girl hugged me and i got hard, i didn't know what all that meant at the time, i used to say i was "feeling good"
     
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  17. j4ss3n

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    Started experimenting around 13ish, wasn't really comfortable with myself until 15.
     
  18. LilLady9

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    looking back on my youth, the first sign of my bisexuality was when I was in 1st grade. However, that's up for debate. All I remember was messing around with another boy in the bathroom. With that said, I don't believe I was the one that initiated the act. I honestly don't even remember if we messed around in the bathroom once or multiple times.

    Some people I have came out to have said that I was sexual abused, etc. but I don't necessarily think that was the case. I personally think it was boys being boys and experimenting. However, I still have questions to this day...

    Fast forward to middle school, I didn't have any crushes/feeling for males up until this point. (from what I remember). However, I had just moved states and became best friends with a boy named Joey (I used a different name for obvious reasons). We ended up experimenting with eachother all through middle school and I developed strong feelings for him.

    This was the first time my attraction to other males was very apparent. However, i also had feelings for girls throughout middle school which made me very confused.

    I ended up repressing my feelings for males all the way through high school and didn't come out to myself until I was a freshman in college. However, it didn't end there, I didn't start accepting my bisexualty until a few years ago (I'm currently in my mid-twenties). I'm happy to say I now truly accept my bisexualty. With that said, I still have a long wys to go to being completely authentic (I've only come out to a few people; mainly my siblings.) I hope to get the courage to come out as bisexual to all of my close ones in the near future!
     
  19. chicodeoro

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    With me it's complicated. From an early age I've been drawn towards femininity. My earliest feelings of wanting to be a girl date from around age 6. Once puberty hit things got complicated - I'd make friends with girls quite easily but none of these ever blossomed into romance. I desperately wanted to have a 'normal' heterosexual relationship, but for one reason or another that didn't happen until I was 19.

    In my case, gender and sexuality have wrapped themselves around each other and I've only just started the process of disentangling them. Where I'll end up - whether that's as gay, hetero or bi - I don't know. But I know I want to love and be loved as me: a trans woman.

    Beth
     
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  20. ThxSens8

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    I'm a bisexual man, but have never explored due to a lack of courage in my youth. I wouldn't recommend that route to anyone.

    I was probably around 8 or 9 when I I stayed the night at another boy's house and we got naked and fondled each other. I've never told anyone about this because he betrayed me by spreading a "gay" rumor about me, and from that point on I was extremely scared of acting on my attraction to the same sex. I moved on, convinced that my attraction to males was just an occasional fetish and that my attraction to women was more authenti, rather than equally authentic.

    I have only recently, at 40 years old, accepted that I've always seen the beauty in both sexes. I think I'm a pretty even bisexual, but I still need to come out to my wife, who I love very much.
     
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