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Did you "know" at a young age?

Discussion in 'Sexual Orientation' started by Jax12, Aug 2, 2015.

?

Did you know at a young age?

  1. Yes

    17 vote(s)
    18.1%
  2. No

    37 vote(s)
    39.4%
  3. Sort of

    40 vote(s)
    42.6%
  1. Jax12

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    Today, I met up with a former classmate of mine who turned out to be gay, so it was really cool to know someone from a religious household and identify as gay.

    But it got me thinking: he knew at a young age. He was 8 when he first had feelings to guys.

    For the people I've spoken to both in real life and an app, they also claim to know early on and of course try to fit in (suppress/attempt to date opposite gender/feeling of release after acceptance).

    It seems that many people knew from a young age. I guess the question I have is, did you?

    I ask because I started questioning last year and accepted that I wasn't straight a couple months ago. This is something that popped into my mind, so please share your thoughts.
     
    #1 Jax12, Aug 2, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2015
  2. molsen7961

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    I'm 16 years old, and I didn't even start questioning my sexuality until February this year (I was 15 at the time). I can remember being attracted to girls fleetingly in 6th grade, but I completely dismissed it and didn't pay attention to it at all until this year, because I was also attracted to guys and assumed that meant I was straight. There are also people that are 40 and married before they realize they aren't straight, and Caitlyn Jenner was around 60 (I think) before she came out as trans, so I don't think it's all that uncommon to figure it out a bit later.
     
  3. ChickenWhistle

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    This is interesting because I've heard a lot of people say "I've always just known" or "When I was 4, girls were just always more attractive." and this has puzzled me. My first conscious awareness of anything gay was when I was maybe 13 or 14 and fell for 2 of my female friends. (Yeah, 2 at the same time. I was traumatized. :eusa_doh:slight_smile:

    In a way, I guess I'm kind of jealous. I almost think like the mental battle might've been easier for them than it was for me. Perhaps those who "always knew" had less of a hard time accepting it first to themselves. Took me another 5 or 6 years to accept I actually liked girls, myself.
     
    #3 ChickenWhistle, Aug 2, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2015
  4. Moonflower

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  5. Blue787Bunny

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    Yes, I definitely knew but never labelled it. There wasn't an "OMG I'm different. What am I?" thing. My first memory of being shall we say gay was when I was 2 years old. After watching "The Little Mermaid" (1989), of course as a kid the film would lead you to role-play game. I thought of myself as Ariel rather than the Prince lol :lol: I also had this weird fascination with Barbie, though never played with them. I had sisters and I just found it amusing when they played with them.

    It took a back seat because after that I kind off did stereotypical male kid stuff like playing with robots, other guys, sports, etc.

    I was in grade school when it came back. I had a fascination with guy hard-ons. :lol: Not in the I want to have sex kind of way but I just found it amusing to look at them. Of course having the internet helped. Did I know it wasn't the kind of thing a guy would do? Yeah, that's why I'd lock myself in the computer room of the house. I also had guy crushes at school.

    The fascination with dicks turned to porn of course (High school). But still watched straight porn. But for some reason I honed in on the guy porn actor. And during masturbation I'd imagine I was the female porn actress getting f*cked.

    I don't actually remember when I shifted to gay porn. But I dated and had sex with guys during Medical School.

    I come from a hardcore Christian family. That's why it took so long. I was afraid for so long. But when I became an adult at 20+ I really could care less to suppress anymore. It was just fortunate my parents became supportive afterwards.
     
    #5 Blue787Bunny, Aug 2, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2015
  6. Winter Maiden

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    I felt something was off but I did not necessarily know what.
     
  7. CodeForLife

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    This is closer to what I felt. When I was younger, I truly believed I was straight, but I always felt like I had weird relationships with guys. Over a few years, I realized I might like guys a little, and then that I prefer guys, and then eventually that I only would want to be with a guy. It didn't happen overnight and I didn't know specifically what was going on when I was younger, but I did know there was something different.
     
  8. MetalRice

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    I didn't really begin to have an inkling until I was around 13; if that counts.
     
  9. Alder

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    I put 'no' because I didn't know at that young (8 or 9). There were probably signs, but I didn't pay attention to them at the time.

    I'd say I started really thinking about it/figuring it out around 15. I'm pretty sure there were inklings from when I was much younger but I didn't really consciously know or acknowledge a lot of things until about that middle school age.
     
  10. Lyana

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    I answered no.

    The feelings and attraction were always there and they never bothered me, but I never stopped to think about them and label myself. If you had asked me then, I'm fairly sure I would have said I was straight.

    The age at which you realize doesn't invalidate anything.
     
  11. ChloeKiss

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    I voted sort of because though I do have memories that indicate my sexuality when I was younger I didn't fully ''realise'' I was into women until I was like 11. When I was like 5-7 I loved my brothers female friends and always wanted them to tuck me in or read me a story., I wanted to be cuddled by them and everything. I thought they were Angels <3

    They probably just thought I was some cute innocent little girl (I was) but as time went on I realised I was very ''smitten'' with those girls :lol: Now there's no denying I'm as gay as a nail. xx
     
  12. foxconfessor

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    I "knew" in so much as I knew I didn't want to be with a guy. Even when girls were having boyfriends at aged 8-10 (and so did nothing with them) I couldn't understand their mindset - it just wasn't for me. Also when my parents told me what sex was, I actually said to them that they could think again if they thought they were going to have grandchildren! I'm aware a lot of kids think sex is gross at that age, but contrast this with when a friend told me women could be together that way - which felt like a thunderbolt, and I couldn't help but think about how appealing it sounded. Later on, any time I saw any woman being sexual in a film or tv show it turned me on, which really scared me!

    In my adolescence my female friends would crush on male celebrities, which I sort of joined in with because I could tell when guys were attractive - I even had "types", though I could never work out how to feel sexual towards them. It was when they would talk about boys they liked in real life that I would feel a jarring sense of dissonance - even though I had "crushes" they were really only based off how much attention they gave me (where I became "girly" around them and felt like a different person) but I couldn't understand why my friends were so upset when the guys didn't like them/want to go out with them. It didn't seem like a loss to me, more like a relief. Plus whenever I talked about any male crushes, I also felt a sense of ingenuity, like bringing it into reality made me realise how unreal they were.

    Later on, every time one of my female friends got a boyfriend it was like another one had bitten the dust - becoming someone I couldn't relate to, leading a life I could never have.

    It was only when I articulated to myself that I might just be gay that I began to recognise real life attractions to girls, and more recently I've realised I actually experienced crush-like feelings towards a female friend even going back to when I was 17.
     
  13. Foz

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    I wouldn't say that I 'knew' at a young age, I was gay at 12 years old I just didn't understand it. I'd never really fancied boys or girls up until then but I started thinking about boys in that way, never girls. By time I was 14 I thought "I might be gay" but after thinking about it for a few weeks I concluded that I didn't want to be gay therefore I wasn't. It wasn't until I was 16/17 that I actually realised that I was gay and had been for some time.
     
  14. Garnet

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  15. PatrickUK

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    On reflection, yes, I did know at a very young age. Looking back, I remember how I used to see something in other boys while I was still at junior school (around the age of 8 or 9), something I never felt for girls. Of course, I didn't think at the time "oh my God, I'm gay" and it's only years later, long after coming out that it really dawned on me what that something was.
     
  16. Spartan 117

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    Similarly to Patrick, in hindsight it make perfect sense that I was gay. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: I was only seriously interested in boys when I got to 14/15 though (which still seems like a pretty young age to me!).
     
  17. DreamerBoy17

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    I picked "sort of"
    I only remembered these things a few weeks. When I was in kindergarten, my best friend and I were super close. But I remember always feeling really protective towards her and wanting to be there for her. I think it might've been deeper than friendship. Like, this one time she scratched her knee on the pavement, and I was at a terrible inter-city school before I moved, and none of the teachers helped her, so I just hugged her and felt really bad for her. This might seem normal for friends, but irl I do not like touching someone in any way unless I like them.
    The other was with that stupid Hotel Transylvania movie when I was like 10. I thought to myself, "wow, I would really like to date Mavis (the female vampire) if I was a boy." Never gave it a second thought till I saw the second movie is coming out.
    I guess you could consider it young that I'm out as lesbian now :grin:
     
  18. GabsBoo

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    I guess so.. I mean when I was little like 5/6 I didn't knew exactly what was going on and I was a little confused about it but then at 11 I was pretty sure about what it was :}
     
  19. Joey101

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    I had a very close friend when I was in primary school. we spent any moment together and I got horribly jealous when she did something with another friend. looking back, I was probably in love with her...But I didnt know what being lesbian meant at that age. When we talked about it later in school I just knew I liked girls. Of course I first lied to myself telling me thats just puberty and that is totally usuall. I think I even talked myself into a crush on a boy in my class. Now I have accepted it and feel ok with it, at least for myself. Its funny if I think how oblivious it was. :bang::roflmao::icon_wink
    But even now, years later, I can not say for sure that I don't like guys as well
     
  20. Van

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    Yes! I'm sure I knew at the age of 5 or 6 that I was not straight. Even if I didn't know what gay and straight was. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: