Questioning sexuality and why its completely normal

Most people (at some point in their life) will question their sexuality, whether it’s thinking you were straight and discovering you’re not, or thinking you were gay and realising you are attracted to another gender too. This stage could last a few months, years, or you’re your whole life (depending on the person). This is completely natural, and there is no reason for anyone to tell you otherwise.

As we grow, humans tend to feel attraction a lot more than they have done previously in their life. In many cases, this includes attraction to a gender a person didn’t previously think they were attracted to. This is due to hormones developing, and many people keep this way of thinking for the rest of their life. However, in many cases, the teenage years of self-discovery may be a phase.
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It’s this minority that are the reason for so many adults questioning the liability of a teenager’s sexuality. Some people aren’t very approving of the idea of being attracted to any sex other than one you can reproduce with, which is exactly why the phrase “Are you sure it’s not just a phase?” pops up so often. As well as discovering your sexuality is, it’s completely normal and okay if you realise that your questioning was a phase.
Please remember that if you’re not 100% certain of your sexuality, your feelings and thoughts are still completely valid and you shouldn’t be made to feel like you’re anything less than that. The same applies for questioning gender as well. For example, if you’re unsure of your pronouns, or your name changes frequently as you try to discover who you are, that doesn’t mean your identity is any more or less valid than anyone else’s.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any member of the TWE team if you have any worries, questions you’d like answered, issues you’d like to see addressed in an article, or even if you just want to chat to us.

~ Lauren xxx
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