The, Do You Like Girls Or Boys?

Imagine, you go to work in your dress shoes, black suit, buzz-cut hair, red power tie, and nobody pays you a second look. But, the second you get home, you kick off your shoes, and don high-heels, the suit is replaced with a dress, your short wig is taken off, and you let your long curls fall, and your tie is in the closet, with a necklace in its place. Such hiding of true feelings is not an unheard concept in the transgender world. Millions of transgender people will never express their true feelings in their lifetime. This is similar to The Intruder by Andre Dubus, Kenneth Girard a

The part that confuses the majority of the people that are not transgender or don’t quite understand what it is, is when they speak to someone they thought was a certain sex and are asked to refer to them as the opposite sex. For example, meeting someone that appears to be a man and asked to refer to him as she/her. This can be especially confusing if a family member is going through a transition. Family members tend to be the most affected by a transgender in the family, they do not know how to react or how to help because they are most likely the only transgender in the family. Being transgender is not a choice, it is a feeling and almost all people that are transgender are unlikely to be able to feel happiness or find peace in life if they are not who they feel they truly are meant to be.

The topic of homosexuality has become a constant issue throughout our society for many years. Many people believe that being gay is not acceptable for both religious and moral reasons. Because being gay is not accepted, many homosexuals may feel shame or guilt because of the way they live their everyday lives. This in turn can affect how the person chooses to live their life and it can also affect who the person would like to become. Growing up, David Sedaris struggled to find the common ground between being gay as well as being a normal teenager. He often resorted to the conclusion that you could not be both. Sedaris allows us to see things through his young eyes with his personable short story "I Like Guys". Throughout

Imagine, you go to work in your dress shoes, black suit, buzz-cut hair, red power tie, and nobody pays you a second look. But, the second you get home, you kick off your shoes, and don high-heels, the suit is replaced with a dress, your short wig is taken off, and you let your long curls fall, and your tie is in the closet, with a necklace in its place. Such hiding of true feelings is not an unheard concept in the transgender world. Millions of transgender people will never express their true feelings in their lifetime. This is similar to

I think that the effect that attraction has had on me in my relationships has a lot of who I dated when I was younger. I used to see a girl that I felt was attractive and try to ask her out on a date. Then as I got older I used to see a girl that was attractive to me and I would try to take her out and start a relationship with her based solely on the first initial attraction. I understand that a real and stable relationship takes a whole lot more than just looks to be a successful relationship and to be serious. I now am married to the most wonderful women on this planet and really and truly understand love. She is my

Everyone goes through a stage in their life where sexuality is explored. “Where Are You

In class, we have learned and discussed how during the period of adolescence, it is known that this is the period of time where individuals are finding themselves and figuring out where they belong. It is during this time where individuals are the most sensitive and personal problems tend to arise more commonly during this stage. A major issue adolescents struggle during this stage is gender identity and sexuality. Adolescents are trying to figure out who they are attracted to and how they perceive themselves to be. While the norm is to identify oneself as their biological gender, there are those who develop gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is a reoccurring feeling that one’s biological gender is the opposite of one’s sexual identity (Cole,

For a long time I was not aware of the concept of sexual identity. When a boy likes a girl they develop a romantic connection, with the condition that the girl also finds the boy attractive. For a long time I considered that this was a classical receipt for romantic relationships and I could not separate romance from sexuality. The way I was raised, the religious precepts that have shaped my personality, the gender roles or the media and my relationships have contributed to who I am in terms of sexual identity.

I identify as a straight female. Although in the past I’ve only had white partners, I am attracted to a spectrum of men. Throughout my life I have always told myself that I was only interested in men. As I approached college more and more I became slightly more interested in women. I have felt like being attracted to men is what’s considered to be socially correct and so I fit into the cookie cutter. These ideas and thoughts are something I’ve only shared with two people.

Being able to keep an open mind even in the face of something that is completely new to you is a difficult feat to accomplish for some, including myself. I am a naturally curious person, but also come from a town where there is not much diversity so any sort of deviation from the “norm” has always piqued my interest. One of the most enlightening experiences I have had was as a student in high school when I joined the gay straight alliance club and one of the guests they brought in was transexual. This was the first time I had been exposed to someone who identified in that category and I was interested and unsure of how I would react to meeting this person.

Alternatively, sexual orientation was conceptualized as both sexual identity and sexual attraction, and measures were utilized reflecting this. Upchurch et al. (2016) measured sexual orientation based on responses to the question, “Please choose the description that best fits how you think about yourself”: 100% heterosexual (straight); Mostly heterosexual (straight), but somewhat attracted to people of your own sex; bisexual, that is, attracted to men and women equally; mostly homosexual (gay), but somewhat attracted to people of the opposite sex; 100% homosexual (gay); not sexually attracted to either males or females. These responses were then categorized dichotomously: heterosexual; and lesbian, gay or bisexual. Respondents who identified as “mostly heterosexual” and “not sexually attracted to either males or females” were excluded from analysis. This measure appeared to be accounting for the fluidity of sexual identity and attraction. However, for analysis, it categorized respondents that did not identify as heterosexual as one group; treating lesbian, gay and bisexual respondents as a homogenous group fails to reflect intragroup differences among sexual minorities. Similarly, Bazzi et al. (2015) conceptualized sexual orientation as a combination of sexual identity and sexual behaviors.

Growing up everyone is told that they are unique. “Be yourself,” “use your God-given talent,” and other expressions such as these impress the aforementioned narrative into our minds. Thus, when I was around thirteen years old, I thought my sexuality was just a part of me that only I had. I wanted to share this feature about myself; I wanted to take pride in it and show it off. Coming out to a close few friends showed positive and emotional responses. Riding on this high, I was ready to embrace myself in high school. Yet, my naivety took the best of me as I was going to an all male, religious high school. My sexuality has provided me with experiences that have and will continue to shape my life. These struggles, whether they are internal or external, have provided me with invaluable skills.

Some says that a person who has intimate relationships with both men and women doesn’t consider herself bisexual or of any sexual orientation for that matter. I think that today, we are seeing more people displaying an attraction to another individual based mostly on what their personality has to offer, rather then their ‘plumbing’. I find this an interesting concept and I think I do believe that what it boils down to is the love you have for the person despite their anatomy, though I have yet to experience feelings like this myself.One of the main problems that bisexual people face is the idea that bisexuality is not a “real” sexual orientation. This belief is held by not only the heterosexual community but by the homosexual community as well. Many people think of bisexuality as a transition into becoming gay or as a denial of oneself being gay. This belief is damaging not only because it refuses to acknowledge that bisexuality exists, but it also restricts a person’s love and affection to only one gender (either same-sex or opposite) and it refuses to take into consideration that someone could be attracted to or love people of

In Diamond & Dickerson & Blair (2016) study, they examined the stability of sexual attraction across different timetables. They examined 294 heterosexuals, lesbian, gay,

The most obvious challenges I have faced living as a transgender male have been physical, but the hardest I have faced have not only been personal, but emotional. I have encountered countless overly personal inquisitions, questioning looks, and awkward introductions. Existing as a biological female for a large portion of my life imbued that period of time with many challenges. As a child, I fought passionately with my parents to shop in the “boys” section of the store, to play hockey and lacrosse, and to never step foot in a dress. I often wondered why other children would point and snicker at my choice of clothing. I even asked my distraught mother why I was “put in the wrong body” at the age of three. I had to grow up and not only learn, but understand and accept that I am not the same as everyone else. I had to come to terms with the fact that most people do not face the challenge of waking up every day and overcoming the feeling that something is fundamentally “off” that cannot truly be “fixed”. “Average” is a description I often longed to be labeled in the past, but over the years I have discovered that striving to be above average is the true key to success.