Scarleteen

So my 6th grade year of middle school I got a girlfriend and felt my attraction to women, now I'm a sophomore in high school and feel unsure about my sexuality. I call myself bisexual but can't fully picture myself with a girl in longterm. I see myself with men, I am super attracted to men, but can't get over girls. I've also had a ton of gender dysphoria and don't know what to do about it. I just want to understand who I am. I want to be comfortable in my own skin.

Hi CryptidLoser24 ,

Feeling unsure about your sexual orientation and gender identity can be stressful, so let's see if we can untangle some of what you're feeling so that it's less so!

With your sexual orientation, it may help to know that lot's of bi folks experience attraction to different genders in different ways, rather than feeling exactly the same way about all of them. So if bi feels like the right term for you right now, you can absolutely use it. If it still feels "off" somehow, have you thought about describing yourself as pansexual or queer? Or do those terms not quite fit?

When it comes to the gender dysphoria you're feeling, are there things--like dressing differently or using different pronouns--that you think might alleviate some of it? And are there spaces in your day to day life where you'd feel comfortable exploring your gender identity?

Um... I don't know really. I'll try using different pronouns or maybe a different sexuality term after I do some research. Hopefully it'll help me figure stuff out. Thanks for answering and I'll try to share results next week.

Those both sound like great starting places! If you want some more ideas, including ones that you can do fairly privately, check out these pieces of our Trans Summer School: Trans Summer School: So I Think I Might Be Trans. Now What?, Trans Summer School: Gender Expression Gear. You may also find this workbook really helpful: https://dochub.com/mistybonta/bDa8NX3Rd ... GyQiKfKo2k.