Scarleteen

I'm sorry, but could someone just reassure me real quick that lesbian sex (and enjoying watching or reading about two women having sex while I masturbate) is definitely okay and not a sin? I just need to hear someone say it so I don't ever feel guilty about it. Those guilty thoughts and feelings about it have been hard to completely eradicate.

I think you guys have answered all the questions I have about masturbation and sex, at least for now, and it's really helping me to just enjoy and explore my sexuality. Thank you so much again for helping me. I really appreciate it!

Hi FullofQuestions,

I certainly don't consider it a sin, and no one else here does either. For me, the diversity of human sexuality and sexual behavior, including things being queer, isn't something bad or sinful, it's just a demonstration of all the different ways a human can be. I actually really, really like how Hannah Boning breaks down the conversation around sin and sexuality in this piece: https://www.scarleteen.com/article/poli ... uality_sin

Thank you so much! That is so very helpful. And I completely agree with you! It's just hard to completely let go of the shame surrounding those religious teachings I had growing up, even if I've since decided I don't agree with them and am trying really hard not to let myself feel any shame.

Your kind words and affirmation mean a lot to me! I'll keep reminding myself of them. And thank you for the article! I will read it as soon as I can. I really appreciate you, Sam!!

I'm glad I could help!

Hi, Sam! Could we talk a little more about this? Thank you so much for the article! I never thought of sin this way before, but it makes total sense to me. I was also reading that homosexual behavior is also very common among some other mammals. If that's true, then how could sex between two women be a sin? Animals can't sin, so it would just be the way God made them. Do you think that's right?

If so, that would be yet another reason to make me feel better about my body's desires, no? I consider myself heterosexual. But, when I masturbate, it's sex between two women that really turns me on. It's just what feels right and natural to me when I masturbate. When I first started watching sexual media, and I watched two women have sex for the first time, it was like my body and my penis and my brain were all saying "Ah, yes! This is what feels good to us!" So I suppose I should just relax about the whole thing and let myself enjoy it, right?

Yep, I'm a pretty firm believer that the fact we see same-sex behavior in animals is a good counterpoint to arguments that try to frame it as "unnatural." But I'm also someone who thinks that even if humans were the only animals to do it, that would still be fine; we do a lot of things other animals don't without that being a sign of anything being morally wrong with that behavior.

If you haven't seen it before, I'd actually check out Queer Grace. It's a resource that goes really in-depth in terms of talking about how Christian religious texts can, and do, affirm queer and trans people: http://queergrace.com/

Thank you, Sam! This conversation has actually been really helpful. It's like a switch has flipped inside my head, and I feel completely at peace about this now. That peace feels so good, it almost makes me want to cry with relief. I'll check out that resource, too.

And thank you so much again. You're the best.