Questioning your Sexuality?

We all know the ‘Q’ in LGBTQ+ stands for ‘Queer’… riiight? 🌈

SURPRISE! Not necessarily. ‘Q’ can also be used to stand for Questioning!

‘Questioning’ is a term that can be used to describe someone who is not sure about their sexual orientation, sexual identity or gender.

We’ve all experienced some kind of identity uncertainly at some point in our lives - partly due to societal norms creating a ‘standard’- but according to research 57% of people first questioned their sexuality and gender between the ages of 11 and 15.

Remember there is no one answer to who you are as a human being and it’s totally valid to feel unsure, whether that’s short term or just a part of you 🥰

You don’t owe anyone an explanation or a label ❤️

#LGBTQ #Questioning #Shorts

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[jennifers]

Love the freedom and space that the “label” of ‘questioning’ gives people.

[clamh]

I love that you referred to those aged between 11-15 as people. Sometimes, when talking about younger people, using the word child can make adults forget that children are also people.

[ellieisanerd]

It wasn't until I hit my 30s that I started questioning things. And part of it had to do with taking charge of my health and experiencing significant weightloss. It made me realize that maybe the reasons why I didn't date had less to do with being self-conscious, and more to do with being on the demi-sexual to asexual scale.

[lenaeospeixinhos]

Oh I had questions between 11 and 15, but the Internet wasn't a thing yet, so all the answers I got were wrong and bigoted. Now I'm in my 40s and I feel free to question and explore because thankfully I'm better informed and my country is fairly accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community.

[cambrierogers]

my friend is questioning right now and as the staple queer in the group i feel it is my duty to send this to her

[onyxblades]

I didn’t know ace was a thing until I was in my late 20s. Everyone thought I was just being a prude. And the thing is I could see people of different genders and think ‘oh pretty/handsome’ but wouldn’t feel what everyone told me attraction felt like. And the worse part is, is that when I tell people (family and the like), their response is ‘you haven’t found the right person’ well if that’s the case, move me down the spectrum to the demi flag, cause I was only a little off in figuring out my identity

[RyannJoyRule]

This is really lovely. It’s so easy to want to understand yourself perfectly all at once but questioning gives the space for curiosity, self love, and joy in the process.

[finchhawthorne]

Questioning is also used to explicitly include people who aren’t interested in sharing or don’t want to use a label. Even if questioning doesn’t specifically describe their situation.

[MarianahsTrenchGal]

That's what it stood for in my high school (this was in 2011-2015). There were signs all over the place about it being an LGBTQ+ safe space, and some of them had little informational bits at the bottom including what each letter stands for- but I was also on tumblr a lot during that time and I kept hearing ppl refer to the Q as Queer and I was like "well now idk what to think" 🤣

[juniperjonestown]

I tried to explain to a boy who wanted to date me in 8th grade that I didn’t want to because I was questioning my identity
(Id just gotten my hands on an lgbtq resource book after having been an “overzealous ally” as a child)

About a week later people I did not know were coming up to me asking if I was gay 🙃

I mean they ultimately weren’t exactly wrong but I would’ve liked to been able to figure that out on my own without being ostracized 😅😅

Thank you for all the content you post education and awareness are so vital for understanding and acceptance 💖💖

[isabellabrignola]

This is /such/ an important space. As someone who doesn't experience sexual attraction quickly and started questioning my sexuality around 18, it's such an important thing to be able to feel a part of the community without needing to pick a label. A) Gender and sexuality shift and change over time so it's natural to change and B) it offers people the stepping stone for those who aren't just "I've always known" or "Yeah I kissed X and then I knew" since those stories are nice but not helpful if you're unsure.

[tejaswoman]

Q for questioning also applies when we're talking about some of the efforts to reduce bullying, harassment, or discrimination. We all know there definitely are people who don't settle for harassing only the people who've made up their minds about their orientation or identity. They'll harass them just for not being sure.

[toastyideas]

Honestly like when you described questioning with the example i screamed on top of my lungs “THATS SO ME”

[PoeTeraToe]

I started as L then ended at G and T. Self-discovery is one hell of a process!

[kelofficialreal]

I've known I was trans for a long while, but even now, I question a lot of other parts of my sexuality. I'm still discovering new things about myself every day!

[Ziffelzoovop]

Just got through three years of questioning if I was trans or not. Turns out no but it was a big question that I really had to examine

[FanStoryVideoStudios]

Took me until college to realize I like women too, and wasn’t until VERY recently (late 20s) that I realized I may be nonbinary!

[m.k.]

For me Queer always kind of meant Questioning...
I know for certain that I'm a sapphic woman, but I'm not sure whether or not I liked men, so I always just labeled myself as queer bc I wasn't sure if I was gay or bi

[freakygardener]

What frustrates me is, people think my choice of clothing, automatically means I "must be gay"! Just because I like the comfort of wearing skirts, doesn't make me gay!

[BebbaDubbs]

I started questioning and moved to Queer ❤