Talking About Your Sexuality

You may be feeling as though you are the only person having these thoughts and feelings but rest assured that everyone goes through this time. Your sexuality is a personal matter - it will shape your life and being true to yourself will contribute enormously to your happiness.

Whether you are definitely gay or straight, or totally confused, your teen years are an exciting, stressful and thoroughly difficult time for your emotions.

Someone to Talk to

If you have an open, honest relationship with your mum or dad, by all means talk to them about how you feel, but it may be easier to talk to a teacher, an older brother or sister or even your GP if you do not have someone you are comfortable with. You will be surprised at how understanding someone you trust will be.

Before you decide to talk to someone, no doubt you will have had many hours by yourself thinking about how you feel. You may be confused about what it is you are feeling for different people or what is the difference between having strong feelings for someone and wanting them to be your girlfriend or boyfriend.

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What Type of Family do you have?

How easy or hard you find it to talk about may be down to how comfortable your family are with talking about sensitive subjects. If you have been brought up in an open family where thoughts and feeling are encouraged, you could ask for their advice, or at least know that they will be happy to talk to you when you feel more sure of your sexuality.

If your family is more likely to be embarrassed, dismissive or even disapproving of your feelings, you can look for support elsewhere. When you feel more secure in your sexuality, it may be that you are determined to make sure your parents are aware of the 'real' you, so you could feel as though you are not able to be yourself at home for a while - you will need to decide if that is something you can accept.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Your Friends May Feel the Same

Talking to your friends can be easier in some ways - they may have their own internal confusion and be happy that you had the guts to bring up a difficult subject. It can also be tricky though because teenagers can either love or hate being different and may not want to stand out.

Rural or Urban?

Your location can also make a difference with how comfortable you are with learning about, talking about and experiencing your sexuality. If you are in a large, multi-cultural city you will have better access to clubs and support groups. In a small, more rural town you may feel as though you 'stick out' more if you dress differently or that you cannot experiment without everyone knowing about it.

The ultimate piece of advice would be that you are totally entitled to feel however you want - it will not be easy to discover and discuss your sexuality, but you must make sure that you are true to yourself and live your life in an honest way.

The Next Step

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