Hasbians, Lulzbians, and Being Fashionably Gay

[sucre]

There's this girl I know (she's thirteen) who was experimenting and was dating her best friend, also a girl. I'm all for experimenting with your sexuality, especially when you're still young, but the thing that got my attention was when she claimed to be bisexual. A month later, boom, she said she wasn't bi anymore, but a lesbian. Now, I don't know if it's the cynical "uh-huhhhhhh" that escaped my lips when I read her blog on it, or whether I'm just really insensitive to the vast spectrum that is sexuality, but I find it hard to believe that you can switch your sexuality as you go along with your life.

I've also been noticing this around a lot of my peers lately, mostly girls. It's like one second they're proclaiming how much they want to sleep with some guy and how big their crush is on him, and then... lesbians. So of course I can't help but wonder, "what the hell is up with this lesbian craze lately?"

tl;dr I know most people here aren't of my generation and might just call bull on it from not observing it, but do you think that sexuality is actually turning into a fashion statement or a call for attention amongst young teens? If so, do you think this trend is undermining the distress that bona fide LGBT teens feel? Or are they just acting out of naivete on their wanting to explore sexuality?

What do you think? Just curious.

[methodwriter85]

I went to a performing arts high school. Being bisexual for a girl was considered cool, because it made you seem open, hip, and open to whatever. But I remember this one girl complaining about how, when it came to most "bi" girls, they were fine with kissing but got screamish any further than that.

[Krista]

Bisexuality isn't as scary as homosexuality to tell, I guess. When a person comes more comfortable with their own sexuality, they will become less affected by what people say about it. I think that is what happens with some people who aren't really bisexual. As for switching on a whim or seemingly every day, I do believe that is an attention thing.

 

What it really does is annoy people, especially the true homosexual, bisexual, transgender - what ever people who have defended all their lives that it isn't a choice.

[Nephylim]

I agree with Krista that you can't 'lump them all together' At that age people are exploring the sexuality all the time. Also, as Krista says, saying you're bisexual is 'easier' than 'going all the way' to admitting you're gay. I think, therefore that sometimes people will say they're bisexual and then go on to acknowledge to themselves and others that they are, in fact, gay. It isn't a matter of choice it's a matter of courage, or even of a deeper understanding of what feelings mean and how they define themselves. Nothing is clear at that age and minds change all the time.

 

On the other hand I also think that being gay is becoming 'fashionable' in some circles and it can be another form of rebellion. I would hesitate to say that anyone says they're gay just because they want attention or are trying to be 'cool' or whatever; maybe they do but I think that even if that's the case they are still exploring, still questioning and not entirely sure about what they are and what they want to be.