shawn9

I haven't replied to this thread yet - was curious what other people thought. For me, the curious fact here is that one of the straight women interviewed flat out admits that she's had gender identity issues. There is a major difference between straight women who use gay fiction as a method for erotic exploration versus those who use it as a means for dealing with gender identity issues. It sounds like one of the author's interviewed really doesn't identify as a straight woman, even if she's decided to live her life that way, simply because she's forced to make a binary choice. Maybe it's because I'm from a generation in which gay is 'ordinary' whereas trans is off the radar, but it absolutely never occurred to me the extent to which my own involvement in gay fiction, erotica, or porn (no, not here - haha) had to do with gender identity. I used fiction as a means of creating characters and storylines that better reflected my own personal thoughts and feelings. And what's interesting is that my SO read some stuff I wrote - stuff that I never shared here or elsewhere - and in the back of his mind, he thought "There is no way a straight woman would know these things or have these thoughts or feelings. This could only come from a gay male mind." Except....he didn't tell me at the time. I figured that this WAS something normal for straight women. And I never thought about the fact that I'd had a fictitious parallel universe running in my head since I was 12 in which the primary figures were always male & switched from heterosexual interests to homosexual interests when I was about 17 or so, the time when my own orientation became more clearly defined to me. What is funny now is I realize how much the same stuff bugs me that bothers others who have posted above. The "female with a penis" character annoys the ever-loving-snot out of me too, and I've never been into stories like that either.

Jules is 22??? I'm old. Happy birthday!

This is a timely subject for me. I was online here for a decent chunk of time. Very involved. I was always honest with everyone about who I was, but I maintained my anonymity and privacy. I feel bad that I left it all behind me, to the point where I lost all touch with everyone around here on a moment's notice. Now, I'm back. Everything I said then was true. Everything I say now is true. I'm the same me, but I'm different. My nickname has changed. My life has changed and is continuing to change. I feel stupid for getting to this place in my life so late in life. Yet all the time I spent here prepared me for this as well. And I'm the same old me. Heh. Bottom line: You can't be REAL to everyone online until you're REAL to yourself.

Hola, I'm new here. Except I'm not. I'm kinda old. Haven't been 'round in a long time though. I lurked for a while. Then I delurked without saying who I was. For a long while. Then I left without saying goodbye. Now, I'm back and better than ever. Looking forward to catch up with old online friends and making new ones. Shawn