Homophobia"How do same-sex attracted children work? That seems dodgy." and more - r/transgenderUK ponders the existence of same-sex attraction

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[–]Q-Continuum-kin 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I can only comment on my memories as a child but I did not know I was gay or same sex attracted until much later. Before puberty I used to imagine myself "growing up" into heterosexual relationships.

The oldest memory I have of SOME same sex attraction is being at summer camp and there was a changing room for swimming in the lake. I was young but an older boy was in there getting changed. I didn't realize what it was but I became really infatuated with his form. As a kid i understood this to mean I wanted my body to look like his.

The post you are linking to is acting like babies are born being sexually attracted to people... Like no you need to develop most likely after puberty starts.

[–]MarkJeffersonTight defenses and we draw the line 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

How do same-sex attracted children work? That seems dodgy.

They sound like a clueless and even kinda conspiratorial straight person to me, who views same-sex attraction as some paraphilia caused by childhood trauma or something- hence the "dodgy" comment. Surprise- embracing the trans identity didn't make them more understanding of "queerness" or whatnot. They just increased their social clout but stayed just as ignorant and closeminded as your average homophobe who at least doesn't pretend to be so open-minded and enlightened.

In reality, same-sex attraction is as you have experienced yourself. Developing at very similar times in life to opposite-sex attraction with parallel movements and emotions, but still subject to irrational fear and stigma from society as if it was simply a product of corrupt socialization.

[–]Q-Continuum-kin 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I, myself didn't really fear homosexuality as a child in such a way to drive me away from it. It was more like I had a default expectation that I would be "normal" and didn't comprehend that i wasn't until much later. The social default was straight male grow up have 2.5 children etc... I grew up in the 80s so internet technically existed but no one had it. The first time I had internet in my house was by having my computer dial into my high school and it was text based. So to be gay I had to migrate through to the other side of even comprehending what sexuality was.

This is why transgenderism is so absolutely different. They only exist by taking on a social stereotype of something they know exist. Gays can live in a 100% hetero society and then still come out with the same conclusion. Like if you put a gay person into a hypothetical society where only straight people existed they would still realize they were gay in some aspect. If you were to take a transgender person and have them grow up in a hypothetical society where only 1 sex exists, there is absolutely no chance they spontaneously start thinking they are an opposite sex.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I don't recall having any sexual feelings as a child, but I remember being smitten with certain female characters in shows or other media in a way that I just wasn't with boys. I would just watch those shows and play those video games over and over without knowing why, lol. All I knew was that I liked to look at them (certain girls/women). edit: I'm trying to put words to this... but it was a very un-thinking experience. They made me happy. It was simple.

There were certain male characters I idolized but it felt different; I want to be them, and wished I could get the same kind of adoring attention from girls that they seemed to get.

(Those may seem like obvious signs of same-sex attraction in retrospect, lol, but my (then-nonsexual) same-sex attraction was absolutely not obvious to me when I was a child.)