Hello,
I'm a male teenager getting ready to head off to college, and recently I've been questioning my sexuality. Throughout puberty and early high school, I always assumed I was straight, but for the last year and a half or so, I've started to become sexually attracted to men. I understand that I should not feel compelled to pin down my sexuality at this time in my life and that with time my feelings may explain themselves more fully. But, I've noticed some peculiarities in my personal attractions, and I'm hoping you can shed some light onto them.
Judging from my usually homosexual fantasies and simple observations of others in everyday life, I would definitely say that right now I tend to find males more sexually attractive than females. However, when I think about affection and the emotional components of love, I almost always think of a relationship with a woman. Is this easily explained?
Also, I've been a little bothered by statements that gay people often notice in their childhood that they and the attractions they experience are somehow different. This doesn't fit me very well; as far as I can remember, I was pretty typical in this department, what with fourth grade crushes, stealing Victoria's Secret catalogues, etc. Admittedly, now that I think about it, I can recall a small number of instances (before the age of, say, 10) of noticing attractive boys/young men - but I wouldn't say that this was something that dictated my feelings on a consistent basis (again, at least as far as I can remember).
And, finally, a tangential question about the common advice given to questioning teens - that of being patient for one's sexuality to reveal itself... does this mean not having any romantic/sexual interaction with either gender until being at least fairly confident about one's sexual orientation?
Thanks for any help you can offer.