
As always, this comic is the briefest of introductions to the concept of what attraction can be, the different ways it can manifest, and how one can label it— and there are many different points of view out there! There’s so much more to learn about attraction, sexual orientation, identity labels, relationship models, and, you know. Like. Everything.
It’s a big, wide Internet, here’s a few resources to get you started:
► Attraction (Sexual, Romantic, Sensual, Aesthetic) on AVENwiki
► Romantic Orientation (including Romantic identities) on Wikipedia
► What Are Different Types Of Attraction? on BetterHelp
► Untangling a Gender, Attraction and Relationships Tangle on Scarleteen
► Hey Hot Stuff: On Attraction, Desirability, and “Types” on Scarleteen
► Just the Basics, Ace: An Asexuality Primer on Scarleteen
ALSO. This point didn’t make it into the comic, but it’s the first example I bring up when I hear about someone’s bi/pan/queer sexuality being dismissed because they don’t have equal experience with the various genders:
When a virgin cisgender teenage boy who’s never even asked a girl out yet says that he’s straight, nobody’s like “You haven’t been with a girl yet, so I don’t really believe you. You’re confused or you want attention or you want to fit in with the cool kids or you just don’t even know what you actually want.” No! They’re just like “Ok.” and they don’t give it a second thought.
And yet, when people say they are attracted to more than one gender but they haven’t had any experience with those other types of folks, it’s fairly common they’ll get that incredulous, dismissive reaction– even from other members under the queer umbrella. There’s this air of “Prove it.” from the monosexuals.
Which is a long way of saying: If folks are willing to take a self-proclaimed straight boy at his word that he’s attracted to girls even if he has no experience with them, it’d be super cool if people would extend that courtesy of belief to all the inexperienced queer population too.
Which was still a long way of saying: DUDE, JUST BE COOL ABOUT BISEXUALS!
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