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Tuesday 31 August 2010

The lures of the feminine- bloomin' quests

Recently, I've been feeling like I've been having the tiniest bit of sexual attraction to women. I tend to over-minimise my attraction on this blog, so 'tiny' tends to mean 'minor'. In this case, it means 'less than tiny'. It's not even got to the stage of being sexual attraction yet, it's like... increased responsiveness. Like before, I went looking for the bit of my brain that stores my gynophilia and there was just a wall there. Now, the room is still empty, but the wall has disappeared. There's a room in my brain that I've never been into before, waiting to be filled up.

I use this metaphor because that's what it feels like when this feeling strikes. It's that physical sensation when you open a door in pitch black, and somehow, you can sense the open space in front of you.

And I've been thinking about why this is, and what this means. Neither are easy to answer. Neither, I know, are strictly neccesary to answer, sexuality can be what it is without cause. But I think it's useful to look deeper.

When I was younger, I used to think that girls were off-limits. I used to surpress any proto-feelings I developed for girls, and encouraged the ones for boys, because I've been raised in a culture where heterosexuality is destructive. Where it is a metaphor for destruction heaped on the female by the male. Fires which, as they kiss, consume.

I've been going on a bit of a journey on that front, recently. I'll write about it when I have time. Knowing internally what I knew academically- that heterosexuality isn't wrong. Giving myself permission to feel things. When I do, now, it's interesting, exciting, not shameful or confusing. I feel like I'm on a new, a wholesome, adventure. And that could be the reason for my feeling of newfound space.

Also, and I'm less sure about this one, I've hinted before that my attraction to men may be as much about who I want to be as who I want to be with. Now I've come to the horrific realisation that I'm moderately attractive, I feel like that whole issue is coming to a close, and leaving me more mentally healthy.


So, it appears I have a flexible sexuality. And, what's more, it appears that my sexuality is often tied into whatever issues I'm dealing with at the moment. So, here I am, the perfect example of a late bloomer who deals with repression to fully accept themselves and suddenly open new vistas of sexuality. Yes?

Well, no, not really. The important take-away message I have about asexuality and flexibility here is that it really works both ways. As someone like me goes on a journey, their sexuality will change to reflect that journey, in subtle and unexpected ways. All too often, in our society, coming into a sexuality is seen as maturity, openness, a good end goal. But coming into asexuality, a restriction of sexuality, can be just as much of an emotional blossoming. It can stand for maturity, contentment, refinement of personal knowledge. So there is such a thing as a late bloomer. Right now, I feel like I'm blooming quite a lot. But asexuality is just as much a bloom as sexuality.

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