Hello

Hello! So, this is the place us newbies come to introduce ourselves, is it? Well, then, here goes.

I'm not really sure what to say, or how much, so I'll keep it brief. I'm 17, studying for my AS levels in England, female, and would veeeerry tentatively describe my sexuality as heavily closeted bisexuality. I think, anyway.

To cut a quite long, a little bit sad story short, I tried to come out when I was thirteen/fourteen, and actually even more confused than I am now. I'd never heard of bisexuality, but told my mum I thought I might be a lesbian. She told me I wasn't. It wouldn't be a problem if I was, I was told, but I wasn't so it didn't matter. She also told me not to tell my friends, which I ignored - being the naive fool I once was - and they had pretty much the same response, except plus their sudden issues with being in the same changing room as me at school.

I...un-came-out, if that's the word, a few weeks later, and never brought it up again. Eventually everyone seemed to either believe me or forget about it, thank god. Nowadays I'd like to think that my friends would be more understanding, being older as they are, but my best friend's made the classic 'bisexuals are greedy' joke at least once quite recently, and I'm worried about losing the friendships I have if they find out. Another girl in my year, and a friend of mine, came out as bisexual herself a few years ago, and most of my friends either said she wasn't really bisexual, she 'couldn't get a man' (hence she had a girlfriend) or her girlfriend wasn't real and she was just pretending for attention. I've thought about coming out *to* the bisexual girl, as she'd be more likely to understand, but she's since moved away and we've hardly spoken. Plus I worry she might think I'm either coming onto her or that I'm just trying to 'copy' her or something.

And, wow, that was actually a lot longer and more whiny than I'd thought it'd be. Anyhow, lovely to meet you all!