Alright
@bird.is.the.word , one last ditch attempt to cross the aisle:
I grew up in a very conservative culture. The only options I knew about were "straight" and "going to hell/gay".
Around the age of 11, like most kids, I started having crushes. I would have crushes on boys and girls. This confused me deeply, because I didn't know that bisexuality was even an option. I never identified as gay, but I sure spent a lot of sleepless nights praying to god to "keep me straight".
I learned about bisexuality at the age 15, and it still took another 8 or so years before I openly identified as such. Not because I doubted my sexuality: I clearly liked both, but because I was afraid for (violent) backlash from my highly conservative religious family and their community.
Had you polled me in primary school, high school or university, I would have self-reported as straight. Ask me now, and I will openly identify as bi.
Does this mean that I was straight for the first 23+ years of my life?
Of course not: I was just 'hiding' in the straight statistic.
The same would apply if I was born a 100 years ago, when 'deviant girls' could expect a trip to the looney bin for corrective electroshock therapy. You can bet your ass I would have shut the fuck up about it and self-reported as "straight" my whole life.
Had I been born in the newest generation, I probably would have identified as bi from my first few crushes on (age 11+).
LGBTQ awareness did not cause my bisexuality: it caused me to come out about it. I was always bi, even when I was hiding in the straight statistic. The more open society is, the earlier I would have identified as my
actual correct demographic.
I am only statistically 'visible' now, because it is safe to do so.
Does this make sense to you in anyway, or does it come off as gibberish to you?