Meagan, 18, knew she was bisexual at a young age but she didn’t expect to find out her mum is bisexual too.
For as long as I can remember, my mum has always been a confident and outgoing person. She would walk up to female strangers and give them compliments, telling them how ‘lovely’ they looked. She was always doing these kinds of things, always so open and friendly.
Then when I was 15 she sat me down and told me she was bisexual. The moment she told me, it was like everything in my life just clicked. Suddenly her actions towards women, both friends and strangers, made perfect sense. It took a while for it to sink in, but I’m glad my mum could be honest with me about who she is and how she feels. The weird thing is, no one could have understood her better than me because at that stage I knew I was bisexual too.
Like any normal teenager, I started to become attracted to guys in high school. But one day I looked at a gorgeous girl and was immediately attracted to her. I would have been 14 at that stage but realising I was bisexual was a gradual thing. Being a bisexual was not something I planned, but something I can’t help but feel. It’s not something you choose, but something that chooses you.
My mum wasn’t surprised when I told her I was bisexual too. She knows me better than I know myself, and saw the signs before I did. She noticed the way I would act around girls was similar to how she acts. At first I thought it was kind of weird. I wondered what people would think about both my mum and I being bisexual, but generally people only find out if I tell them.
Since I came out, I have lost a couple of girl friends who didn’t like that I was bisexual. Those girls are actually lesbians, and even though they are not straight either, they didn’t believe you can be attracted to both guys and girls. To them, you’re attracted to either one or the other, not both. It was a tricky situation but I’m not going to hide who I am just because they don’t like it.
My mum and I are both in relationships with men right now, but we have both dated women in the past. I’ve been with my boyfriend for about two years and when I first told him about my bisexuality he was fine with it. Occasionally my boyfriend will say “you shouldn’t be looking at girls, that’s my job”, but it’s not a big issue in our relationship.
Today, more and more teenagers are experimenting with their sexuality, and sometimes they only do it to rebel or to stand out from the crowd. This can annoy me sometimes because bisexuality isn’t something I’m doing to be cool.
Being bisexual can sometimes be confronting for others but it’s something you can’t help, just like the colour of your skin and the size of your feet. I am a bisexual, and I will never shy away from that.
