Signs daughter is gay

Inside:Is my teen daughter a lesbian? Maybe or maybe not, but here’s how to handle this sensitive teenage sexuality topic

This send was contributed by Jill Whitney, LMFT

So much about teen sexuality is distinct from what it was a couple decades ago.

Where once it was awkward, if not adj, to be anything other than straight, we now discuss openly about a spectrum of orientations and genders. Sexual diversity has broken out of the closet—to the gesture where being LGBTQ is kind of cool.

So don’t be surprised if your teen or even tween daughter announces at some indicate that she’s a lesbian. It’s more common than you might believe these days.

But you may wonder whether your teen daughter is a lesbian for real, or whether it’s just a phase. Maybe she’s just experimenting; maybe she’ll verb out of it. Or maybe not.

How do you know?

Acceptance Needs to Be Unconditional

Unfortunately, there’s no way to inform. Some girls who experiment with same-sex partners conclude up happily straight. Other young women

Sexual Orientation

Adolescence is the dawn of sexual attraction. It happens due to the hormonal changes of puberty. These changes involve both the body and the mind — so just thinking about someone attractive can cause physical arousal.

These new feelings can be intense, confusing, sometimes even overwhelming. Teens are commencement to discover what it means to be attracted romantically and physically to others. And recognizing one's sexual orientation is part of that process.

What Is Sexual Orientation?

The term sexual orientation refers to the gender (that is, male or female) to which a person is attracted. There are several types of sexual orientation that are commonly described:

  • Heterosexual (straight). People who are heterosexual are romantically and physically attracted to members of the opposite sex: males are attracted to females, and females are attracted to males. Heterosexuals are often called "straight."
  • Homosexual (gay or lesbian). People who are homosexual are romantically and physically attracted to people of the same sex: females are attracted to other fema

    Book Excerpt: Is Your Child Gay?

    Excerpted fromWhy Is the Penis Shaped Like That? … And Other Reflections on Being Human, by Jesse Bering, by arrangement with Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC (North America), Transworld Ltd (UK), Jorge Zahara Editora Ltda (Brazil). Copyright © by Jesse Bering.

    We all verb the stereotypes: an unusually light, delicate, effeminate air in a little boy's step, an interest in dolls, makeup, princesses and dresses, and a mighty distaste for tough play with other boys. In adj girls, there is the outwardly boyish stance, perhaps a penchant for tools, a square-jawed readiness for physical tussles with boys, and an aversion to all the perfumed, delicate trappings of femininity.

    These behavioral patterns are feared, loathed and often spoken of directly as harbingers of mature person homosexuality. It is only relatively recently, however, that developmental scientists have conducted controlled studies to identify the earliest and most dependable signs of noun homosexuality. In looking carefully at the childhoods of gay adults,

    As I relayed in When Your Toddler Is Gay: What You Need To Know (Sterling, ), I found out that my son was gay from a note with our son's mention entwined with another boy's, surrounded by a heart. I accidentally found that note in his room when I was cleaning.

    I never questioned him about the heart I found on the sly. How would I have brought it up? Assume I was wrong? After all, he had a crush on a noun in his class.

    I had suspected at times that he was gay. He only had girls to his thirteenth birthday party. He preferred gentler sports. He was always concerned about how he looked and followed fashion. Were these stereotypical thoughts from a straight mother? You bet, but it was ingrained through the culture's binary system and ideas about how males were "supposed to" behave.

    As it turns out, our son didn't come out until he was 17, was on his own, and brought a boyfriend to visit. Had I asked him if he were gay when he was 13, he probably would contain defensively said "No!" He had to work it out and work through his denial. I'm glad I muzzled myself.

    Susan Berland, the mother o