8

I have no idea about when I first heard the words gay or bisexual – or woman – but I think I started considering myself gender nonconforming when I heard one of my friends describe herself that way in college.

 

I usually describe myself as gay because I identify most strongly, sexuality and gender-wise, with being attracted to women, and I usually use it just to describe my attraction to women. However, I sometimes see discourse about whether or not gay is an umbrella term, or whether bisexual people can describe themselves as lesbian – which I don't think is exactly the same thing – which makes me worry about the way I use both gay and bisexual to describe myself.

 

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Have you ever followed a stranger or ‘internet personality’ online?

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Yes, I follow a lot of strangers on Instagram and Twitter.

 

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Any who you believed to be LGBTQ+?

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Yes, many of the strangers I follow are LGBTQ+ and post about it.

 

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Have you ever interacted with a stranger online?

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This week, I joined a zoom co-working session with a Tumblr user who I follow but don't know. I didn't really want to be perceived, I just wanted to see other people doing work so I would be

motivated to do my own work. When I was in high school, I sometimes talked and played video games with friends – who we didn't know in person – of an in-person friend. I wanted to be

perceived as fitting in with the group; I think we were all in high school.

 

Have you ever had what you would consider to be ‘internet friends’?

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The friends of a friend who I played video games with in high school were internet friends. I also had internet friends on an Animal Crossing forum when I was in elementary/middle school.

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My video game friends always felt kind of scary, because they were mostly guys and I didn't really know who they were or why they were friends with me or our mutual friend. I'm no longer in contact with any of these people.