I’m a bisexual woman, but I have struggled with internalized homophobia for years.
Here, I unpack expert strategies to rise above it.
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Amy asks Rosa how long shes known shes bisexual, to which Rosa responds: Since the seventh grade.
I was watchingSaved by the Belland I thought, Zack Morris is hot.
And then I thought, Lisa Turtlealso hot.
Nancy Paloma Collins, LMFT, is a therapist who specializes in working with the LGBTQ+ community.
Ronnie Veliz, MSW, is a community organizer and clinical social worker based in the San Fernando Valley.
(It would be years before I learned that there are anumber of gender identitiesandforms of sexuality.)
I thought,Gordo?
Also cute!Frankly, those feelings scared the living crap out of me out at the time.
Comments like that are what made me tremble for years at the thought of coming out to them.
What is internalized homophobia?
As is often the case withimplicit biases, many of us arent even aware that weve internalized homophobic attitudes.
(Examples like the aforementioned scene inBrooklyn Nine-Nineshould be normal, not noteworthy.)
Ultimately, so you can unpack and overcome internalized homophobia, introspection and reflection are key.
Nancy Paloma Collins, LMFT, is a therapist who specializes in working with the LGBTQ+ community.
Furthermore, it can mean different things.
3 strategies for unpacking my internalized homophobia and celebrating my bisexual identity
1.
Thats because the process allows me to replace the sentiments with new, real-life experiences.
Youll end up with a man, though!
Youre just trying to be edgy!
I realized that the more I heard those things, the more I started believing them for myself.
(Why do they have to show that?)
That didnt necessarily make me feel like theyd be proud of me for being bisexual.
All of us who are in the community, at some pointwe question ourselves, says Collins.
Im still working on externally celebrating my sexuality with everyone in my life.
But personally accepting it is becoming easier as I unravel the internalized homophobia Ive clung to for so long.
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