How Using Dating Apps After Coming Out as a Bisexual Woman Helped Me Gain Confidence
Apprehensively, I logged onto three apps: Bumble, HER (a woman-centered dating app), and Lex (a queer-focused dating and connection app for LGBTQ+ folks). On each of the apps, I turned my settings to “everyone:” women, men, and nonbinary folks, who were all of different orientations themselves. I was excited to interact with folks who shared a queer identity. Within the first few months I used the apps, I matched with about 30 people, including cis-gender men, who were mostly heterosexual; cis-gender women, who were bisexual, lesbian, and pansexual; and nonbinary people, some of whom told me they were pansexual.
I found value in learning about myself and others who share my sexuality or simply have experience dating other queer people. Ultimately, as a result of using dating apps as a bisexual woman so soon after coming out, I was able to feel more confident in my identity. In fact, I wondered what took me so long.
My journey to use dating apps as a bisexual woman
While I’d had sexual encounters with women before coming out and going on dating apps as a bisexual woman, I can’t actually say that I “dated” them. To me, dating someone means considering what you envision for the future, or what you like about each other, among other things. That wasn’t happening when I had sex with women before I came out as bi, because I wasn’t even comfortable stepping into that label for myself.
It also bears mentioning that I’d never been on a dating app period before coming out, so my first experience with them was as an openly bisexual woman. Previously, the extent of my relationship to dating apps was knowing that they existed and that my friends more often found unideal dates than enduring partnerships on them.Leggi tutto »How Using Dating Apps After Coming Out as a Bisexual Woman Helped Me Gain Confidence
