I wonder about this - to what extent does it make sense to predicate
any determinate sexual orientation of a 2-year-old, for example? To be
able at 7 to recognise in oneself a structure of feeling that
corresponds to what one understands, at 7, of being gay, or straight,
or bi, or (etc.) seems at least precocious. But then maybe the gay
7-year-old has more reason to know, is already aware that their own
structure of feeling doesn't correspond to that expected and
reinforced by the heteronormative culture all around them.
I could have done with knowing at 7 that there were such people as
aspies, that I wasn't uniquely but rather somewhat stereotypically
odd. But then it would have been very hurtful to have learned that
there were such people as aspies and that they were (in the eyes of
all normal, decent people) immoral, perverted, diseased, laughable and
disgusting. I guess that old enough to be interpellated by the
stereotype is old enough to be both consoled and wounded by it.
Dominic
|