sexuality

There’s nothing worse than taking a pregnancy test when you don’t want to be pregnant.

It’s especially bad when you don’t know who the father is.

Last year, this is the exact situation I found myself in: 23, single, not on contraception, and with a late period. I was nothing short of panicked.

After finding the least expensive test that CVS carried (by the way, can we talk about how expensive pregnancy tests are?!), I went home to find out my fate. After locking myself in the bathroom, I turned the shower on to drown out the noise of my thoughts. I waited five minutes and then peered at the stick, leaning as far away from the sink as possible in case it showed two lines.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw one clear line on the screen.

I quickly tossed the test in the trash, turned off the shower, and hopped in bed with a bottle of cabernet.

I don’t know how long it will be before I stop allowing others' fears of sexuality as a black woman from affecting my views on sex.

Lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer, biromantic, gay – these are all terms which could apply to me. You’ll find though, that people usually only want you to choose one.

[CN: ageism, sexism] What kind of screwed-up culture do we live in where young girls are considered to be sexual beings, but women over 40 are “too old” to be desirable?

I came out to my straight friend first. I went for the old classic. "So, have I told you I’ve been thinking about coming out? Like in a gay way?"