Blind people reveal how they knew they were gay
You often hear about “love at first sight.” But what is that experience like for people who can’t see? So much of sexual attraction is bound up with the visual and aesthetic in our culture that some people struggle to comprehend how blind people know they are gay.
A recent Reddit thread asks blind, gay users to share how they discovered their sexualities. It offered up a fascinating mix of stories from Redditors who were blind from birth or became blind later in life.
“I’ve been blind since birth,” Reddit user hank_scorpio_123 says, “and extremely gay.” He describes being gay and blind as: “You know when you see someone and are attracted to them? It’s kind of like that but I can’t see.”
Reddit user RedzandBluez explains, “When I was 11 or 12, I didn’t really understand the difference between boys and girls. To me, they were the same except that men turned me on and women didn’t. I did not know about body parts (breasts, vagina, penis, etc.) and yet, I was attracted to my same sex. Because of my unique situation, I can tell you that being gay is not a choice.”
He adds: “When I meet someone, what I go by is their voice, their smell, their kindness, and their willingness to help me when needed.”
User commanderzilyana concurs. For him, it’s all about the sound of a guy’s voice. “I hear the voices of guys and it just sounds attractive to me,” he writes. “Even though I can’t ‘see’ them physically mentally I can picture how they look.”
The same goes for rkingett, who writes: “I can’t tell you anything other than, well, when I hear a man’s voice I like, I get an erection. I don’t know how else to explain it other than that. I just knew I never found women sexually attractive, like at all.”
He added: “In all other aspects, this question is stupid to be honest. It’s almost like people have never masturbated or had sexual daydreams before. That’s how I knew what sex I was attracted to because I found the idea of a male body, male voice, male hair, sexually arousing.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s a cultural trope that most people (men and women, gay and straight) prefer to close their eyes while kissing and turn the lights down (or even off) during sex,” User easwaran writes. “We might think we’re all about visuals, but actually when it comes down to it, there’s a lot more going on that we often don’t think about.”
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9 Comments
ambivalentone
June 07, 08:45I av never bin blind, but who hears a voice of Vin Diesel like quality and doesn’t froth in the nyash? Who bumps into hard, pliant muscle and doesn’t feel weak? Imagine if u now av eyes to see male specimens of perfection…Biko, I was born gay abeg
Pink Panther
June 07, 08:53Preacheet!!!
naijatgal
June 07, 09:36This is beautiful….just think about it, would God have made LGBTQI people if He had a human mind? No!
God is beyond the comprehension of a mere mortal and His creations are all deliberately made.
I feel love and attraction is God’s own way of giving us a tiny glimpse of what heaven feels like. For humanity to find its way again, we all need to accept the beauty of our differences and try to understand them.
Khaleesi
June 07, 10:02Wow, if anyone ever opens his mouth to assert that being gay is a choice, show him this Reditt thread right before you give him/her a resounding slap!
Pink Panther
June 07, 10:09I swear!
BRYAN PETERS
June 07, 20:28Wow. Real nice
beejay
June 07, 21:45This IS perspective!
doe eyed monster
June 13, 05:45Never wondered what it felt like to be blind and gay.. ..Kitodiaries keeps teaching.
Pink Panther
June 13, 05:46???