The bedroom door needs to be closed, but everyone needs to know what’s going on in there…

… of course, this concerns the “juicy” information about people’s sexual lives. The topic of sex, while primarily a human biological need, has become something that concerns the entire society, often in terms of control: with whom, how often, and for what purpose. If someone deviates from what is considered socially acceptable, they are usually marginalized or stigmatized.

“Since adolescence, I realized I probably have different sexual preferences, but I didn’t dare to admit it even to myself, as it’s not acceptable where I come from.” A., 20 years old

Sexuality is an integral part of human existence. It is a biological need that associates with the satisfaction of other basic needs, such as the desire for emotional expression, intimacy, pleasure, and love. It contains dimensions such as gender (biological or social) and its expression, sexual orientation, emotional connection and love, complementary to reproduction. It is expressed through thoughts, fantasies, desires, life attitudes, and values that guide the individual, as well as activities, practices, and ways of relating to others. Sexuality, like other aspects of a person’s personality, is the result of the interaction of biological, psychological, socio-economic, cultural, ethical, and religious/spiritual factors, and it is not stable but evolves as the individual matures.

“Since adolescence, I had heterosexual relationships, but lately, I have noticed an increase in fantasies about people of the same sex.” K., 24 years old

The fact that discussions about sex are often considered taboo allows various misconceptions about the subject to persist. One of these issues is the confusion of sexual orientation with gender identity, which refers to two different but interconnected topics. Gender identity concerns an individual’s self-identification regarding their gender, which regulates how the person expresses themselves. Sexual orientation refers to the romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction of a person to a specific gender. The most common expressions of sexual orientation are heterosexuality (attraction to the opposite sex), homosexuality (attraction to the same sex), bisexuality (attraction to both sexes), and asexuality (lack of sexual attraction to any gender). As with many human behaviours, sexual orientation is often considered to fall into one category or another, whereas in reality, it seems to be a spectrum between exclusive heterosexuality and exclusive homosexuality, with various forms of bisexuality falling in between.

“In my mind, there was the idea that I need to have an emotional connection with women, while with men, it’s just about sex…to imagine that I could connect emotionally to a man is something new, but it also opens up new possibilities.” T., 24 years old

Homosexual, heterosexual, and bisexual individuals share similar sexual and romantic feelings and are capable of falling in love and forming equal and long-lasting relationships. Perhaps this is something one should all consider before judging fellow human being for their choices in their romantic and sexual lives, as people with different orientations are socially stigmatized at best and subjected to victimization and harm at worst for their choices. That is not appropriate for modern society. It is time to let each individual and their consenting partners do whatever they want in their bedroom and concentrate on creating the society that protects people’s rights to make their own choices.