Thanks for sharing this concern here on PC. I know you also posted this in the sex & gender issues forum & received one reply over there. I believe I read another of your posts where you mentioned you're 17. I'm not that much older than you are. I'm 70!

I can't really be of help with regard to the labels thing since I'm not that familiar with all of the different labels people have come up with over the past few years. Way back when I was young, none of that even existed. What I can tell you is that I'm male & have always lived as a male. But, while I've always been decidedly heterosexual, I've also had a life-long struggle with my gender identity. (I could write a very long post with regard to that. But I'll spare you the details.) Anyway, as a result of all of that, I at least presume I know a thing or two about gender identity concerns.

The one thing I know about gender identity concerns in particular (& it may sometimes be true of sexual orientation issues as well) is that they can be devilishly confusing. Like I said above, I'm 70 years old now & I still haven't figured it all out. But then, for most of my life, all of this stuff was kept deeply hidden. So there wasn't the opportunity, for most people, to figure it out. The advantage people have nowadays is that concerns related to gender identity & sexual orientation are out in the open & freely discussed.

At age 17, I think it may well be possible that some or all of the questions you have will simply resolve themselves over the next few years as you become an adult. (The way you're handling things now seems to me to be a great way to go.) But, if the concerns you have don't resolve themselves, then I think the thing to do would be to find a therapist who is interested in, & has experience working with, clients who have gender identity & / or sexual orientation issues. What's important, to my mind, is to talk all of this through at-length & in-depth with a knowledgeable person. (I personally don't think that, in general, this can be done with friends or family.) Allowing unresolved gender identity & / or sexual orientation concerns to continue to rattle around through your thoughts can be, to my mind, a prescription for ongoing confusion & unhappiness. You have to throw open the doors & windows & let the sunshine in.

Anyway, these are my thoughts with regard to your post. Thanks for the opportunity to reply.