Sexually speaking

Dear Holli:Question: I’ve been with my girlfriend for a while and she recently told me she is bisexual. I don’t feel the same way about her anymore. I feel like I’m not enough for her. How can she know she is bisexual unless she is cheating on me with a woman?

Answer: Bisexuality may be a difficult topic to comprehend. Many of us are taught to look at almost everything in the universe as a duality: male and female, light and dark, hot and cold. Bisexuality is not about choosing one gender over the other – it is about finding the right person regardless of gender. Think about it this way: as a man, you are out there looking for the right woman for you. Your girlfriend was once looking for the right man for her. Now, she is looking for the right person. Just because she has discovered her bisexuality does not mean that you are not enough for her.

Dear Holli:Question: I am a 20-year-old male who really loves to masturbate. Sometimes I masturbate up to six or seven times a day. Is there something wrong with me? Is there anything I should worry about from a health standpoint?

Answer: “Don’t knock masturbation, it’s sex with someone you love,” as Woody Allen once said. Pretty much all health and mental-health professionals recognize that masturbation is fun, normal, harmless and sometimes rushed. (It is also normal not to masturbate at all.)

I think the only limits would arise from considerations such as physical harm: If masturbating is so frequent that it is causing abrasions, skin eruptions or other physical problems, it might be best to do it less frequently (or in another manner). If you have any further concerns, visit a doctor or health clinic or check out Student Health Services.

My primary concern for you is that with all of this masturbation, when do you find time for class?

For more information on these subjects, visit religioustolerance.org/bisexuality.htm and parentingadolescents.com/masturbation-stats.html.

Holli Silverman is a double major in Women’s Studies and Sociology at USF. She is also a peer educator for Student Health Services.