Rebecca Black says she’s been ‘pressured’ to label her sexuality by people who don’t understand what fluid means
Rebecca Black said she felt pressure to express a “preference”. (Rebecca Black/ Instagram)
Rebecca Black has opened up about the “pressure” she’s felt to label her sexuality, with people around her unable to accept that her orientation is fluid.
In an April episode of the Dating Straight podcast, Black revealed that she had recently been through a breakup with a woman after a “pretty long” relationship, and that she identifies as queer.
She said at the time: “I think to me, the word ‘queer’ feels really nice. I have dated a lot of different types of people, and I just don’t really know what the future holds, and some days I feel a little bit more on the gay side than others.”
Since being open about her sexuality, the “Friday” singer said she has had to deal with pressure from people around her to express a “preference”.
She told Teen Vogue: “Still in our society and in the LGBTQ community as well it isn’t maybe as validated, the idea of being able to be fluid and not have a single preference [of gender].
“I’m not trying to say I do or don’t have a preference. I do think there is this pressure; it’s something I felt for a long time.”
She has also come up against people in her life who don’t even believe that sexuality can be fluid.
Black continued: “I’ve had a lot of people in my life tell me, ‘that doesn’t sound like a real thing,’ and it is.
“For me, in my own conversation with myself, it wasn’t that hard to accept that I could love a man just as much as a woman or any person, regardless of their gender.
“I can look at my life and have experience of both. I don’t question my own [feelings], but it is a difficult conversation at times.”
Rebecca Black has received ‘overwhelmingly positive’ reactions since coming out.
Rebecca Black recently told PinkNews: “I definitely feel very fortunate to have had an overwhelmingly positive response generally, from people in my personal life and people online.
“The less positive experiences that I’ve had with people, I try to look at it as a way to equip myself as a queer person, to be able to handle that.
“To be able to learn from it and hopefully guide others through those more difficult experiences.
“But also, if it’s right, to help that person who doesn’t necessarily understand to feel like they are safe to ask questions or feel like they’re safe to try to understand if they want to.
“Not everybody does want to understand and that’s their own loss, honestly, I try to do the best that I can. But overwhelmingly, I feel very fortunate to live in a time where it is majority positive.”
