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  • In this video, I'm going to answer a question that's as old as the universe.

  • No, it's not. I'm just --- [laughs]

  • A question that comes up on YouTube quite often is

  • this one: "How does a blind person know their sexual preference?"

  • Right? Because you can't see, so you can't

  • see how pretty somebody is or what somebody looks like or any of that kind of thing.

  • So how do you know?

  • How the heck do you know? Answering this question, I can only give you

  • my own personal experience. I can't speak for anybody

  • else on this one. I'll just tell you how I knew.

  • What my preference was. And is.

  • [Ben laughs]

  • [Tommy laughs]

  • So growing up the things that I learned were all based on my

  • surroundings. So my parents were straight. All their

  • friends were straight. All the characters I saw on television

  • and movies were all straight too and that sort of helped to

  • steer me in a particular direction and the direction that I went. This may not

  • work for other people, but for me it was just the thing

  • that felt right to me. It was the thing that made sense. So that's the path

  • I chose. As I got to be a teenager and started talking to girls

  • then the experience got to be a little different.

  • Right? Hormones are starting to fly around and things and

  • starting to get those butterflies and starting to feel this sort of twinge

  • of, "Boy, I like her. She's cool."

  • And that's one of those experiences that I never got from my guy friends.

  • So in school for example, I can't look across the room and go, "Ooh, I like

  • her. I got to go talk to her." Or, "she's pretty"

  • or this kind of thing. No. For me, it's all about conversation.

  • Right? And if I talk to somebody and we start to click

  • and we feel the same way about certain things

  • or somebody just has a cool energy to them

  • or somebody's extremely funny, you know,

  • that's how I get to see whether or not I like somebody. And then I have to take the chance

  • and say, "Would you like to come

  • to the 8th grade dance with me?" And then we can stand

  • against the wall and never dance together.

  • ANNOUNCER: We interrupt this YouTube video for this special announcement.

  • TOMMY: Hey, I just wanted to let you know that we got some brand new merch available

  • for the next 7 days only. And this is our

  • "Blind Caution" sign series. Now when I was in high school

  • there was a big giant sign out front of my dorm that said, "Blind Child Area".

  • I always thought the white stick would have been enough but okay.

  • So we came up with our own "Blind Caution" signs for you as well.

  • And we put it on some T-shirts, hoodies, and stickers.

  • There's "Blind Drunk". In case the stagger isn't enough for people you can

  • just read the front of your shirt and know that your blind drunk.

  • There's "Blind Driver". People are always yelling at motorists on the road and stuff.

  • "Hey, look at my shirt." Or my personal favorite...

  • "Blind Not Buzzed" because this has happened to me many, many times.

  • I'll sit down at a bar and somebody will say, "I think you've had a little too much

  • already, sir." "No, no, no. Look, I'm blind not buzzed."

  • So if any of those interest you, or you'd like to get some of the classic stuff...

  • The Blind Film Critic or The Tommy Edison Experience stuff,

  • the link is right there in the description for the video. And remember, it's only

  • available for the next 7 days.

  • ANNOUNCER: We now return to this YouTube video already in progress.

  • TOMMY: One of the things I really enjoy is the like the smell and the sounds of

  • a woman. Like all the fragrance, right. The perfume and stuff.

  • It's just lovely. It's so nice.

  • And of course some are better than others and

  • some people wear a little bit more than they should,

  • but it's all part of the experience. The sounds of a woman. Like the

  • sound a woman's shoes make on the floor sometimes.

  • Like on a cement floor or in an office building.

  • Oh, it's a great sound. I just love it. Plus,

  • girls and women just have different stuff than guys do.

  • And that was attractive too. And these are some of the things that helped

  • me figure out what my preference was. That's just what

  • I was drawn to. I just like girls and women.

  • I love what they had to say. I like listening

  • to them talk. I like hearing their stories. It's no more complicated

  • than that. So that's really about it.

  • That's my story and that is how I knew.

  • Now I'm sure there are other things that I'm totally not aware of

  • and things that are going through other people's heads that I don't know but

  • it's just such a difficult question to answer.

  • It really is. But I will say this. I don't think sight

  • plays into it. I really don't.

  • Without sight I was able to determine what I liked, who I liked,

  • and honestly I don't believe sight played into this.

  • I really don

  • I really don't. I simply liked

  • who I liked.

  • Well, thank you so much for watching the video. I hope you enjoyed it.

  • I'd also love for you to follow me on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter ---

  • That's just another way to find out every time we put

  • up a brand new video for you.

  • BEN: Because YouTube certainly wasn't.

  • TOMMY: YouTube ain't doing it. They dropped the ball.

  • In fact, they dropped both balls.

In this video, I'm going to answer a question that's as old as the universe.

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