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.