A Muslim sex worker who has been with 400 men says her family were so shocked when she told them she was a lesbian that they haven’t spoken to her in five years.
Dina Scintilla is a prostitute and sleeps with men, but says she knew she was gay from a young age and would invite her ‘best friends’ over after school, lock her bedroom door and have sex.
The Melbourne woman was one of nine Australians who answered a range of confronting questions about being lesbian on Wednesday’s episode of You Can’t Ask That, on the ABC.
Others included a married priest who realised she was a lesbian at 50, a feminine blonde who didn’t know she was gay even though she was ‘hooking up with women’, and a transgender woman who never felt comfortable with ‘the parts I was given’.
Dina Scintilla is a prostitute and sleeps with men, but says she knew she was gay from a young age and would invite her ‘best friends’ over after school, lock her bedroom door and ‘eat p***y’
They were asked questions like, ‘did you try d**k?’, ‘were you scared of coming out?’ ‘how does sex work? and ‘isn’t what you do unnatural?’
When Ms Scintilla was asked whether she wished she wasn’t gay, she couldn’t hold the tears back.
‘It would have made my life a whole lot easier,’ she said, as tears welled in her eyes.
‘If I wasn’t gay, I would probably still have a relationship with my family. But just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing for me.’
Kerrie Moynihan, from southern NSW, also felt emotional when asked the same question because, when her father found out she was attracted to women, he packed up her belongings, put them by the door and said ‘I don’t want you here’.
‘If I wasn’t gay there would be no fear around talking to my family, there would be no fear around talking to my friends,’ she said.
‘But sometimes hanging on to the family you do have is not being your whole self.’
Sydney priest Dorothy McRae-McMahon said when she realised she was gay, she felt ‘fully alive’ for the first time.
When Ms Scintilla was asked whether she wished she wasn’t gay, she couldn’t hold the tears back. ‘It would have made my life a whole lot easier,’ she said
Sam King, who is a self-professed ‘butch’ lesbian, has never slept with a man, but says she has a ‘nice looking d**k’ at home
When asked if they had ever ‘tried d**k’, most of the women said yes.
One of them, Sam King, said she never had – which was referred to as a ‘gold star’ in some lesbian circles.
She and Ms Moynihan agreed there was a toxic element in their community that looked down on lesbians who at some point date men.
Ms McRae-McMahon was married to a man, thinking she was married to the wrong one, for 30 years before she realised the love of her life was a woman.
After she admitted her sexuality to herself, she said the first time they had sex ‘my whole body reacted’.
Sydney woman Jannette Moor said sex with men was ‘very boring’, and Ms Moynihan said it ‘felt very selfish’.
Ms King, who is a self-professed ‘butch’ lesbian, has never slept with a man, but says she has a ‘nice looking d**k’ at home.
Sally Rugg says she is a ‘proud lesbian’ but didn’t identify as one for a long time, even though she was hooking up with women
Sydney priest Dorothy McRae-McMahon was married to a man, thinking she was married to the wrong one, for 30 years before she realised the love of her life was a woman.
Rosie Piper, a trans woman from Sydney, identifies as a lesbian but still has a penis and speaks with a low-pitched voice
When they were asked ‘how does sex work?’, almost all the participants on the program agreed that ‘scissoring’ was a ‘good time’ and indulged with sex toys.
Ms King said she has a strap-on and buys a new one every time she has a new partner – ‘out of respect’.
She also said ‘fisting’ is not as ‘scary as it sounds’, and Ms Scintilla agreed and said the first time she tried it with her partner, ‘eventually, her whole fist was in my p***y.’
Rosie Piper, a trans woman from Sydney, identifies as a lesbian but still has a penis and speaks with a low-pitched voice.
Margherita Coppolino, a lesbian woman who lives with disabilities, says she was lucky she had a supportive network around her when she came out
Shirleen Chin said her mother broke down when she came out. ‘My mum was wailing,’ she said. When she was younger, she wished she wasn’t gay
She said that she wants her penis removed eventually, but gives her female partners the option to use it during sex if they want to.
Ms McRae-McMahon, when asked whether she was scared of coming out, said she was trembling when she told her church community that she was in a relationship with a woman.
She was overjoyed when 86 per cent said they were happy to keep her as their minister.
You Can’t Ask That screens at 9pm on Wednesdays on the ABC.
‘YOU CAN’T ASK THAT’ PARTICIPANTS:
Dina Scintilla
Sex worker from a Muslim family and hasn’t spoken to her family in five years.
She has slept with 400 men in her job as a sex worker and but says being a lesbian is the best part of who she is.
Dina Scintilla
Kerrie Moynihan
Tried sleeping with men but said it didn’t feel right.
When she told her father she was gay, he packed up her things, put them by the door and told her to leave. They still don’t speak.
Kerrie Moynihan
Sam King
Classifies herself as a ‘butch’ lesbian. Has never had sex with a man but says she buys a new strap-on every time she has a new partner.
Rosie Piper
Is a transgender woman who plans on getting reconstructive surgery to become a woman anatomically.
Has not spoken to her father since she came out as a trans lesbian.
Rosie Piper, a pre-op trans woman
Dorothy McRae-McMahon
Married a man at 21 and had children, before she realised the love of her life was a woman.
When asked whether being gay is unnatural, she said ‘I was created to be attracted to women’.
Sally Rugg
Says she is a ‘proud lesbian’ but didn’t identify as one for a long time, even though she was hooking up with women.
Identifies as a ‘femme’ lesbian who is not attracted to masculinity at all.
Sally Rugg
Shirleen Chin
Her mother broke down when she came out. ‘My mum was wailing,’ she said, because her daughter wouldn’t give her grandchildren or grow up how she envioned
When he was younger, she wished she wasn’t gay, but has in time come to terms with her sexuality.
Margherita Coppolino
Says she was lucky she had a supportive network around her when she came out. She lives with disabilities and is in a relationship with Ms Moor
Jannette ‘Jabba’ Moor
Knew she was a lesbian as a teenager. Her mother caught her kissing another girl when she was 16 and tried to ignore it.
However, when she came out to her parents, they just asked if she was happy and accepted it.
Jannette ‘Jabba’ Moor