History Main / ExperimentedInCollege

Maybe it's because young people are living independent of their parents, maybe it's the abundance of booze and [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy parties]], or the existence of sororities and fraternities that commonly only allow one gender to join, but it's assumed that when a young adult goes to college, they likely experimented sexually with the same gender. While it's usually played for titillation purposes when done with [[GirlOnGirlIsHot women]], this trope can also apply to guys as well. It's often a PetPeeveTrope for anyone queer, as if the character is straight it can imply that homosexuality/bisexuality is just a phase, especially in media with few/no actual gay characters.

Maybe it's because young people are living independent of their parents, maybe it's the abundance of booze and [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy parties]], or the existence of sororities and fraternities that commonly only allow one gender to join, but it's assumed that when a young adult goes to college, they likely experimented sexually with the same gender. While it's usually played for titillation purposes when done with [[GirlOnGirlIsHot women]], this trope can also apply to guys as well. It's often a PetPeeveTrope for anyone queer, as it can imply that homosexuality/bisexuality is a just phase, especially in media with few/no actual gay characters.

** In [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2011-07-25 this]] Q&A comic, Chika reveals that she experimented a bit because apparently she liked to be scientifically rigorous in everything.

Maybe it's because young people are living independent of their parents, maybe it's the abundance of booze and [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy parties]], or the existence of sororities and fraternities that commonly only allow one gender to join, but it's assumed that when a young adult goes to college, they likely experimented sexually with the same gender. While it's usually played for titillation purposes when done with [[GirlOnGirlIsHot women]], this trope can also apply to guys as well. It's often a PetPeeveTrope for anyone queer, as it can imply that homosexuality/bisexuality is a phase.

Maybe it's because young people are living independent of their parents, maybe it's the abundance of booze and [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy parties]], or the existence of sororities and fraternities that commonly only allow one gender to join, but it's assumed that when a young adult goes to college, they likely experimented sexually with the same gender. While it's usually played for titillation purposes when done with [[GirlOnGirlIsHot women]], this trope can also apply to guys as well. It's often a PetPeeveTrope for anyone queer.

** Later appearances in ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018'' confirmed outright that Noh-Varr is bisexual.

* ''Series/DarkDesire'':
** Zoe explores her sexuality by having sex with her friend Karina, who's lesbian. Afterward, she concludes that she's straight. Karina is fine with this and they stay friends.
** In Season 2 she is Karina's girlfriend for a year, but she is still exploring her true sexuality, but with men this time. She genuinely loves Karina and has no doubt in wanting to be with her, but she can't deny being sexually attracted to men.

* ''Series/DarkDesire'': Zoe explores her sexuality by having sex with her friend Karina, who's lesbian. Afterward, she concludes that she's straight. Karina is fine with this and they stay friends. Possibly {{subverted}} though later as she kisses Karina again after having had a straight relationship that didn't work out.

If the relationship is romantic, rather than sexual, it's GayRomanticPhase. Compare RomanticTwoGirlFriendship, SituationalSexuality, FanserviceFauxFight. May be a result of KissingUnderTheInfluence.

If the relationship is romantic, rather than sexual, it's GayRomanticPhase. Compare RomanticTwoGirlFriendship, SchoolgirlLesbians, SituationalSexuality, FanserviceFauxFight. May be a result of KissingUnderTheInfluence.

Compare RomanticTwoGirlFriendship, SchoolgirlLesbians, SituationalSexuality, FanserviceFauxFight. May be a result of KissingUnderTheInfluence.

--> '''Ramona:''' I was just a little bi-curious. \\
'''Roxanne:''' Well, honey, I'm ''a little BI-FURIOUS!''

* Going by the mental 'snapshots' of her former partners, Suzie of ''Comicbook/SexCriminals'' has had at least one lesbian relationship.
* Dr. Allison Mann of ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' is a lesbian, but her college girlfriend Mercedes was one of these. In fact, Mercedes seemed to think that lesbians don't really exist and that the only reason a girl would ever want to date another girl is to [[DatingWhatDaddyHates piss off her dad]]. She broke up with Allison shortly before graduation, saying that it was time to grow up and start acting like adults and that if Allison still wanted to piss off her dad, she should find a more mature way of going about it... [[InsaneTrollLogic like dating a black guy]].

* ''Fanfic/SodaAt70Proof''; Rachel's mother has a problem with her daughter's crush on Fanny. She tells Rachel that she's going through a phase and that she had a similar phase in college until she met Rachel's father.

* Implied in ''Film/MammaMiaHereWeGoAgain'', when Donna sings [[Music/{{ABBA}} "When I Kissed the Teacher"]] to a female professor. Donna never exhibits any romantic interest in women after graduation, making it this trope.

* ''Literature/JustJuliet'': {{Discussed}} by Lena's dad when she tells him along with her mom that she's bisexual. Lena retorts gently that it isn't experimenting -- she's just into girls along with boys, and to deny it would be denying half of herself.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In their first domestic squabble, Willow accuses Tara of assuming she's doing this.
-->'''Tara:''' "I trust you. I just ... (looks down) I don't know where I'm gonna fit in ... in your life when..."\\
'''Willow:''' "When ... I change back? Yeah, this is a college thing, just a, a little experimentation before I get over the thrill and head back to boys' town. ''(pause)'' You think that?"\\
'''Tara:''' "Should I?"\\
'''Willow:''' "I'm really sorry that I didn't establish my lesbo street cred before I got into this relationship. You're the only woman I've ever fallen in love with, so ... how on Earth could you ever take me seriously?"
* In ''Series/BeingErica'', Erica revisits an episode from her university days where she explores her relationship with a lesbian classmate.

* In [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2011-07-25 this]] ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' Q&A comic, Chika reveals that she experimented a bit because apparently she liked to be scientifically rigorous in everything.

Maybe it's because young people are living independent of their parents, maybe it's abundance of booze and [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy parties]], or the existence of sororities and fraternities that commonly only allow one gender to join, but it's assumed that when a young adult goes to college, they likely experimented sexually with the same gender. While it's usually played for titillation purposes when done with [[GirlOnGirlIsHot women]], this trope can also apply to guys as well. It's often a PetPeeveTrope for anyone queer.

For those who are gay or bi, it might be the first time they ever acted on their same-sex attraction, leading to other [[QueerAsTropes gay plotlines]]. For those that are straight it's either accepted as having been a brief phase, or rarely spoken of and only in the vaguest terms, a sort of sexual NoodleIncident. In some cases, the person they're experimenting with may feel "[[AmIJustAToyToYou used]]", [[ItMeantSomethingToMe jilted]], or [[DidYouActuallyBelieve manipulated]], or suffer any manner of emotional damage when their partner decides it really was "just a phase" or "[[KissingUnderTheInfluence just the alcohol talking]]"; more happily, it may be revealed they were "just experimenting" themselves, or at least weren't expecting anything more than a casual hookup.

'''No real life examples, please.'''

* In the "Green Inferno" storyline in ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'', the renegade (and bluntly homophobic) ex-Doctor disdainfully challenges the team with the phrase "Poofs first." It's presumably aimed at the canonically-gay Apollo and The Midnighter, but the Engineer steps forward with a cool:

* Dr. Allison Mann of ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' is a lesbian, but her college girlfriend Mercedes was one of these. In fact, Mercedes seemed to think that lesbians don't really exist, and that the only reason a girl would ever want to date another girl is to [[DatingWhatDaddyHates piss off her dad]]. She broke up with Allison shortly before graduation, saying that it was time to grow up and start acting like adults, and that if Allison still wanted to piss off her dad, she should find a more mature way of going about it... [[InsaneTrollLogic like dating a black guy]].
* In ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'', Crystal Kennedy has a sexual relationship with her ButchLesbian [[LimaSyndrome prison guard]] Susan Veraghen, but after a while she drags Susan unwillingly into a three-way relationship with a man, and finally dumps her altogether in favour of the kind of political marriage that Susan thought she was rescuing her from.

'''Ritsuko''': [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain And you promised that we'd never speak of it again, and that it was only because we were both hammered out of our minds and hadn't had a guy in months,]]

* Most characters in ''Film/AnotherCountry'' seem to agree that a little homosexual hanky-panky in college is entirely natural. They even fault the master (instructor) for walking in on Martineau and his friend masturbating, because if he were an old boy (i.e. a former pupil) he would supposedly have known from personal experience what goes on in the gym changing rooms.
* ''Film/BasicInstinct'': Beth dismisses her fling with Catherine as this, but both woman claim that the other stalked her afterwards. It's never established who was telling the truth.

* ''Literature/JustJuliet'': {{Discussed}} by Lena's dad when she tells him along with her mom that she's bisexual. Lena retorts gently that it isn't experimenting-she's just into girls along with boys, and to deny it would be denying half of herself.

* Invoked in an episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Tywin Lannister discusses a proposed marriage between Cersei and the extremely gay Loras Tyrell with Loras' grandmother. When Tywin refers to Loras' homosexuality as an "affliction", Lady Tyrell calmly asks him if he and another boy ever "[had] a go at each other under the sheets" when he was young, and is genuinely surprised when Tywin flat out denies it.

* A ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' skit in which ''everyone'' at The Daily Planet is aware of Clark Kent's true identity has Lois, Jimmy and Perry tormenting the clueless man by making comments about Superman, including speculating that he's gay. Kent furiously defends himself, insisting, "Superman isn't gay! I mean, sure he experimented a little back in Smallville. . .", shocking the other three, who were just making things up.

** Inverted for laughs where Barney refers to his gay brother, James, as having had an embarrassing "hetero college phase" that he decided not to mention in his best man's speech. In some of Barney's flashbacks to his own early 20s, the audience gets to see James during his overcompensating phase. He wears nothing buts sports jerseys and gives his brother sex advice about how ''everybody'' finds (hetero) sex gross, but you just do it, because its what is expected of you as a man.

* In the ''Website/{{CollegeHumor}}'' sketch, "FriendsWithBenefits Wedding," several men that Courtney has been with [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace object to]] her becoming Raymond's FWB, because she is (or has been) ''their'' FWB...and one girl speaks up and says she is too, explaining that "She was curious."
** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQzFJDgwaCw another sketch]], Jessica, Grant and [[MadScientist Claus]] reminisce about how they experimented in college. They all realized they liked both men and women, Grant had an orgy, Jessica tried drugs and cheated on her first boyfriend, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Claus conducted many experiments which defied the laws of God and Man]].

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E08MrLisasOpus Mr. Lisa's Opus]]" is a flash-forward episode where we follow Lisa trying to get into college. At the end she meets her room-mate and they hit it off and shakes hands. Lisa ecstatically thinks "I have a friend!" only for her room-mate to wink at her and Lisa then musingly thinks "Oh... or maybe something more than a friend..."

Maybe it's because young people are living independent of their parents, maybe it's abundance of booze and [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy parties]], or the existence of sororities and fraternities that commonly only allow one gender to join, but it's assumed that when a young adult goes to college, they likely experimented sexually with the same gender. While it's usually played for titillation purposes when done with [[GirlOnGirlIsHot women]], this trope can also apply to guys as well. Because of that it's a pet peeve trope for anyone queer.

For those who are gay or bi, it might be the first time they ever acted on their same-sex attraction, leading to other [[QueerAsTropes gay plotlines]]. For those that are straight it's either accepted as having been a brief phase, or rarely spoken of and only in the vaguest terms, a sort of sexual NoodleIncident. In some cases, the person they're experimenting with won't feel "[[AmIJustAToyToYou used]]", "jilted," or "manipulated", or suffer any other emotional damage when (not if, ''when'') their partner decides it really was "just a phase" or "just the alcohol talking", and in fact will often be "just experimenting" themselves. But ''other'' times [[DidYouActuallyBelieve this]] [[AmIJustAToyToYou is]] [[ItMeantSomethingToMe harshly]] [[LoveHurts averted]]...

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' where the titular family goes to Italy that also happened to be one of the "Sideshow Bob" episodes, the family discovers that not only has Bob become the mayor of a village in Tuscany and given up on killing Bart, but he now has a wife and son named Francesca and Gino. Homer's the most surprised by Bob being married to a woman and admits that he had always thought that Bob was gay--Bob responds by admitting to this trope.

** ''Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E08MrLisasOpus'' is a flash-forward episode where we follow Lisa trying to get into college. At the end she meets her room-mate and they hit it off and shakes hands. Lisa ecstatically thinks "I have a friend!" only for her room-mate winking at her and Lisa then musingly thinks "Oh... or maybe something more than a friend..."

'''Santana:'' And thank God they do.

* Parodied in [[http://www.xkcd.com/507/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}''.

* In Creator/MarvelComics, [[Characters/YoungAvengers Noh-Varr]], who has been on the ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers'', ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' and ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' is a [[HumanAlien Kree]] from an AlternateUniverse. He has indicated that he served as a cadet on an "exploratory ship", and that sexuality was one of the things they explored.

[[folder:Web Originals]]

** ''Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E08MrLisasOpus'' is a flash-forward episode where we follow Lisa trying to get into college. At the end she meets her room-mate and they hit it off and shakes hands. Lisa ecstatically thinks "I have a friend!" only for her room-mate winking at her and Lisa then musingly thinks "Oh... maybe something more than a friend..."