Without fellow fans to geek over wlw ships with , I ’ d feel much more lonely , scared , depressed and uncertain as a gay teenager .
The Berena phenomenon has allowed me to meet ( online ) a whole range of personalities and this has allowed me to interact on a level I ’ ve never found before regarding finding female stars sexy and attractive . And I find this extremely liberating .
The Berena storyline has actually had a positive impact upon my life despite being a closet Bi . The exploration of emotion through fanfic and the Berena story on Holby has allowed me to be more openly affectionate to my husband as I identified with the feelings of love , desire and respect .
In ‘ Life in the freezer ’ I so engaged with them as a couple and cried my eyes out when Bernie left Serena . 10 mins later and a bunch of light bulbs switched on in my head . My life finally made sense to me . So many moments throughout my life I now understood . I am gay and 40 and without the Berena storyline I may never have known myself . It has totally changed my life .
I ’ m a doctor who fell for her female friend and luckily she felt the same and we ’ re now married . Weirdly I think the Berena story helped me process our early relationship almost a decade later .
I suffer with depression and whilst this is a deep-rooted issue , not going to be solved magically by queer media representation , Berena has honestly been a little ray of hope for me .
The whole Berena fan-base is incredible . I ’ ve been through a hard time in my life and they ’ ve all welcomed me with open arms , and been there for me .
Although there was much more conflict and angst in the storyline than I would ever wish for in an actual relationship , watching Bernie and Serena fall in love allowed me to imagine something for myself that I hadn ’ t fully been able to before .