We differ from each other on the penetration issue in that I had never wanted it at all. It has always been difficult for me no matter how aroused I was it would destroy any sexual mood I was in. I thought that whole love thing or sexual attraction/chemistry was a complete farce. As much as I wanted sex it was miserable for me. I never felt any ugh! in the pit of my stomach with a girl or thinking about a girl and I certainly never allowed myself to think about a guy that way.
Then I met a guy that wiped out all of my learned prejudices and there was nothing I could do about it. Even if he felt that way, he was married. I had given up on women a few years already, I don't know, it really hit me hard. Started drinking like eternal happiness was at the bottom of every bottle, lost all of my friends. It's strange that I had a harder time admitting that I liked men than admitting that I was a girl. When my family institutionalized me because of me trying to live as a girl when I was 14, they hated me, wouldn't look at me or talk to me if they didn't have to, I had nothing to lose by admitting that I liked men but I couldn't. At 19 when I joined the army I had already decided that I would live my life alone, no problem women were not doing it for me anyway. Three years later when I met that guy it about killed me to deal with that. I don't think that I did deal with it to be honest, I buried it, ran from it, hid or whatever but I didn't deal with it.
Years later when I felt that again I had quit drinking and had no way to hide.

It was stupid too, the guy was a jerk and no one liked him, me included. He was soooooo good looking though and his voice made me forget where I was at or what I was doing. I was disgusted with myself because of what it did to me. Why couldn't I feel that with a girl? The worst was when he came up behind me when I was working, he would put his hand on my shoulder and lean in putting his head next to mine so he could see what I was working on. I would beg God to not let him talk or if he did talk for me not to forget how to speak. It wasn't possible to lie to myself anymore.
Only dating men now, I wish that I had not been so stubborn for all those years. It's normal for me, right and good all the way to the core. It's not always easy to find our way, sexual attraction is a difficult thing. Seamen and pirates had so many gay relationships and marriages, pirates even had a special name for it "matelotage", that one monarch spent crown money for female prostitutes to help discourage the practice. Turned out to be a waste of money, most of the time, if they even used the prostitutes, they would do it together in a three way then go right on together in their relationship after. I don't see myself as gay and my boyfriend sure doesn't see himself as gay but, for me at least, it would be more than okay if I were. I am definitely NOT a lesbian though.
😊 So why am I responding when you asked for responses from lesbians? From my own experience, hard and ugly experience, if dysphoria is shutting you down expecting it to change is an exercise in agony. I would hope that you avoid that if at all possible.