In the latest issue of Birdee, cover girl Caitlin Stasey has revealed that discovering she was a lesbian while at a Catholic girls school led her to self-harm.

The outspoken actress told the magazine she repressed her sexuality as a teenager because, in her community, being gay was “a condemnable offence”.

“It’s such a f**king dark and terrible thing to admit, but throughout high school I cut myself – I had a lovely upbringing, but I was mortified by the fact that I had these feelings and that I felt gay, and I was constantly being told it was wrong.”

Caitlin Stasey

The 24-year-old from Melbourne says the struggle made her to turn her back on religion.

“I became incredibly hateful of religion and am now resolute that it is one of the greatest tragedies to befall mankind.”

Caitlin Stasey

Stasey also said she would love to run a “totally ethical, all-inclusive strip club for disabled and trans women” as well as an “ethical pornography production company run by women”.

Earlier this year, Stasey launched her own feminist website Herself.com, which features a series of nude photos and frank interviews about women’s relationships with their bodies and sexualities.

“We consider a woman’s sexuality so linked to her physicality that for a woman to appear naked publicly is automatically an act of sex and not for herself,” she said. “There’s also a very specific construct of woman we are all used to seeing, and while those women are no less women, I was so desperate to see different faces, different bodies.”

Caitlin Stasey

In her own profile on the website she says she is in a loving relationship with a man, but identifies predominantly as a lesbian.

“I’ve known I was mostly gay ever since I can remember. I know it troubles many people for me to refer to myself as a lesbian considering I have a male partner.”

Caitlin Stasey