I'm sorry that this is feeling so daunting for you! My best advice is to stop trying. In other words, you don't need a word for something that you don't feel yet fully able to describe, especially something like this where it's not like it's required for anything. You can also stop thinking about wh...

AQ: Thanks so much for saying such lovely things! I really appreciated that. And I hear you, for sure. My life experience is also that the longer romantic or sexual relationships go on, the more they tend to develop friendship aspects (though sometimes that's how those relationships began, so it's a...

Hi there, beena, welcome to the boards. I'm sorry this is why you're here, but I am glad that you are here. It would be very unlikely to be sexually assaulted and not wake up unless you were drugged or otherwise intoxicated. Do you think those things were possibilities? If not, what seems most likel...

Hey there, AQ! I'm just poking my head in to add something a bit to the side of what you're asking, but that I think might also be helpful. Nothing I say is to discount your already excellent observations about your desire for more physical touch in your other relationships, just so you know! I do t...

I hope that this isn't overwhelming, response-wise, but I also want to just drop some support and care around the fact that you find yourself feeling unable to avoid this person because he's your rabbi's son. It's extra awful that your religious community isn't a safety net for you, and seems like b...

Hey there, naurmi. Were you able to read this piece Sam shared near the top of this thread? https://www.scarleteen.com/read/feelings/getting-through-breakup-without-actually-breaking It offers a lot of help with managing your feelings in a breakup. You know, you probably would have been completely o...

Hello there. Before anything else, my first piece of advice would be to look back at a couple of your previous posts here and consider engaging with them. You've asked similar things here before, and a couple folks have started conversations with you about this stuff in those threads that you haven'...

So, we can't sexually assault ourselves, because sexual assault, by definition, is only something one person can do to another. But we can do sexual things to ourselves that we don't feel good about -- at the time or after -- or that may or can be self-harm or part of it, for sure. That PTSD: did th...

So, ultimately in terms of worrying less, you are just going to have to work on letting this go. It is something that happened in the past and, save potentially using a PEP, something you can't do anything about. Self-loathing also isn't going to help you out here. In the wise words of Elsa, let it ...

I forgot to share the link with you that I meant to! I think a read through this will give you a lot of information and support around this: The Rainbow Connection: Orientation for Everyone.

Hey there, PomPom. So, there are WAY more orientations and sexual identities than just heterosexual or homosexual, and some others do describe the attractions you are feeling more accurately. For starters, both homosexual and heterosexual people are not always (and I would say rarely, when people ar...

I also just want to put in a reminder here that sex work is real work, and the chosen work of many real people. I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you find the fact that there are prostitutes disappointing, but when you talk about sex workers here, please try and do so in the respectful wa...

Even if it IS selfish, we all not only get to think of and center ourselves in these choices, we 1000% should, if we're going to make them responsibly. No one owes the word children, no one owes the world their body in this regard, and there is no one right thing to do, especially where the actual p...

You don't need to be sorry about it! But I have seen a pattern of you kind of trying to figure out or manage sexual partners or partnerships that don't yet exist, and I gotta tell you, that's just not a sound use of your time or energy. I'd also say it might even make it so that when you do connect ...

I can't tell you what to care about or not in this or any respect, honestly. I can think of a bunch of different reasons people might care about or be invested in (or not) this or any aspect of porn, but all of those cares, or the lack of them, are very personal. I do think that it sounds like you'r...

If I understand which question (I'm only really seeing one) this is about, no one is going to be able to tell you how much of the sounds you hear people making in all pornography -- that's an awfully big and very diverse pool that also spans at least centuries! -- are faked, aren't faked, or are rea...

Lyle, what you are describing to me does sound just like a septate hymen, and I'm betting that's what it is: that's hymenal tissue wearing away in such a way that more than one opening formed and is widening. That's one of several typical variations with hymens, and you'll find it in the link Sam sh...

Just a reminder that we have content that answers questions like this very easily! You'll find it here, for starters: https://www.scarleteen.com/read/can-i-g ... r-pass-sti

Hey again. I was going to say that what Sam said right up there -- before you posted it -- resonated with me, too. I don't think any of these choices seem to involve NOT standing up for yourself. After all, this whole set of choices is about you and centering your own needs and goals and feelings. A...

Hey there, E_F. We've talked before, and while I'm not glad this is the reason you're here, I'm glad to see you back. I'm wondering: do you think it's worth exploring other avenues that could help you attend college? I'm not sure how wealthy your family or school district is, but if the answer isn't...

I do want to add a thing! Group sex is going to vary just as much -- if not more so -- as sex with any one given partner is. I say even more so because more people partnered with more people = exponentially more possible variation. So, in a lot of ways, asking someone what their group sex experience...

Hi there, Ayn. I have been out this week with illness, but in checking in, I have noticed your thread and wanted to pop in today on it. I'm the person Willa was offering up for you to talk with in chat if you want. I'm in and from Chicago, I was unhoused on and off here in my teens and some of my tw...

Absolutely. It just may be that it takes you some time to accept them. It might help to recognize that these feelings can't just be boiled down to hormones. Sure, a handful of different neurochemicals (things like dopamine and testosterone) are often part of sexual desires or arousal, but that's jus...

Hey there. You haven't said specifically what this certain way is that you feel, but from the sounds of things, I'm guessing you're asking about feelings of arousal or sexual desire? If so, you're right: those feelings do tend to be a kind that will just come and go without us having to make any eff...

It's all good!