aussiekirkland

I would have to agree. The only time I've ever been comfortable with sex was with someone I developed a deep friendship with first

I basically used that line when breaking up with an ex, though I backed it up with an explanation (that I wasn't attracted to him and it 100% wasn't his fault) and how much I appreciated his companionship

Then you should watch the anime! It's Tanaka-kun Wa Itsumo Kedaruge (Tanaka-kun Is Always Listless) It's a slice of life about the laziest guy ever

@omitef I'm actually having consistent sexual relations with someone I'm not officially dating, and I see what you mean. We've actually been keeping it a secret from our friends so it's been weird going on a trip with everyone this week

Actually it was recent, just over a year ago. That's why I couldn't believe it. My school was incredibly backwards though, given it was a religious private school.

Prom/ball culture is a huuuuge thing in Australia. It's so gross and gendered! Sure a girl could wear a suit, if they wanted to be ridiculed. Not to mention of my friends was a lesbian and wasn't allowed to take a girl, so she took a gay guy so they could share the pain of homophobic private schools together. I couldn't even believe that rule existed, it was absolutely disgusting. School balls are basically the final ritual for conforming to cis/heteronormative culture and hardly anyone seemed to be bothered by it???

The same thing happened when I was 9, and the girls in the locker room were nagging me about when I was getting a bra (same shit, different school). Stuff like that was super isolating because I was an early bloomer. In my experience puberty is used as an excuse to sexualise and feminise young girls which I personally think is really gross. It certainly felt wrong to me, all the pressure to "be a woman" and "be desirable to guys".

As someone who was bullied into shaving at only 11 I second this. I spent years hating my body for doing what it's supposed to do and only in recent years have I managed to unlearn it.

I used to absolutely hate female beauty standards, but now I just don't care anymore. The other week we were talking about shaving and I showed a mutual friend my armpit hair and she was pretty bothered by it, which I took great amusement out of later. I find that not adhering to almost any feminine beauty standards makes it easier to narrow down my pool of friends and not getting too close to people who are clearly sexist and/or homophobic.

As someone who still lives at home I totally get this

Hopefully not, because you only insulted someone who isn't on Arocalypse.

Something I don't understand about romance: why shows like the bachelor and married at first sight are so popular when they lack any sort of substance, yet shows with fantasy and action and intricate plots get swept to the side by the majority.

There's an abundance of ace and aro shirts and other things on Look Human https://www.lookhuman.com/

The fact that Australian tv is free is probably why it's so bad. They can't risk trying new things so we've been stuck with the same shit for a loooong time. I stopped watching tv years ago in favour of YouTube.

As much as I hate dry heat, it helps when you're not constantly in a pool of your own sweat. I actually sweat more in winter!

Anything over 20C is death for me, so that's fine by me!

I did the you might be aro if list and I got 44 yes and 6 no's

Well, I'm aromantic and would answer no to some capacity for every question. Does that help? I think you definitely could be cupioromantic. I also think those questions are a great starting point for people questioning whether they're on the aromantic spectrum.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who opened up on this thread, I could relate to a lot of your experiences. It's weird for me because I've been asexual my whole life and now I'm sexually attracted to my best friend who I've known for 7 years. I couldn't completely admit this to myself until now, because the shared experiences on this thread are undeniable.

@Untamed Heart @Hey you in the corner I also had a relationship with a really great guy. We had a lot in common and seemed pretty compatible so I couldn't understand why I felt nothing for him even after giving it 9 months. "Fake it till you make it" definitely didn't work in my case.

My thoughts exactly! He goes to their sister school in Indonesia and came to visit her school once. She still thinks they're a thing

The first guy I dated I had zero feelings for (romantic or platonic) and only dated him to get the whole "you won't know until you try" scepticism out of my life. Every time someone asked me how great it was to be in a relationship and I said yes was a complete lie. The other week my 13 year old friend on Miitomo was gushing about her boyfriend and I said I was happy for her. Honestly, hearing her talk about how he's started puberty made me want to gag a little. The other day my 9 year old second cousin asked me if I had a boyfriend and I just said no while listening to her ramble on about her "long distance relationship" because I didn't think it was worth the effort coming out to a 9 year old. This is just the first few things that came to mind, I'm sure there's way more.