Advice

Polly asks:
I'm in a long-term heterosexual relationship, and have been questioning my sexuality for many years, but have recently identified with pansexuality very strongly. I'm wanting to come out so I can tell people and celebrate who I am, but I also don't want to hurt my relationship. Just because I identify as pansexual doesn't mean I want to leave my current partner or anything, but I want to be true to myself and everyone around me. I'm not sure how to approach this, and if I even should come out.
ellie asks:
I am 18 and can't seem to find sex pleasurable at all. I am in a lesbian relationship and my girlfriend has a bigger sex drive than me so I want to be able to have a healthy sexual relationship with her. Every time she tries to finger me or penetrate me at all it hurts so badly, She says it's normal and we have to do it a few more times until I get used to it but the pain is unbearable.
DebbieK asks:
I'm 15 years old and a freshman in high school. I had no self-confidence in middle school and I have glasses, braces, and I have to get my eyebrows and upper lip waxed because I naturally have a unibrow/mustache. I really wanted to be thought of as desirable, hot, and sexy since I felt so ugly all the time. My eighth grade boyfriend, who essentially had been my middle school crush all three years, was really perfect for the first couple months of our relationship and then he started to ignore me and be horrible.
Kat asks:
Me and my girlfriend are having some issues. We are very happy together and we wish to remain together. I’ve considered myself to be a non-monogamist for a long time now. My desire to have sexual but non-romantic relations with other girls makes her uncomfortable. I want to make her more comfortable but she is not very adamant about the idea of her giving it a shot as it goes against her morals what she believes is right. I’ve been very welcoming with her and her issues regarding addiction to substances that I have grown-up believing is very wrong.
Mary Engle asks:
I am 20 years old and certainly no prude, but as a rule I will avoid any shows/movies that involve a lot of rape or implied rape. This week I became very obsessed with a TV show and I was really enjoying it and really loved all the characters, then I got to an episode where someone threatened to rape a character. I fell into a state of panic and kept telling myself someone would come to save them, but the scene kept continuing and no one came to save her and I started sobbing, I couldn't believe they would do that.
Jess asks:
I've been talking on and off with many guys. A lot of them are sexually and romantically interested in me. I am sexually interested in them but have no romantic interest in them. I have no interest in being in a relationship but do want to be sexually active. Is that bad? Should I have to be both romantically and sexually interested in a guy to have sex with them?
Lisa asks:
My boyfriend and I really love each other and have a lot in common, but while I’m incredibly sexual, he has little to no interest in sexuality. He’s the only person I’ve ever had sex with and because he’s not into all the kinks I am, I feel like I’m missing out. I also have never had an orgasm, neither from intercourse nor by my own hands. I’ve been telling one of my guy friends about my struggles and he has offered to help me out a little, mostly with helping me be able to climax. Kinda like a sexual physical therapy.
I don't know whether to bring my boyfriend with me when I move across the country for work next summer. I recently had an extensive workup around years of depression and anxiety and have ended up getting an autism diagnosis in my early twenties. Overall, having the label has been great for giving some legitimacy to my extreme introversion and I'm coming around to the idea that there was no reason for me to want the same things other people want socially. However, I still picture myself settling down with someone I feel strongly about. Enter my boyfriend.
Maggie asks:
I'm a 22 year-old woman. I came out as a bisexual at 18. At that point I hadn't had any sexual encounters. Since then I have had two one night stands, both with men and very little sexual experience otherwise (not even really kissing on nights out). I have no doubts about my sexuality, but I am really struggling at the moment with the amount of friends who are coming out as bisexual or having a lot of same sex sexual encounters.
Claire asks:
At my school many of the girls want to have, or have had, sex. They explain it as if it is an act that declares your love to the world for someone. Someone told me that they would want to lose their virginity before high school and I was a bit shocked when they said that to me. I honestly don't want to have sex until I'm much older and not in high school. From what I see high school romantic relationships don't last that long and I don't want to have sex with someone that won't be in my life for a long time.