What a sweet thing to say!

So, when you write it all out like this, you find it makes you feel MORE angry and upset, not less?

Can I also ask how long you've felt stuck in this particular headspace for?

Can I ask how it felt to just write all of this out here? Does doing that, all by itself, offer you what feels like a good outlet for your anger, and helps you let go of any of it? (To be clear: when I talk about letting go of anger, that isn't about anyone needing to to be a good person or any of t...

Welcome back!

I can double-check the law, but I do not believe that in CA, minors need parental permission for sexual healthcare, so that must have just been a personal preference of that OB/GYN for their own practice. :( (Mind, an OB/GYN isn't the right person to see for mental healthcare, so when it comes to yo...

You replies here got lost in the shuffle, Martin: so sorry I'm just seeing and responding to them now! Starting with what you just asked and said to Keda, I think it's really important to remember that even if and when abuse is our normal, people who abuse others are not, in fact, the norm. In other...

This piece may also come in handy for you: http://www.scarleteen.com/article/relat ... or_romance

Welcome! And kudos for you for pushing past the sexism so often involved with trade work, and using the corrections made for it to your benefit!

It's a pretty big deal to take such a radical left turn, and I think it's great you figured out what you really want and are pursuing it!

If you have not yet seen it, "The To Do List" is a film that basically shows exactly this kind of approach as the outright farce that it is. And it's funny, so it might be a good way for you to see why this is so problematic in a way you can laugh at, rather than feel bad about. Honestly, ...

Welcome to the boards, FairyEve. If you go back to the main forum index, you'll notice a spot called "Newbieville," where users can also post to users, including before people have five posts. That area is for anyone and everyone, so other users can reply to a post you make there. You are ...

Fender, I'm very sorry to hear all of this, and also sorry it took you a while to be able to tell the truth about this, to yourself, not just us, and that you had to suffer in the meantime. But, like sam, I'm really glad to hear you come out with this, and take steps to help yourself and make the ab...

Welcome to the boards, Rosie. :) I think the best place to start with this may be figuring out whay you feel like kisses have been gross for you. Is it something that on a physical level, feels unpleasant, like say, tasting something bitter or touching something that feels creepy on your fingers? Or...

You're welcome, and I am certainly happy to talk thriugh more of this with you if you like. Clearly, you are pretty good at being introspective and self-aware, and that is a very good thing. Like I said, to me, the biggest thing in all of this is that you are feeling so scared around this and insecu...

Alas, we can't predict anyone's periods for them. Sometimes when cycles are different, it is a one-off, other times it is because they are shifting and will be different than they have been for a while. But the only way to know which is going on is after the fact, when you can look at the patterns o...

I understand. If it helps, know that if you have a UTI brewing, it may actually not have anything to do with any kind of sexual activity at all. They do sometimes, other times they don't, and it's just as common for people who aren't engaging in sex to have them as it is for people who are. No matte...

(Btw, I only just noticed you're almost 30, outside our usual user age group. If your partner is as well, then dismiss what I said about adolescence or young adulthood, but the fact remains that periods get skipped sometimes. If she has never had that happen until now and she is around your age, the...

Can I ask why you think you can't be truthful with her, and think she will not believe you? Mind, even if you HAD still been sexually active, and she had hard feelings about that, as a parent of a minor, she's still responsible for getting you to healthcare when you need it. Like I said, I think you...

Periods can be late or missed for many, many reasons, and pregnancy is only one of them. And with a negative pregnancy result, she can know that in this case, pregnancy clearly is not her reason. We won't always know why periods are late or missed, nor will we always be able, at the time, to identif...

With or without a hormonal method of contraception, sometimes people skip menstrual periods. It just happens now and then. But, per usual, if she is concerned about a possible pregnancy, and you have been having intercourse, the best thing to do is just to take a test. proper use of oral contracepti...

Urinary tract infections don't always present the same way, or develop all the symptoms of one all at once. What you want to do with something like this is give it a day or so -- and by all means, while inserting your fingers into your vagina isn't actually going to help you accurately monitor ferti...

Also: "Why is it that so many schools do not provide their students with adequate sex education classes?" Organized religion, money, and how they intersect. (With a healthy dash of adults wanting to control youth, as well.) Truly, if we wanted to reduce all of this to what is under it, tho...

I think that a lot of people struggle with the idea that if -- and more to the point, when -- someone they are with is attracted to, or has sexual interest in, someone else, that says something about THEIR worth or appeal. The things is, it usually doesn't. Most people find more than one person in t...

I just want to come in again to tell you that this seriously kept making my day all day yesterday. This has been a long time coming, and I've been holding out hope for this for a while, paired with the hope you can get away from this so you can really start your own life pursuing what you really wan...

You probably knew already I would feel this way, but...

THIS IS SO FREAKING AWESOME.

I am so, so happy for you, tadpole, and so ecxited you got yourself to this place. You rock!

If it helps, I have personally struggled with insomnia during a lot of my life, and what I have found has helped more than anything with my sleep is improving my rest. In other words, when I have good habits with just rest -- with taking some time each day to do something where my body and mind are ...

From the department of I Wish I Had Known Then What I Know Now with this, I can pitch in that due to a combination of abuse and assault, poverty and working too much in general, I went without eating a lot growing up and through my 20s. In a word, I basically learned to dismiss feelings of hunger, i...