So, I would say that if you just don't know the answer to any of those kinds of questions, it seems pretty clear this is not an amazing relationship meeting all or even most of your wants and needs. The question would then be: if it isn't that, is it something you want to stay in? And if so, is it a...

I'm glad to be able to help. Maybe if and when you see J a next time, you can just kind of evaluate him and the situation with some of what we've talked about in your lens? I hear you on the cost of therapy and how hard it is to access, especially speciality therapy. Are you someone who benefits fro...

Honestly, you'll be doing good at all of life, period, if you don't make anyone (who doesn't want to be ) pregnant or unhappy. :D But for sure, when there aren't STIs in the mix (or there are, but people are doing what they need to for themselves around them) and when an unwanted pregnancy risk isn'...

Hi there, mika. Welcome to the boards. If I'm getting what you mean, it's totally okay to like or be excited by body fluids like semen. A lot of people are. It's also totally safe to have your own semen anywhere on your body, and to pretty much do whatever you want with it. The only way your semen c...

Do you feel like you would know if this was an earnestly amazing relationship for you that was meeting all your wants and needs?

You're welcome. Bear in mind, too, that if your guts feelings override what I've said, I do think it's worth giving them their proper due. After all, you know yourself and this whole situation much better than I do. I do want to suggest, just as a thing to think about, that I think non-sexual friend...

I find that sometimes in these kinds of situations it helps to ask ourselves very direct questions and just push ourselves to answer them from our gut, rather than after thinking about them. For instance: • Does this relationship make you happy? • Does this relationship feel like a really integral p...

I'm sorry that this sat from Friday without an answer, Leo. Can I ask if you already have anything that you do to help yourself feel better with something else, besides your chest, that makes you feel insecure or self-conscious? For example, like if and when you maybe mean to say one thing but say s...

So, the hymen itself doesn't actually have any nerve endings. However, because it is tethered to/around the vaginal opening, which DOES have a whole lot of sensory nerve endings, if and when someone is touching any part of the hymen, they are necessarily engaging the vaginal opening, and it's nerves...

Hi there, and welcome to the boards. :) So, what words we use to describe our sexual identities aren't -- they really shouldn't be, anyway -- regulated by other people, because they are mostly meant for us, for and about ourselves. If "lesbian" feels like a right word for you, for yourself...

Hey there, Elle. You know, I hope this doesn't feel like a veer, but I've just read through the conversation so far, and if it's something you'd want to know, I'm not feeling this guy for you (and vice-versa) based on what I have read so far. It just feels like a mismatch for me in a few different w...

That kind of cycle is actually not at all unusual, especially for younger people. People's cycles are so diverse that something we know now is that it's actually pretty difficult to even define a "short" or "long" cycle in more general ways, rather than someone, based on their ow...

Oh gosh, you're welcome: happy to have been of help at all. Sorry we can only do so much to help!

I understand. It can often take experimenting to find what works for us -- different medications, a medication plus a certain kind of therapy, and life changes, too. By all means, if you're living in a place or family that makes you feel bad, that feeds your depression, that's also going to be hard ...

Talk therapy usually isn't very effective for depression, especially not by itself. It's usually medication that has a greater success rate. That might be something you can look into on your own with a doctor, regardless of what your parents think. (And I am so sorry they have been so dismissive of ...

So, I'd surmise that the big why here is probably your depression, and that this most likely would or will be something you'd experience to at least some degree with a partner, too, especially after the zing of new interactions or the newness of a relationship wears off. Are you getting any treatmen...

So, it sounds like this is a bigger issue that's also impacting your masturbation, but not just your masturbation. Usually anhedonia -- the term for not experiencing pleasure or joy in things -- is connected to issues like depression or anxiety. Are either or both of those things that you live with ...

Hey there. Can I ask if there are other ways in your life that you have been able to experience pleasure and really get into just the experience, without having any kind of goal? For instance, maybe with eating or cooking, with some kind of sport or movement, with a creative pursuit like making art ...

Desensitization creams and sprays are generally not something we advise. Some of them have ingredients that can irritate genital tissue of the user and their partner, but more to the point, we're really here for sex that accepts and honors what people's bodies can and can't do. We just know that app...

I'm really glad to hear that it lightened your burden. You're so welcome. I also get all of the ways you're talking about feeling here, and I think it's easy to see how, without knowing/learning how to manage fears, it's easy for them to get dialed up to top volume. It is scary to think about being ...

Hey there: since you're in the US healthcare system, the most efficient -- and most likely to be covered by your insurance or public health -- way for you to get the right healthcare for this would be for your therapist to share this information with your PCP (primary care provider), and then THEY c...

I want to start with this, in the hopes it will give you some immediate ease: When pregnant people report that "fluttering" they tend to romantically think it is the fetus. However, what that feeling usually is is gas. Secondly, there are usually VERY specific circumstances to people not k...

Target doesn't usually carry a wide selection of sex toys, but that said, if yours had something you wanted, I'd be pretty surprised if they carded you. And if they did, it's not like you'd be in any trouble for trying to buy something, since the legal issue isn't on the buyer, but the seller, end o...

Hi there. I think this needs to be the last response we put here when it comes to your scare, because it seems like the way your anxiety is operating, you're just having a hard time accepting and believing the facts. You got a negative result. What happened after the test sat isn't an indication of ...

Hey there. You do have to be a legal adult to go into sex toy shops in all states of the US, and because they can get in big legal hot water if they sell to minors, while they might not card at the door, I wouldn't advise buying from a shop until you're of age for that reason. It's tough to run an i...