Dating

Whether you call it dating, hanging out or hooking up, here’s information about the ways we can intentionally seek to get to know each other, particularly with an eye towards sexual or romantic connections.

Articles and Advice in this area:

Article
  • Cass Ball

It can feel like the world will end if you haven’t had sex or a sexual or romantic relationship by your mid-twenties. There are countless ways in which our culture puts pressure on young people to gain experience in romantic and sexual relationships. But truthfully, if you don’t have much, or even any, experience with dating and sex, you are not doomed to never experience romantic and sexual connection. The world also will not end.

Article
  • Sam Wall
  • Heather Corinna

A short, fast, sex ed summary about crushes, and some simple dos and don’ts when you have one.

Article
  • Sam Wall
  • Heather Corinna

A short, fast, sex ed summary about the bare basics of healthy relationships.

Advice
  • Mo Ranyart

I love this question, because it’s something I think doesn’t get discussed enough, and while I think the answer is fairly simple, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. I know the thought of asking someone out can be intimidating even to people who’ve done it before, so when you haven’t had any experience…

Announcement
  • Heather Corinna

Are you now or have you ever been floating and gooey or jangly and excited or blissed out or feeling downright tortured or just plain imploding from the giant wave of what even are all these freakishly distracting feelings? There’s a song here for that: even if you haven’t ever had a crush before you just might wind up feeling like you have one now.

Advice
  • Mo Ranyart

It sounds like this is really stressing you out. Hopefully I can help by answering your first question right off the bat: yes, this is normal. I think you’re right that the lack of contact could have been a factor in the cooling of your feelings towards your long-distance partners; that’s a common…

Article
  • Manola Secaira

As the children of immigrants in the U.S. look for love, a question emerges: how do you deal with the idea of losing your cultural identity?

Advice
  • s.e. smith

Hi Lily, Loneliness can be a real bummer, can’t it? Especially when you’re in a stage of transition — getting ready to go to college, leaving your old life behind — it’s easy to get a little anxious about what might lie ahead in the future. Take a deep breath, pour yourself a cup of tea, and let’s…

Advice
  • s.e. smith

Hi Gracie! What an honor to be trusted with your boyfriend’s first coming out conversation; picking the first person to talk to out loud about your sexuality can be very scary. It sounds like he loves and trusts you, but this revelation is raising some questions for you, which is understandable…

Article
  • Mo Ranyart
  • s.e. smith

Every relationship is different, and when you’re polyamorous, that means that you may have several different relationships going on all at once. One issue to think about is the relationship structure that works for you, and how to make it work with your partners. Remember that this can be in a constant state of evolution, but communication is necessary for changes to take place.