I’m a man. Only ever dated, been attracted to women. Recently I met this guy and I’m having weird feelings. I can’t quite tell if I’m attracted to him as a person or just like the way he treats me; nonetheless something makes me want to treat him differently than any other guys - the way I would a girl I suppose. My friends say I might be attracted to femininity in general regardless of gender and that’s why I feel this way, and the reason why it hasn’t surfaced until now is because I haven’t yet met a guy to tick those boxes. Wondering if anyone has been through something similar.

  • De_Narm@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    Quite honestly, I never questioned my sexuality. Naturally, I’ve been attracted to others before, I can recognize this feeling quite clearly. Which labels others put on me because of that really doesn’t matter to me, so I don’t think about them. I simply go for it if I feel attraction.

    Of course, only go for it if you’re single and while it never applied to me or you in this case, don’t go for illegal things. If something like bestiality or pedophilia ever came up I would start questioning myself and consider therapy.

  • nifty@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    You’re gonna get sampling bias from the responses here. I guess you should ask why you care about asking this question. If you always liked apples but all of a sudden there’s a type of orange you like, would you question why you like this orange, or would you just accept that you like this type of orange, or maybe you like both apples and oranges. If you both you like each other, and want something then that’s all that should matter.

  • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz
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    23 days ago

    Yes. And it sucked. And it still sucks.

    Within the last few year, I’ve finally realized I’ve been asexual my whole life. I’ve had sex before, but I struggled to care about it or enjoy it. It was always inconvenient, messy, went on too long, etc. I had enjoyed spending time with my partners, but I hated sex, and that’s been a huge part of all my relationships.

    And, yes, I’ve had “good sex” before. Just like someone who hates pie can have the best pie ever, it’s still pie!

    I’ve sworn off relationships until I can figure it out, but god knows that every romantic relationship will require sex to let my partner know that I care about them and their needs. I’m sick of compromising. Why the fuck should I need to compromise on something that I don’t want or like? Plus, because I’m not into it, I’m sure my partner would want someone who puts in enthusiastic effort to the endeavor.

    Don’t tell me that I’ll find someone. It’s not comforting, and I’m still grappling with the reality of it. I’d like a partner, but it’s just not feasible for someone like me.

    I’m still mad that I’m like this.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      went on too long

      Well you’ve certainly never been with me then!

      Ok, now that the shit talking is out of the way, I really hope you do find exactly who you’re looking for.

      • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz
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        23 days ago

        Lol I’ve been with all kinds. Long or short, it’s just not an act I’m into. But I remember a time when it went on for what seemed like a near unbearably long time, but the guy seemed very proud of himself, so I didn’t want to rain on his parade. Felt like mental torture just waiting for it to be over.

    • Tanis Nikana@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      I just wanna let you know that it’s possible, out there. I have an asexual wife, and we don’t do any sex, but we’re sickeningly heavy on the romance.

      Those types of people are out there!

    • Firestorm Druid@lemmy.zip
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      23 days ago

      Without wanting to sound ignorant, wouldn’t finding another ace person help here? Since both would be coming into the relationship with the same set of “goals” and the same mindset

        • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz
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          23 days ago

          That’d be great, if A). ace folks weren’t VERY far and VERY few between, and B). “I’m an ace who actively sex.” Because apparently that’s a thing with 0 differentiation, which makes everything 100000% more frustrating.

      • dingus@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        The problem is that ace people are so incredibly rare that you’re not going to just stumble upon them in the wild. I have similar frustrations as the person you’re responding to. I can never really have that kind of deep relationship with someone because I’m not compatible with 99.99% of people on the planet.

        There are dating websites that are asexual focused, but that doesn’t mean they are densely populated. I go back to these now and then and it’s rather frustrating how few people exist on these websites. I have yet to match with someone who will respond to me, is in my desired age range (not 10+ years older or younger), and is within a day’s driving distance from me.

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          22 days ago

          I know tons of ace people but from a specific fandom. My wife (who is ace) is super into the show Our Flag Means Death. I liked it to, but I’m not a super fan like they are. We’ve met people at conventions into the show and many are ace. The show features a ton of LGBTQ characters. So maybe finding queer media and people into that media is a good way for you to find other asexual folks.

    • Doesntpostmuch@possumpat.io
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      23 days ago

      Have you considered a poly relationship? If your partner(s) get sexually satisfied elsewhere, it may not be an issue

      • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz
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        23 days ago

        I have. Tried to do the poly thing a few times, but the folks involved were far too emotionally messy for a serious relationship.

        That would probably be the way I’d want to go, but, personally, I’ve seen very very very very few poly relationships with a good dynamic between partners, remained chill, and were emotionally healthy.

    • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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      23 days ago

      god knows that every romantic relationship will require sex to let my partner know that I care about them and their needs

      That’s not true. And it’s extra not true if you let your partner satisfy their sexual needs with other people.

      • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz
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        23 days ago

        I actually have tried it before and gave up after a few separate times.

        I’m super super super open to poly relationships, but it seems like most folks who are also looking for/in poly stuff are not emotionally mature enough to make it work properly.

        The pool is barely a puddle with all the requirements to make my particular situation work out. I’m just working to kind of accept my fate, at this point.

  • palordrolap@fedia.io
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    23 days ago

    Whenever I question myself, which isn’t often, it’s very easy to check with the Internet, if you catch my drift, but as yet, I very much do not want to see any of that. My preference is clearly the opposite.

    But then, for some people, including me, images and real people are very different things. I think I could be somewhere close to demisexual or demiromantic, for example. My instinct is to try to get to know someone really well if I find them even slightly attractive. In older-school phrasing, you might say I’m not the sort of person who is interested in one-night stands.

    Your specific situation is one I’ve heard of before and have considered if I could find myself, unexpectedly, with another guy, whatever he might look like. Stranger things have happened, but it’s hard to imagine.

    When I was double-checking sexuality definitions just now, I found this page: https://rainbowandco.uk/blogs/what-were-saying/sexuality-definitions which happens to list “finsexual” which fits pretty well with your description. Something to think about, maybe.

    But whatever’s going on with your good friend there, I wish you the best, whatever that might mean.

  • MySkinIsFallingOff@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    I think that in reality, every human can relate to this post. Straight, gay, bi, asexual. You meet a person that makes you go “what the fuck is happening?”.

    My opinion is that it doesn’t really mean (or necessarily equate) that you want to have sex with the person. For myself, I consider myself to be heterosexual although I wish I was bisexual. I do however consider myself to be biromantic, and could very well see myself in a relationship with someone of the same gender. The difference is that when I’ve envisioned or been close to trying the sex part, I get actually physically nautious. Not to say “gays make me sick” but, uh 😂😂 Me personally having gay sex makes me sick.

  • Doll_Tow_Jet-ski@fedia.io
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    23 days ago

    I can somewhat relate. To quote Maddy Morphosis, I am a gender-non-conforming straight cis male, which to me means my sexual preferences and gender role are somewhat fixed in how I present myself, but I find myself attracted to femininity way more than masculinity when it comes to the people I sorround myself with. That means my sexual partners, friends, and people I keep close are all more affeminate or closer to femininity. In practice this results in my preferring to hang out with LGTBQI+ people more than masculine people, and I happily pick up some of that femininity for my own behavior

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    I am straight as a board, to my despair. Women are so beautiful and in general hold up better as we get older, it would be so lovely to know I could switch teams if my husband died or we divorced, my kids say I should date women next time if there is a next time but alas, I’ve tried and there is nothing. It’s men for me.

    I would argue that being attracted to individuals regardless of their gender is the most natural and reasonable sexuality there is, though. I think of bisexuality or pansexuality as the default setting for humans - we don’t have a mating season or anything, we use sexuality for all sorts of non- reproductive reasons. My kids were raised with no pressure to be straight or not, 3/4 of them are queer, 2 of those lean gay one leans hetero, but as preference not orientation if that makes sense. One is as straight as I am, it’s an orientation.

  • ABCDE@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    I identify as bi but I don’t really find myself attracted to outwardly masculine or ‘normal’-looking guys, often, as you said, femininity is a thing, and consideration. There’s also the pansexual concept which transcends traditional borders. I do find enby peeps attractive too.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    I saw gay porn once and was immediately sure that I’m hetero. That’s definitely not the flavor for me. If how I felt is how gay people feel when they see hetero sex in movies, then you guys have my condolences. Yuck!

    • TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works
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      23 days ago

      romantic and sexual aren’t always the same You can be sexually attracted to one sex but not the other, or both, or none (ignoring genders for the sake of simplicity).
      But it’s totally fair to feel that way, it’s not for everyone haha

  • P1nkman@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    I was curious, so my friend who bi let me go down on him. It was not my thing lol. Cunilingus, however 🤤

  • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
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    23 days ago

    I think gayness is a spectrum. Likewise, I think emotions are not back and white. So you could have some feelings for this guy, you could be confused, and if this was ancient Greece you probably would have slept with him by now, but whether you see him as a partner or a little brother you want to protect is a conscious choice you can make.

  • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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    22 days ago

    First, romantic attraction isn’t the same as sexual attraction. Do you want to spend time with them or fuck them?

    Second, honestly I somewhat wish I was attracted to men, but I’m not. I’ve known gay/bi men who are attractive, but I’m not attracted to. I’m not off put by men by any means, but there’s zero sexual attraction to them for me. If this isn’t the case for you, then you may be interested in men but repressing it because you haven’t considered it before.

    This is something you have to figure out for yourself. Consider the idea of sleeping with them and if that idea is interesting to you then I guess you’ve learned something new about yourself. Just like being attracted to women doesn’t mean you’re attracted to all women, the same is true for men and maybe you just hadn’t met a man that does it for you until now.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    I spent years questioning my orientation because of how rare and mild my attraction to men was. It wasn’t until I started hormones and it went away completely before I realized definitively that yeah I had been attracted to men.

    My question for you is, do your labels matter more, or your desires? And it’s ok to use the questioning label

  • vonbaronhans@midwest.social
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    23 days ago

    I am straight, but my social media habits put me into a lot of contact with memes from gay, lesbian, pan, and everything else under the sun. A lot of it seems relatable, even if I never experience those same feelings IRL with real people. Definitely makes me question my sexuality semi regularly, lol.