Your first love/crush

[Prowler]

They say we all have one. What was yours like?

Well, I wouldn't call it love, because let's face it, what does a kid know about love? There was this girl in my 9th grade class who I found quite pretty and would have definitely liked to get involved with her. But she had a boyfriend throughout the whole year who was also form my class and he was actually a decent dude overall, so there wasn't anything I could do and I knew it right from the very first day.

Boring story, I know. But I'm sure some of you might have more interesting ones.

[Leo656]

I fell hard for a girl I met the first day of Kindergarten, when I saw that she brought Ghostbusters action figures in for Show N Tell. We were very close friends for years after that, but her parents were very "old-school Jewish" (I was raised Catholic) and of the type who only wanted their kids playing with other Jewish kids, so when they had another kid they moved the family away, and when me and the girl talked on the phone a couple of times they immediately had the number changed so we could never talk again. That was pretty heartbreaking.

They were always kind of "Cold" to me, even when I was 5. My Dad was no bullsh*tter, he'd say things even if they were outside of my understanding, and so whenever I'd say "I don't think her parents like me" he'd be like "They only like Jewish people, some of 'em are like that." But he had a history of saying kinda nutty things, so I just dismissed it. Until years later I found out yeah, some of them very much ARE like that, and it really was 100% of the reason this girl's parents never even wanted us to talk, let alone hang out. The girl herself confirmed it a couple of times, including the last time we spoke, and while she wasn't thrilled with it, she was also like 8, so what can you do?

So yeah, some hard lessons all OVER that f*cking story. I still wonder what she's up to but her name is so incredibly common there's no way I'd ever find her unless I knew her parents' names too, and I don't. Ah well. It's weird, I actually still know and talk to more people I knew in Kindergarten than most people probably do, but not this One Person who I'd actually like to know what happened to. ((Shrug))

I wouldn't go so far as to say "Kids don't know about love." Maybe not the minutiae, or that it fades, or that the feeling you get when you meet someone you like only lasts about 5 minutes and after that it's Actual Work, but I always had very strong feelings of care for everyone I was ever attached to, friends or otherwise. It's a huge drawback with me, actually, I feel really strongly for people and it inevitably comes back to bite me when it turns out they were only ever half into it. Girlfriends, friends... I was always in it 100%, only to find out they weren't, and that always sucks. As I've gotten older, I've tried to mitigate this by trying harder to keep people from getting close, since I figure one day they'll just tap out anyway, but it rarely works and I usually end up getting attached anyway.

Like I SAY that I don't like people but I actually do. That sh*t is f*cking dangerous, I don't recommend it.

[Andrew NDB]

When I was in 4th grade I fell in love with a girl named Nina. She was huge into Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. We'd talk about Castlevania all the time.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I fell hard for a girl I met the first day of Kindergarten, when I saw that she brought Ghostbusters action figures in for Show N Tell. We were very close friends for years after that, but her parents were very "old-school Jewish" (I was raised Catholic) and of the type who only wanted their kids playing with other Jewish kids, so when they had another kid they moved the family away, and when me and the girl talked on the phone a couple of times they immediately had the number changed so we could never talk again. That was pretty heartbreaking.

They were always kind of "Cold" to me, even when I was 5. My Dad was no bullsh*tter, he'd say things even if they were outside of my understanding, and so whenever I'd say "I don't think her parents like me" he'd be like "They only like Jewish people, some of 'em are like that." But he had a history of saying kinda nutty things, so I just dismissed it. Until years later I found out yeah, some of them very much ARE like that, and it really was 100% of the reason this girl's parents never even wanted us to talk, let alone hang out. The girl herself confirmed it a couple of times, including the last time we spoke, and while she wasn't thrilled with it, she was also like 8, so what can you do?

So yeah, some hard lessons all OVER that f*cking story. I still wonder what she's up to but her name is so incredibly common there's no way I'd ever find her unless I knew her parents' names too, and I don't. Ah well. It's weird, I actually still know and talk to more people I knew in Kindergarten than most people probably do, but not this One Person who I'd actually like to know what happened to. ((Shrug))

I wouldn't go so far as to say "Kids don't know about love." Maybe not the minutiae, or that it fades, or that the feeling you get when you meet someone you like only lasts about 5 minutes and after that it's Actual Work, but I always had very strong feelings of care for everyone I was ever attached to, friends or otherwise. It's a huge drawback with me, actually, I feel really strongly for people and it inevitably comes back to bite me when it turns out they were only ever half into it. Girlfriends, friends... I was always in it 100%, only to find out they weren't, and that always sucks. As I've gotten older, I've tried to mitigate this by trying harder to keep people from getting close, since I figure one day they'll just tap out anyway, but it rarely works and I usually end up getting attached anyway.

Like I SAY that I don't like people but I actually do. That sh*t is f*cking dangerous, I don't recommend it.

Well, I was a late bloomer. I didn't start feeling attraction to girls until about... 7th grade?

I barely remember kindergarten. Can't even remember anyone's name from that time. And I haven't seen or talked to anyone from before 9th grade in over a decade. Then again I was never very social and thus don't have any childhood friends.

They say kinds emulate their parents relationship. Well, my father died a few days before I was born. And my mother never dated again after he died. So I grew up without seeing an adult couple in my household. Maybe that's why I wasn't very aware of romance besides what I saw on TV? To me it was a really alien concept.

I've told this story before but my mother told me when I was a kid that while I could date or marry any woman I wanted she'd find it odd and hard to accept if it was to a black woman. Well, I'm not attracted to black women, so she didn't really need to worry about that. She'd also find it bizarre if I married an Indian or a Chinese woman as well. So your example of parents not wanting their kids to date outside of their religion, ethnicity or culture is hardly a rare thing. In fact, I'd say in many parts of the globe it's worse than in the West. And even in the West a lot of older people don't like that. My mother and other older relatives I had simply could not understand the idea of white people dating and marrying black people. And it's not like that was ever illegal in my country like it was in the US or South Africa.

Racism is a global thing.

[Leo656]

Yeah see kids bloom very early in my family. I was already sneaking downstairs to watch boobs on TV when I was 3 and 4 and apparently my nephew independently turned out the exact same way when he was that age, groping his older sister's friends, trying to spy on them getting dressed and all that stuff. My female cousin was already into kissing boys when she was 4 or 5. Some people are just born "hot to trot" I guess. I don't think anyone really understands it because I don't think you can legitimately study it without being put on a watch list somewhere.

Like even when I was 3 or 4 I would "play with myself" even though obviously nothing would come of it. I just knew I liked to look at naked girls and it made me feel funny in the pants, so I'd swipe one of my Dad's Playboys and sit up late with a flashlight, dry-humping the blanket. Didn't know what it meant, just did it compulsively. "This feels right". Or like how they say some kids don't get erections until they hit puberty but other kids do, I always did since pretty much birth and I always wondered why but nobody bothered to tell me until I was "of appropriate age". So for my entire childhood I'd wonder why sometimes I got boners in gym class and why girls would point and giggle, and I never got an answer until I was like 11 or 12, that kind of annoyed me.

I know that's all pretty atypical, but again, it seems to be somewhat common in my family for most kids to "wake up" very young. I'm sure there's a reason, I mean nothing happens for NO reason... but I doubt we'll ever know, because seriously, how would you even study that phenomenon?

As for memory, I can't explain that either but for some reason I have a lot of stuff going back almost to the very beginning. Most of the way early stuff is hazy and more like just "moments" or "feelings" but it's still in there. One time in my mid-20s, my Dad and I were having a really bad argument, and he was insisting I was making sh*t up about how he'd used to treat me when I was little, how bad him and my Mom would treat me sometimes, and he's like "You couldn't even remember that far back!" So I dropped a bunch of sh*t going back pretty much to the crib and he was legit shook; stuff I'd seen, heard, and been part of which at the time it happened they clearly said/did figuring "No way he'll ever remember, anyway." By the time I was describing the little music box pillow in my crib with my name sewed into it in gold stitching, and the little gold key you turned to make it play music, we weren't even arguing anymore, he was just more shook how I could even remember stuff from when I was like, 1. "How do you even remember that?! You didn't even still have that thing by the time you were like, 3!" I'm just like "I don't know, man." I mean I couldn't even read, I just somehow "knew" that the letters on the pillow were my name.

I honestly remember MUCH more of my life between the ages of 1 and 10, than I do between 20 and 30, if not 20 to 40. Once I started working and life became wall-to-wall misery, I have HUGE black spots in an otherwise-very sharp memory because my brain was working overtime to suppress all the trauma. Whereas the first 10 years of my life were mostly Good-to-Great and I think that's maybe why I remember them so well, I probably made a very conscious effort to hold onto that stuff, whereas after becoming an adult it's almost all things I'd much rather forget and so it mostly got blocked out. I have lots and lots of childhood memories, and very few of adulthood that aren't just going to work and going to sleep.

It is kind of amazing how completely disparate human beings' wiring can be, with regard to just about anything. I think it's why it's ultimately so hard for human beings to truly relate to each other, there is no truly "universal" experience because everyone's head is wired totally differently.

[Prowler]

Wait what? Kids don't get erections until they hit puberty? Because I sure as hell remember getting them way before I reached puberty, despite being a late bloome. The only difference being they were pretty random and I had no clue why my dick got hard all of a sudden. But I didn't dislike it when that happened either.

I think I only realised what sex looked like when I accidentally saw porn on TV and the Internet when I was in 5th grade. For some reason, it had never occurred to me that male genitalia fit into female genitalia and that's how reproduction worked.

I was a bit disturbed and grossed out at first, but also it was a kind of "can't help but look" feeling, you know? So I guess I was already blooming by then but didn't realise it. It's not something that just happened overnight.

No one in my 4th grade class had a bf/gf. We all still were in that phase where the opposite sex had cooties. In 5th grade there was a guy or two who had gfs but that's all.

I definitely remember lots of moments from when I was a kid but very few before I was 5-6.

[Leo656]

I think SOME kids don't get them until puberty but that at like 3-5 it's still considered a bit "weird", pretty sure most kids don't get them quite that young.

It's not like it was an openly discussed topic on the playground back then or anything. All I had was a book my parents left out laying around because they didn't wanna have The Talk properly. To their credit, that book did a better job than they would have, anyway. For a couple of people who each went out having lots of indiscriminate sex with half the people they knew, talking about it was a whole other story. Like if I asked what a "wet dream" was, by the way they'd clam up you'd think I'd asked why Mom was hugging so-and-so's Dad without her shirt or pants on... again.

[Prowler]

I've never had The Talk with my mother either. And honestly it would have been very difficult and awkward to have such a conversation with her anyway. I don't like to think about the fact my parents had sex. That's gross. . I definitely do NOT want to know details of that.

So yeah, I don't think it would have been a very productive conversation to have with her. I vaguely remember her saying that if she had a daughter, she'd have taken her to a family planning meeting around the time she was 15 or something. But well, she had two sons, so obviously there was no need for that. . And she did tell us that she always wanted sons instead of daughters because girls are more difficult to raise and deal with. She didn't raise any girls but she was a school teacher, so she was well aware of how kids acted in general. Even women admit daughters are a bigger pain than sons

[Leo656]

My parents and I had a closet that connected our bedrooms, and none of the bedrooms had doors on them for a few years after we moved in. It was impossible to NOT see or hear things.

I only WISH that walking in on my parents having sex was the most traumatizing thing that happened to me by age 5. Not even close! Also wish that was the last time that happened. Not even close!

...Also wish it was only My Other Parent that I caught either of my parents having sex with. Again... Not Even Close!!!

I'unno why my Mom would get so mad at Dad if I saw one of his Playboys laying around, or one of his "titty movies" on the TV. To this day I think I was more mentally scarred by the fact she was f*cking so many of my friends' Dads and acting like it wasn't a big deal. But if I saw boobs on TV she'd flip out that I was gonna grow up to be a sick, twisted pervert.

I mean, to her credit, I DID, but I hardly think the example she set was any "better".

[Cowabung-Gal]

My first crush was a lanky nerd in the 6th grade.

[IndigoErth]

Vague puppy love thing with fellow kindergartner. Would occasionally find each other on the playground later in 1st through 3rd since the darn busing program sent us both in town. Back to the first school for 4th and 5th, no same classes, rare hallway sightings. After that we must have ended up in separate schools, or maybe he moved.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't occasionally wondered what he turned into as an adult. Sadly I think the name is too common and I never could find a local one with it (or at least hometown) on FB.

First not-so-vague one... 4th grade. But I wasn't the only one, so didn't bother counting on any chances.

edit: Not really any loss though, think it was him who my mom once some years later saw a birth announcement for (as the father), as well as one for his sister not terribly long before or after, both of them having become teen parents. (Separately of course, this isn't Arkansas. lol) Real good teaching happening in that family.

[Leo656]

I was a total horndog in Kindergarten and 1st Grade, man. I had a LOT of crushes, and I still remember lots of their names, too. Kelly R. with the black hair, who'd tease me for being "weird" but would get all excited if her seat was assigned next to mine. Lindsay S. with the blonde ponytail, who often wore the same kinda denim outfit DJ Tanner did on the earlier episodes of Full House when she went horseback riding a lot. Michelle M., who sat behind me in 1st Grade, who once accidentally unbuttoned her shirt entirely and casually announced "Whoops, my boobies are out!", and then proceeded to crack up laughing when I instinctively (and involuntarily) spun around so hard to look that I fell out of my chair. To her credit, she was a good sport about that one; she just laughed and was like "Too late, sorry!" Lots of others I don't remember as well.

I was already getting little notes sent home from the teachers saying "He pays too much attention to the girls," and my Dad was like "That ain't a problem, that's how you know there's nothing wrong with him."

By Junior High, though, forget about it. I wasn't really able to try and chat up or flirt with any girls at that phase - these kids had all been picking on me since we were all 5 so I'd already made peace with the fact that my only shot at "hooking up" was gonna be when we got to High School and nobody knew me there - but even though I wasn't actively pursuing anyone, I had a VERY attractive class, only like two fat girls and only one or two you'd even call "ugly", the rest were no worse than "kinda plain", and so I pretty much had my own little "fantasy reel" in my head for any one of a few dozen girls I knew. I'd get home from school and be locked in the bathroom for a goddamn hour.

What's interesting is, not only did all the "hot" chicks I knew in high school and junior high NOT fulfill the stereotype of getting fat and burnt out later on in life, most of them actually got hotter, somehow. The dudes all mostly went completely to sh*t from all the drinking and smoking and whatnot, all mostly fat and bald now. But almost all the chicks who were hot Back Then just got bigger boobs and lost their "puppy fat" and now they're even better looking. You hear that it's all downhill for most people after high school, and for the guys I knew that was very much true, but the chicks I went to school with mostly aged like wine.

I keep tellin' ya man, they gotta be putting something in the water in Jersey.

[Prowler]

From 1st to 4th grade all I cared about were cartoons, video games, toys and such. And I hated seeing romance on TV. Which is also part of the reason why I liked TMNT and Tintin. There's barely any romance in TMNT and Tintin has pretty much zero romance. Just action, comedy and adventure.

Unlike your average teenager I never had a gf when I was in HS, let alone sex. While most of my peers were already dating, drinking alcohol, smoking weed, partying, etc., I was still more interested in games, anime, wrestling, etc.

I don't think I missed out on much tbh, but they do say people who first get into a relationship when they're adults will have a hard time adapting if they never had one when they were kids, especially if they're dating someone who already has experience. But whatever. It's not a race. People shouldn't be pressured to date and lose their V-card so early.

[Andrew NDB]

Definitely from 4th grade up I was very romantically minded. I had a "sort of" girlfriend when I was in 9th grade but didn't really have a proper girlfriend until sophomore year.

[Leo656]

See, Prowler, I was the opposite; if I watched a show, after I picked a favorite character I'd then pick out who The Hot Chick was. And if there wasn't a chick I'd wanna f*ck, I didn't even bother watching the show. Cartoon or live-action, didn't matter, if I couldn't see at least the shape of Boobs N Butts I was like, "F*ck is this sh*t? NO ass on this show, sh*t's for babies." Even with TMNT, whenever me and my buddies would talk about it, we'd get bored with discussing actual plots and "My Favorite Turtle could beat up Your Favorite Turtle" stuff very quickly and inevitably turn the conversation to "So which Turtle is April f*cking on the sly? Who the f*ck hangs out with FOUR guys and isn't f*cking ANY of them? At least ONE of them is hittin' that, that's just common sense!"

That's how our Kid Brains worked. Not "Ewww, inter-species" or "Ewww, kissy stuff" or whatever. "Well, April hangs out with four teenage guys every day, she's hot and teen guys are horny, so yeah, math says she's a kinky freak who keeps it on the down-low."

As for being in a race to lose one's virginity, I agree in the abstract that people make too big a deal out of it, but at the same time, it's not like you get points for holding onto it either. I could've waited, but I was one of those kids who always got picked on so when a chick threw herself at me and was insistent we go there, I was definitely not gonna care that I barely even liked or tolerated her otherwise, I just went for it. There's a chance I probably wouldn't have gotten laid until after high school, otherwise. I was never much of a go-getter, back then. I mean not for nothin', but when you hear "No girl's ever gonna like you" since you're 5, you eventually start believing it, you don't think it's just "Dumb Kids Being Dumb Kids", they say you're gross and nobody'll ever wanna kiss you and so you just accept that as reality. You can't use "They're just dumb kids" as a frame of reference when you are also a Dumb Kid, you just take it like it's serious.

What became infuriating to find out years after the fact was that multiple girls I wanted very badly to f*ck in High School DID in fact want to f*ck, but I never went for it. Because I believed them when they told me in plain English they weren't interested. The one girl, we were good buddies but she'd be all like "I know you wanna f*ck me... sorry, not gonna happen." And on one hand, that hurt, because she was a pretty big slut and she'd f*cked most of our other friends, even the guys she hated or the ones who hated her, just because "Ah well, you're here... wanna f*ck?" And she was pretty hot, so even the guys who hated her were like "Bro, I ain't stupid!" So then YEARS later, her and my wife end up being friends, and she says to her, "Y'know what's f*cked up is that we SHOULD'VE f*cked but never did. I couldn't believe he never made a move, like what the hell, are you STUPID? All he had to do was ask, I was f*cking WAITING for him to ask!" And my wife was like, "Yeah, he told me, he never made a move because you said it was never gonna happen!" And the chick was like, "Oh my GOD he f*cking thought that was SERIOUS? Doesn't he know how this sh*t works? It's like a game!"

Like no, I clearly DON'T know how it works/is supposed to work and never did, and I don't know why if a chick wants to f*ck she'll say the exact opposite, then get mad if you take her words at face value.

So no, I haven't f*cked a ton of chicks, and I definitely could have f*cked much hotter ones, in theory. But the consolation is, there's no question about whether or not the ones I had sex with actually wanted to do it because they came to me, I didn't go to them. There's some solace in that, I think.

If I'd put myself out there more, who knows what might've happened. I don't take rejection well though so I just never played the game. And if you don't play the game, you lose by default.

[Vegita-San]

Originally Posted by Prowler

They say we all have one. What was yours like?

Well, I wouldn't call it love, because let's face it, what does a kid know about love? There was this girl in my 9th grade class who I found quite pretty and would have definitely liked to get involved with her. But she had a boyfriend throughout the whole year who was also form my class and he was actually a decent dude overall, so there wasn't anything I could do and I knew it right from the very first day.

Boring story, I know. But I'm sure some of you might have more interesting ones.

Some people I know get lucky with the first one they meet from high school, stay together, get married, have kids and are still together to this day.

My luck wasn't so great. mostly because I was a shy nerd who got made fun of and was rather insecure.

The first girl I ever asked out, took me months to work up the courage. we went to go see The Mighty Ducks, as I recall. I thought it went ok, so I asked again for a second attempt. This time, I thought we'd go see something a little older, so I choose Captain Ron. Either the movie wasn't her type,or just didn't find me interesting...because that was it. eventually I got the point after a year or so of trying that a third try wasn't going to happen. we shook hands, and left it at that.

I still think she was the one that got away...but I respected that initial decision and mostly stayed away in the dating regards.. we saw each other alot though through family friendly outings and such, as she lived right up the street. and are still friendly to this day. oddly, I think she respects me more now as she sees just how good I am around kids (she likes them, but I don't think she has the patience to raise them by herself, as her husband is mostly away for work alot of the time). God forbid, if a divorce ever happened, after giving her some time, I'd try again. a little slower this time around. But she's worth the wait.

What's even odder, is her name is Kristen. I struck out with TWO other Kristens, so the name is oddly following me. The first one was also in highschool, a bit later. Someone I knew from pre school from another town moved to the town I was in, and our mothers hooked up again on talking to each other. Didn't know her name was Kristen, but she was told to look out for me, and spotted me first, and I knew that was my type. tried an arcade this time. I thought it went TEN times better than the movies, but oddly NEVER went to a second date and to this day I'm still not sure why.

Third attempt was about 15 years later at a radio event. The ONLY lady there at a bowling/dating event that was close to my age, and definitely my type...and yep, another Kristen.

strike three, as she lived too far south of the state to make a quick date attemptable.

If I believed in a higher power, I'd think the good lord was trying to tell me something.

[Vegita-San]

Originally Posted by Leo656

If I'd put myself out there more, who knows what might've happened. I don't take rejection well though so I just never played the game. And if you don't play the game, you lose by default.

bingo. I eventually lost by not trying anymore. Insecurity doesn't help either. I get SO few smiles, that by the time one DOES happen, I'm walking WAY past the lady and THEN my brain registers, dumb ass, you should have said hello.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Definitely from 4th grade up I was very romantically minded. I had a "sort of" girlfriend when I was in 9th grade but didn't really have a proper girlfriend until sophomore year.

I went on a good number of "dates" (movies or the roller rink, no adult chaperone most times) starting in 5th Grade. Mostly with this girl Sara who I went with in 5th and 6th, and then my friend's ex Melissa from Union Beach in 7th and 8th.

First one just ended after a while - badly - because she was "hot" by 5th Grade standards, and she "fell in love" with me when she moved to town and got seated behind me but very soon realized that she could get much better-looking guys, and did so. We played make-up/break-up a few times but once it got out she let one of the other guys f*ck her in the bathroom stall during recess it was officially time to admit it just wasn't gonna work.

That was always a volatile situation, though, like she'd manipulate details of things to make her look good and me look bad. For example, with our very first date (going to see Wayne's World) there were several days of negotiation involved beforehand because, y'know... we were 10. By that age, if you went on a "date" to the movies, your parents dropped you off and picked you up in the lobby two hours later. Your Mom or Dad didn't sit there in the theater with you, not even "chaperoning" from the back row; that was "baby sh*t", by Age 10 you got dropped off and you tried to get some boob, and neither of you ever told your parents what you did, that was how it worked. ANYWAY. She's new in town, a girl, protective parents, blah blah, so okay, we negotiate, and she says "My parents won't let me go unless your Dad stays with us the whole time. I definitely wanna go but that's the only way they'll let me!" So it's a bummer, but like Fine, whatever. We went, nothing happened, Dad didn't embarrass me TOO much, all in all not a bad Friday or Saturday night, whatever it was.

...Until I get to school on Monday, and all the kids are laughing at me. I think I'm a King because I took the Hot New Girl on a date, and they're all laughing because "She said you made your DAD chaperone you guys on your date! What're you, 5 years old? HAH!" I told everyone who'd shut up for two seconds that SHE was the one who said we needed a chaperone or else she wasn't gonna be allowed to even go, but you know how kids are, they don't listen when they're busy picking on someone. When I confronted her, she swore that they had "misunderstood her". To her credit, though, we went on plenty of dates after that and she never asked for or mentioned a chaperone. So maybe they did misunderstand her, I don't know. Just seemed like a rib.

I got along better with the girl Melissa, and that went well for a while but she lived an hour away and went to a different school and so we hardly saw each other much. Then of course after two years of not giving me any sex because she "wasn't ready", immediately after we both started Freshman year she f*cked some guy at her school because "Well now I AM ready but you're too far away." All the luck, huh?

I'm still friendly with both of them, both married with kids now. I definitely dodged a bullet with the second one, she got HUGE. Real shame, she was rail-thin and had some rockin' D-Cups in Junior High (think she had a glandular problem). Last time I talked to the girl Sara we actually had a really long talk about everything that had gone on Back Then and put a lot of stuff to bed once and for all, that was nice. You normally don't get that kind of closure. She was in an accident and has some bad injuries and stuff she's dealing with, though, that's a real bummer.

So yeah I was "semi-active" in middle school and Junior High but it never did me much good. I'd spend a couple'a years building up a girl's self-esteem and then she'd turn around and f*ck the first better-looking guy who gave them any attention, that was pretty much the pattern.

[Prowler]

Well, Leo, nothing wrong with being an early bloomer as far as cartoon women goes. As long as you had fun with it that's what it matters.

No girl ever told me that no one would want to ever date me. I've only had guys accusing me of being gay, but every guy gets called gay or calls another guy gay at one point or another, so they probably were just messing with me. By the time I was in 10th grade two guys from my class kept telling me I was desperate for a girl because I was the only guy in class who hadn't had either a gf or had made out with a girl yet. I didn't let it bother me, but yeah, once you're 14 or so, most of your peers suddenly start dating, making out, getting partners, etc., and when you're the only guy who hasn't done any of that yet people will think you're weird or gay.

My immediate family never asked me about any stuff anyway. Just the occasional yearly event of my uncles coming in for dinner and my aunt asking me and my brother the classic question "so so you have a girlfriend yet?". Tbh that question your aunt asks you always comes across as mean spirited and as a way to embarrass you. Because if you answer "no" they'll start feeling sorry for you. If you actually had a gf you'd think she'd naturally come up in conversation anyway. Plus, your older relatives also always seem to think you're very handsome and could pull any girl for some reason. I dunno what the hell people did back in the day but considering how early most people got married and had kids 50+ years ago, I'm guessing there really wasn't anything else to do besides having sex. And girls were just expected to get a bf/husband when they were 18-19.

The sexual revolution happened in the 60s, and younger gens nowadays have less sex on average than the two previous ones did. It's an interesting pendulum shift in society.

Well, I wouldn't say being a virgin is something to be proud of, but nothing to be embarrassed of either. You won't die if you don't have sex. It's not like drinking water or eating food.

Anyway rarely do people ask others if they're virgins. So unless someone revelas it in a conversation no one will know. At most people might ask you if you have a gf or something and if you say no they might feel bad for you. It's kinda odd and annoying how society seems to think Single people are unhappy and that we all should strive to get in a relationship and married someday. Especially when nearly half of them end in a divorce these days. I find it odd when people who had lousy relationships or marriages try to convince you that having a gf or a spouse is the key to happiness.

[Vegita-San]

I'm rather ashamed. I could star in the 40 year old virgin and it'd be totally genuine. again, insecurity and failure is a bitch. should have happened 20 years ago.

What I'm not ashamed of is wasting it. I am not the 'Red Buret' ' type of guy. Although the older I get, it gets more and more tempting.