Love + Relationships
Unleash your sexuality and dive into the human experience.
Why I Don't Care About My Labels, and You Shouldn't Care About Mine Either
Over the past five years, I have identified as every label from the acronym LGBTQ. When I was 13, I was convinced I was bisexual. During that year, I conflicted between identifying as a lesbian and bisexual, eventually settling on bisexual after a few months of internal debate.
By skittly boo7 years ago in Humans
The Fear Within
Getting ready for work. I've taken a shower, gotten dressed and brushed my teeth. It's a typical Tuesday afternoon. I feel like today is going to be a good day. I say this while in the comfort of my own house. But, as I start getting ready to leave, I grab my keys and phone, put on my jacket and take a deep breath.
By Stacey Jimenez7 years ago in Humans
Singleness
It is often said, true happiness involves another person. Happiness starts with self-acceptance but self-acceptance is usually found with the help of someone else. All over the internet we see picture and status updates of people in relationships. They look happy, smiles as wide as their cheeks can expand, hands close with fingers intertwined. The videos they post are the cutest (or so we tell them) and we (the singles) cannot help but wish we had a hand to hold, a picture to snap and a person to look at with googly eyes.
By Jasmine Davis7 years ago in Humans
Nobody Gave Me an Owner's Manual for My Vagina
I've been thinking a lot about vaginas this week. I suspect anyone who owns one actually thinks and worries about it quite a bit. I also suspect those who don't own one think about them a lot too. Maybe I'm thinking about vaginas because I'm going in for clinical treatments again and that means I will have a lot of nurses and doctors poking around down there. Maybe it's because I'm reading feminist manifestos again. Maybe it's because my uterine lining is shedding, I'm bleeding like someone shived me, and it hurts like a sonuvabitch. Whatever the impetus for this train of thought is, I've been thinking about muffs, vags, minges, lady bits, pussies, cunts, twats, caverns, holes, carpets, mounds, vulvas, etc., etc. and now I'm gonna write about them.
By Sarah Sparks7 years ago in Filthy
Defiled
Waking up in the middle of the night. Every day I feel this fright. The nightmare I relive each night. Once was enough seeing his face. I feel distrust. Betrayal of the family I once knew. Nightmare every night I fear. Afraid to wake up the people that sleep beside me with my screams. All I see is the anxiety I feel. The air in my body tenses. I can't breathe. I take the pill that releases the fear. His smile haunts me. His touch makes me feel him. I can't be around him. My nightmare has been relived. Through everything in my body, I release the pressure of my nightmare. I relive this almost every night. This was the onset of my depression. I worked through this but I still feel as if it was my fault. I feel as I let it happen. I trusted him. He was family and he defiled my innocence. I covered my body, withdrew from everything I loved. I even self-medicated for the longest time. I tried to take my own life. I thought cutting myself would make everything better. It really didn’t, it just made things worse. I can’t even see his face anymore. I still think about it occasionally. I was only a teenager when it happened. I deal with not trusting men. I won’t even trust my own family. It hurts to speak about it. Hurts to think about it, but I had to move on. I had to let go. I had to make sure that I forgave them. That was the hardest part. It took me five years to forgive him. I can’t let what happened continue to ruin my life. It took me almost ten years to learn to love myself again. It took even longer for me to learn to love again. I am now in a very loving relationship. So, as I look back on it I asked myself questions. Why as survivors can we not talk about being raped. Years go by and a woman still won’t speak of it. They go unreported. They fear the attackers. Living in fear of it happening again, protecting the heart. The hardest part people don’t realize about a survivor is the ability to learn to trust again. Once we learn to trust again, we put all trust in that person. Losing trust takes years to gain back. Another hard thing a survivor must do is learn how to love. It may be of the most dangerous thing we do as survivors. We tread super lightly. It will always take more time but we can love. No matter how much therapy we get we will never be fixed. We can talk until we feel everything is better, but in the back of our mind it’s always there. It always haunts us. Keeps us from loving fully. Our hearts stay protected. There are walls put up. Guards put into place to make sure we never get hurt again. So, asking a survivor to put trust in you or to love you is a tough task. We hide our feelings, and make sure everyone thinks we are okay. But in all reality on the inside we are crumbling, screaming, or just wanting to be held. It takes time, patience, and the ability to want to help. Survivors still need a support system. I do want to tell any survivors of rape that it was not your fault. Things will get a lot better. Nothing will begin to feel the same until you forgive the person who defiled you. You are wanted.
By Danyelle Lewinson7 years ago in Humans
Love After Baby If You Are Single
How do you feel? You must be tired, cranky, covered in baby puke and other things. Those things don't help a relationship, but they are perfectly normal. So if you are single already or want out of your relationship, here are the things you should know and what people probably won't tell you.
By Holly colman7 years ago in Humans
My Last Love
This story starts a few years ago. She caught my eye but I couldn't say a word. I spent an entire year sitting just feet from the girl of my dreams. Love at first sight. Never able to do more than shyly smile as we passed each day. In my mind we were just too different. She loved being in class and was great at math. I loved missing class to go outside and smoke with the guys and couldn't stand being near math. Every time I looked at her my heart skipped and she never noticed me, which I was pretty used to anyways. Years later after a lot of bad choices and A LOT of ruining my mind with violence and alcohol I ran across her at Walmart. Just walking around with a friend from the same math class and the most beautiful girl in the world walks across my path once again.
By David Coon III7 years ago in Humans
Let's Talk Pride
June is Pride month. Throughout this month I have seen and shared a number of posts celebrating the month and the queer community. However, I have also seen posts against the queer community and saying they don't understand why we feel the need to celebrate Pride. They provide a number of reasons for what they think; they think it is about queer's shoving sex in other's faces, about a sense of superiority, or any other number of assumptions. The truth is, these assumptions are incorrect. Pride is not about any of these things, although some people who participate likely feel these. However, Pride is part of a bigger picture.
By J.C. Marie7 years ago in Humans