Struggling with Intimacy as an Autistic Person

I am strongly physical touch, but certain parts scare me. The best piece of advice I can give is this: As a Christian, I have been taught that intimacy is a beautiful gift from God with the right person. Yet, it varies. Some people crave physical touch, while others get panicky. The point is that it is okay. Give yourself the time and boundaries needed in your relationship. Respect comes with intimacy, so it is okay.

Yes! It sucks because my whole family is all physical affection for the love language. While I do love being held and cuddled and sometimes kissed by my wife, I still find it gross and while it brings me joy, I have to shower immediately after as my skin feels like it's not mine after anyone touches me.

good god yeah. i've found that its easier with certain people over others— a relationship of mine in the past made me feel super weird doing anything with physical intimacy (including cuddling and "tame" stuff), while my current relationship i love and crave physical intimacy. i do find, however, that when getting into a sexual situation, even if i'm super excited or into it, it can take a while to hype myself up to make any moves even if both my partner and i have given the OK to each other that we wanna do something intimate. since both of us are neurodivergent, i think that makes things easier.

I don't mind chaste kisses, but anything further I either a hit or a miss

yes! my boyfriend and i are both autistic and we try to communicate whenenver we're feeling overstimulated or not in the mood to do various intimate things. i can get overwhelmed very easily and it helps to already have a dialogue going, so you only do what youre comfortable with

I have a long term partner but sometimes I get too overstimulated for physical touch

It's so nice to not be the only one who feels like that. I couldn't have expressed that sentiment any better myself.

yes! eewww

I’ve never had anyone talk about this, yes!! I have very low sex drive overall but things like tongue with kissing is gross and uncomfortable, I’m a lesbian and oral sex I don’t really like to receive or give it unless I really just don’t think about what’s going on

Kissing has always been weird for me. And sometimes cuddling feels uncomfortable because I just can’t get the right position and I can get overstimulated. I have to be in the right mood. I’m ok with little quick kisses but making out is gross to me😭