Feeling Alone With Sexual Anxiety

When I was younger yes. It is fine to be nervous with new things. The idea is to find someone whom you are comfortable with but even then it is normal to feel nervous; I still get shy even with my husband sometimes. This is what foreplay is for. Do what feels comfortable.

Wow! I love all the good information here. I agree masturbation is good and healthy,.. Though porn is not healthy and causes a lot of psychological harm when it comes to intimacy and causes a erectile dysfunction.

I get nervous talking during sex, and though I'm attracted to women, I can only manage to have sexual relationships with men. A lot like BenjaminDover above, I'm pan, but I have a hard time with anyone without a penis.

Yeah I kinda feel the same way but only about the opposite sex. Like I’m pansexual but as of the last two years I’ve only really been able to organically develop sexual and intimate relationships with people that have penises.

I think there are pretty valid points on both sides here but the way we are communicating isn't exactly efficient. I'd like to state that: I am not a medical professional (yet) Any advice one gives on this app should ask for reader digression. No advice is "unsolicited" advice is advice. Sources should be listed. If we call someone out we should temper our emotions and do best not to offend anyone. And I need that I need to read more carefully. Do we agree that's fair?

Hello, neuropsych major here. Masterbation is a perfectly healthy behavior. In fact, it's recommended you masterbate regularly to promote mental and physical health. That being said the issue here is Pornography Addiction; a very real, and commonly reported affliction. The effects this has on the reward circuit isn't well researched but it's been known to compound into symptoms like the sexual anxiety you're experiencing. I recommend contacting a mental health professional for therapy before taking any advice in this comment section. You might be able to find support groups on apps like discord and reddit from people experiencing the same problem. Here's a good article on what we know about Pornography Addiction so far: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C14&q=porn+addiction+&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&t=1666826777871&u=%23p%3DNjIPuUqk95kJ I hope this helped! If you ever need someone to talk to I'm all ears. 🤗

I guess a good question to ask if you don't mind sharing, how old are you?

I've always been kinda the opposite in the same way. I've always been hypersexual when it came to being with someone in-person or online which has gotten me in trouble a few times but I'd say I'm desensitized to porn and sexual stuff and I have almost no interest in masturbation. I'm very open when talking about sex and even have an entire nightstand dedicated to sex but I have no interest really. There's so many other things I could be doing I guess is my thought process but now because of my birth control I have basically no sex drive and get satisfaction from satisfying my partner.

Masturbation has been shown to rewire your brain in a lot of ways. It tends to cause people to be unable to be sexually intimate with others and causes them anxiety and discomfort around the idea of discussing intimacy (or participating in intimacy) with others. It’s also been shown to cause people to be relatively shy and have low self-confidence. It’s sadly a very “normal” occurrence and is a strong sign that you probably need to quit doing it because physical health issues will usually follow.