The Train: A Sexual Awakening (The First Timers Book 1)

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You and I both know that you are bull-shitting to stop yourself from truly feeling and getting hurt. With regards to not finishing the deed - we have already discussed this, but believe me I can perform. Trust me you will not be disappointed! Aug 13, Erin rated it liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review There may be spoilerish comments.

While we have you...

First thoughts were that the premise was refreshingly different from a lot of what I had read recently, which all seemed to follow a similar setup - younger, low-to-middle class female meets older, rich alpha-male stranger and it's lust at first sight and eventually love follows. Here we have a single mom rediscovering herself after being in a really shitty relationship for far too long and final I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review Here we have a single mom rediscovering herself after being in a really shitty relationship for far too long and finally hooking up with the guy who missed his chance with her in the very beginning and settled for just being her friend Love is essentially there at the start even if it takes them a bit to realize it.

He still ends up being the rich, alpha male type, but they had started out on more equal footing and he only recently became very wealthy, so that isn't really a factor in the relationship.

Also, the fact that they have been friends for awhile also means that their social circle is made up of all the same people so you have all the supporting characters actually rooting for them and seeing their relationship more clearly than they do themselves, which is feedback they both need since they're both so stubborn and independent.

I ended up liking the book and characters pretty well Enough to read the second book. The 3-star rating is for several reasons: There were several times I had to re-read passages because I couldn't figure out who was saying what and then there was some misplaced or missing punctuation and other little errors. And some of the narrative in the first half or so could possibly stand some tightening up It's a little draggy and rambling.

The One Awakened

Although after reading the second book, I maybe understand the purpose of some of that better. I couldn't really even figure them out from context. I felt like I was missing out on understanding what was going on. I'd be going along feeling like I was in the narrator's shoes and then all of a sudden I would be distanced from the story but a phrase that was complete nonsense to me.

I found her really hard to sympathize with as she seemed like a real bitch She was a bit full of herself at times and she really played with men and used at least one to mess with another. She seemed to become more tolerable as the book went on, but I almost gave up on the book because she reminded me of so many catty girls who I didn't like. I appreciate the fact that it was a full-length book.

So many multi-book series are made up of a bunch of short books. Makes this a true trilogy. Overall, the author laid the groundwork for an interesting trilogy with a fun cast of characters and, despite a kind of slow start, things really heated up in the last third of the book and made for a very intriguing sequel.

May 10, JZ Reads rated it liked it. The premise for this book had a lot of potential, but it didn't really work for me. For people who had been best friends for 10 years, they sure didn't communicate well, and I was confused as to where all the drama was coming from - just hook up already!

See a Problem?

Beyond that aspect of the story, I really didn't con The premise for this book had a lot of potential, but it didn't really work for me. Beyond that aspect of the story, I really didn't connect with any of the characters. I found all of the extras friends, coworkers to be caricatures - the dialog didn't seem natural to me, and they all seemed much more young and immature than their supposed ages. Sebastian was the most real to me, but he wasn't well-developed enough - his supposed player background didn't ring true, and I would have liked more evidence of it. I also felt many of the plot points were weak - in the prologue, Lucia and Abby were looking to have some fun at the bar, not find any lasting relationships.

How in the world had Lucia ended up in a year relationship with Niall, especially since he has no redeeming qualities in the few times we see him in the present? How did Lucia put her attraction to Sebastian on the back burner for 10 years, when it's clearly sizzling after they finally connect? Finn is adorable although maybe a little too precocious for a 3yo , but was it necessary for Lucia to be a single mom? Just seemed an unnecessary complication. And finally, I felt that the story needed a thorough editing - lots of little grammar things, commas misused, confusing dialog where I wasn't sure who was speaking, continuity errors or at least ambiguity, where I had to go back to see if I'd misunderstood something , etc.

A lot of the text just didn't flow for me - I had to reread it to figure out what I'd missed, what I had envisioned incorrectly, etc. For a good book, I can overlook poor editing, but for this book, it just pushed it over the edge and made it difficult to read. I give it 2. A good editing would help a lot and bump my rating to 3 stars , but the lack of connection with the characters and the inauthenticity of many of the plotlines and character choices made for a somewhat disappointing read.

Aug 05, Shawna rated it it was amazing. Sebastian Silver is my new book love! Instant fireworks are evident but neither act For 10 years he's regretted not stepping up to claim Lucia that night and promised himself if he ever got the chance to claim her again, he'd take it. Lucia has suffered thru humiliation with Finn's father, Niall, and now that she's broken free of him, she's ready to have one night of passion and who better to help her get back into the game but her gorgeous, charming best friend Sebastian Silver. She knows he's a player but his experience will work in her favor.

She proposes one night but he wants an entire month. Plus the way he treated little Finn made me swoon even more. Not only do these two have blazing hot sex, it's clear to everyone else that they are soul mates. It takes them a little longer to figure this out. They aren't great at communicating with each other and they'd avoid a lot of angst if they'd just talk. A few additional twists and characters made this book so much more than an erotic read. Aug 10, Laura White rated it really liked it. I was sent this as an arc in return for an honest review.

So here we go! Lucia is a single mum to a beautiful 3 year old boy called Finn and he is her whole world along with her passion for designing. She split from her ex partner of ten years who treated her like complete rubbish and she is a happy girl except all her friends think she should jump back on the man train! Enter her best friend Sebastian who has been away for the last year. He is her little boys godfather and they both have such a gre I was sent this as an arc in return for an honest review. He is her little boys godfather and they both have such a great friendship.

One night Lucia surprises herself by inviting Sebastian to become lovers for just one night, she trusts him more than anyone and she knows he will look after her. After some thought he knows it cannot happen for just one night and tells her they will need a month or more! The crazy journey that develops will leave you with all kinds of emotions, in fact I'll be surprised if there is any emotion you don't feel during this wonderful and clever read!

This book is brilliant, it captures you from the start, The characters are believable and deep. The chemistry the pair give off is incredible! The friends to lovers story line has been done before but this story is unique and you will love it just like i did!

I will definately recommend. Aug 05, Shirley Verdin rated it it was amazing. I was given this ARC for an honest review. To have a friend that will always be there for you is what Lucia had within Sebastian. The first day they met both realized they had a special connection but never acted on it. Instead Lucia ended up talking with his friend Niall. They later became a couple and had a wonderful baby boy. Niall was growing tired on Lucia being pregnant and was never there for her, especially during her delivery.

Niall confided in Sebastian and told him where he was during I was given this ARC for an honest review. Niall confided in Sebastian and told him where he was during the delivery, making Seb really angry and removing him off the friend list. Remaining Lucia's close friend, Sebastian became their son, Finn's godfather. Lucia always knew Niall was distant, she later left Niall.

Her and Finn made it on their own with no Niall in the first 3 years of his life while Sebastian remained closed to Finn. After a long 9 months of tending to business in Dubai, Seb returned. On his first stop was to see Finn and Lucia. Never forgetting how much Lucia meant to him he wanted to make her his and at the same time Lucia realized really how much Seb meant to her.

She gave him a proposition that would forever change their lives. This story was emotional and left you wanting more. Hard to put down! Aug 08, Melou53 rated it really liked it Shelves: This was a really a good read for me, that I throughly enjoyed. This was well written for a debut book. It keeps you interested and the flow is well done. This is the first book in the series, and I look forward to reading the next one, The One Addicted.

This story starts ten years later after that night when Sebastian let Lucia walk out of his life with another man. They remain frie This was a really a good read for me, that I throughly enjoyed. They remain friends in all that time, but later a proposition leads them to explore what they felt that first time at the bar they met in.

Lucia needs to get back in the groove, and who better to get her there than her best friend, the player, Sebastian. Story has all the good stuff, a BFF, a hot stud, angst, drama, and even some suspense.

Appreciate author giving me the opportunity to read. Aug 02, Megan rated it really liked it. I need the second book NOW!!! There is never a dull moment in this book - a hard task to accomplish as the book is of good length. It hard to believe that this is a debut novel! Sebastian is to die for! Both Sebastian and Lu have flaws of their own but that is what makes these characters so believable. There is also a lot of witty dialogue and it made me laugh out loud a few times. A book that can achieve this is definitely a keeper. I was totally emotionally invested throughout the book. The secondary characters were interesting as well — maybe Nathan and Abby will get a book of their own?

Need a placeholder for the second book so that I can add it to my TBR list. Aug 19, Noelle rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book was given to me by the author for an honest review. Perfect friends to lovers romance. Lucia is a single mom to her three girl old son. She and Sebastian have been friends for 10 years. He met Lucia first but she ended up being with his friend, Niall. When he gets back from being out of the country for a year, they start a friends with benefits relationship for a month only.

Sebastian always regretted not making a move 10 years ago and now is his chance to finally have her This book was given to me by the author for an honest review. Sebastian always regretted not making a move 10 years ago and now is his chance to finally have her. I loved all of the drama in this book. This couple had to get through a lot. There were so many past relationships trying to tear them apart.

Crazy ex's and stalkers. There was so much jealousy and angst. Exactly what I want while reading a book. This book was perfect for me! Sebastian was so hot! The sex was scorching the pages. I think I have a new book boyfriend! I will definitely be reading the next book! Aug 13, Patricia rated it it was amazing. I wrote a beautiful review and lost it before I got it posted so I will try once again to articulate my love for this book and the author. I found this debut novel a breath of fresh air. The characters were solid with great background and thorough details.

The authors quirky British slang added a bit of humor and authenticity. But don't be fooled there was a deep erotic romance that lures you into to the explicit details of their journey. A journey which began as friends but with a proposition g I wrote a beautiful review and lost it before I got it posted so I will try once again to articulate my love for this book and the author. A journey which began as friends but with a proposition given by Lucia to her best friend Sebastian it becomes so much more. It is not smooth and that makes it so much more enticing.

Engaging, addictive and and one of the best debut books I've read in a long time. This trilogy will have you immediately opening the second book "The One Addicted" in eager anticipation to the harrowing end to this book. Aug 29, Jo rated it really liked it. Firstly I must say that I love that this book is obviously written by a Brit — who else would put a Holby City reference in their story narrative?? I really enjoyed this book. The story immediately drew me in, and the characters were so well defined that it was impossible not to be affected by the events.

The relationship between the Lucia and Sebastian is described with humour, frustation and a degree of sexual tension that may, frankly, leave you hot and bothered. Lets just stay Firstly I must say that I love that this book is obviously written by a Brit — who else would put a Holby City reference in their story narrative?? Lets just stay that this was another book where, had I been in public, I would have had some funny looks. I must say, I cant wait to get my mitts on the second book!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review Aug 06, Moon Reviews rated it it was amazing. I received this book in exchange of an honest review! Well written, with a great story full of ups and downs, with female characters that are witty, lovely, sexy, funny and totally adorable, and male characters that are sexy, sizzling hot, especially our amazing alpha Sebastian!!!

To say that i devoured this book is an understatement! To say that i liked Sebastian and Lucia is defying reality! This I received this book in exchange of an honest review! This book is a solid competition to all those alphas out there!! Completely addictive, you won't be able to put it down! Be ready for a super sexy rolllercoaster ride!!!! And a cliffhanger that will multiply the butterflies!!!! Alexandra North chapeau bas!!!! Pull me out of my misery and give me a release date for the sequel please!?!?! Aug 04, Yalle Ondarza rated it really liked it.

This is the store of Lucia and Sebastian, or at least the beginning. They are two best friends that decides to have a sexual proposition, but like in any good story it becomes much more complicated than that. There are also many factors, or should I say people, trying their best to keep them apart. The book started slow for me but once it picked up there was no stopping.

It took me some getting used to the British English grammar, since I am used to the American. However, it really added to the This is the store of Lucia and Sebastian, or at least the beginning. However, it really added to the story, once I got used to it, it allow you to better step into the story. There are many twists and turns that keeps you, both, entertained and intrigued. I can't wait to read the next book on the trilogy.

Aug 23, Toni rated it it was amazing. This book is a brilliant read following the life and loves of Lucia Myers. She is a hardworking and loving single mom who will do everything for her son. But after breaking up with her sons father she is a little lost and frustrated with her sex life. For years she has always felt something for her sexy friend Sebastian Silver. Will they do anything about it? There are a lot of twists and turns in their story, will they get together, won't they. Alexandra writes that well that she makes you fal This book is a brilliant read following the life and loves of Lucia Myers.

Alexandra writes that well that she makes you fall in love with the characters especially Sebastian, he is charming and very sexy and the chemistry between the two is so intense. This is a must read and I cannot wait for the next book. Feb 18, Peggy rated it it was amazing Shelves: Complimentary copy provided by author for an honest review. I loved the way it was written especially because Complimentary copy provided by author for an honest review. I loved the way it was written especially because it was written in the British way, lots of humor and great phrases.

You get everything humor, tears, regrets, jealousy and last but not least a stalker and a cliffhanger. North lives in the rambling lush hills of Yorkshire, United Kingdom with her swoon-worthy husband and two children, 15 and 9. Writing was always a hobby and took a back seat to University, work, parenthood and unfortunately later, chronic long-term illness.

One day she woke and thought 'life's too short - I'm going to finish that blummin book! When she isn't manically typing away or trying to be the model wife and mum, Alexandra can be found shoe shopping shoes are her weakness , cosying up with back-to-back TV series and enjoying her very own Sebastian Silver. Find her at the following social media sites; Facebook: It must feel like you were just lucky to escape notice or abuse.

Like a deer passing through a forest of tigers. It's a profoundly alienating thought. Maybe it will help to separate sexual exploration from sexism. It is disturbing to watch harmful patterns of gendered behavior emerge. But it's not sexuality that's the problem, it's the way culture treats women and trains us all.

US queer cis woman here. By 12, my female friends and I had well-thumbed copies of VC Andrews and Jean Auel novels and we all knew exactly where the "dirty" parts of those were, and if we'd had online access to porn I think we would have been looking. Though I also suspect we might have been grossed out and stopped looking real fast, there's something to be said for a gradual introduction to sexuality. We weren't showing each other body parts or doing anything sexual together, beyond talking about which boys were cutest.

Several of them were already "dating" but I have no idea what level of sexual activity that involved. I suspect not much beyond kissing, but who knows. I wasn't allowed to date at that age so my big 12 year old romance consisted entirely of study hall flirtation and slow dancing at school dances. Sex was definitely a thing on our minds and a discussion topic but not so much anything anyone was doing as a partnered behavior, to the best of my knowledge.

There are tons of people with zero experience by age 18, 22, even 30 or over. There are also tons of precocious youths. Straight cis woman, US, grew up in the 80ss. There was a stretch of time maybe ages 6—9? Kind of like how bugs are fascinating. And some of them were definitely making shit up. Also, there were some thoughts and feelings that I had in childhood, as early as five, that I now realize were kind of proto-sexual. I've always found Paul Auster super gross and misogynist, despite the fact that he is a fine and often-awarded writer. I'm wondering if the way he's writing is part of your experience.

I think there's a tendency for straight men to write about early sexual desires in a way that does not deal well with misogyny, misogynist porn, the social pressures for boys to bond through hateful behavior about women, etc - it tends to get written about as though early sexual stuff is always hateful, spying, about "tricking" girls and women, etc, and as though this is natural. I get you on the feeling violated front. As an AFAB transmasculine person, I've definitely read a bunch of those stories, where the narrative of early sexuality is about putting something over on women - talking in gross ways that are intended to reduce women to their body parts, spying, etc, and it does make me feel bad.

It makes me feel like all the friendships I had at that age with boys were based on lies. But if it is, it's a product of misogyny. You can be a sexual person and think about people sexually without seeing sex as a way of having power over them or reducing them or tricking them. Those things are patriarchy. To the extent that they are things that men and boys do, they are the product of hatred of women and love of hierarchy and power, not some kind of natural, inevitable way of being - as we can see because there are men who aren't hateful and creepy.

I mean, I think it's okay to feel violated. I felt violated by the actual behavior of boys when I was a pre-teen and a teen. You went to a girls' school so you were partly protected, right? My early teen years were horrible in this regard - it was constant and gross and extremely harmful to my own sexuality. Accounts of constant, gross, bullying behavior toward women and girls are going to be upsetting. I think people in this thread are conflating the fact of early sexual experimentation with the way that men and boys are allowed to abuse women and hold them in contempt, and the way that this contours early sexual behavior.

Frankly, too, I am pretty troubled by the rapid naturalization of "well boys that age are watching all this porn on the internet, what are you going to do, that's boys" in our culture, because seriously, there's a vast difference between watching the equivalent of, eg, a Playboy centerfold and watching a lot of the horrible, anti-woman stuff that is out there now. I'd rather give a kid some old Playboys than turn him lose on the fields of the web, honestly.

Stories and accounts like this one that say "we did X" or "boys that age do Y" are all inaccurate I beg to differ. So are the stories that the Op has read in this book. Turning that into mysogyny is extreme overreach. I can remember a bunch of us in my school library giggling over the dictionary definition of the word "bed" because it mentioned that one of the things people could do in a bed was "have sex". We were all laughing so hard at how titillating this was that one of us fell out of his chair. We were only 8. Kids have heard about sex at that age, and they've seen how uneasy and uncomfortable and embarrassed their parents probably were talking about it, so they picked up on the whole "borderline taboo" thing and so talking about it is exciting.

So when they're pre-teens the pump has already been primed a little, and all that needs to happen is for the hormones to start kicking in - which happens at about 11 or I'm a cis bi woman in the US. Grew up in the 70s. I started playing Barbies "the dirty way" naked in the backseat of the plastic car with Ken on top of her around age 10 because it gave me feelings I liked but didn't really understand.

Around that same time I started snooping in my parents' room and found a stack of dirty comic books which I would borrow and read with great interest. I had my first orgasm at age 11 and masturbated regularly after that. At around 12 or so my snooping revealed magazines with dirty stories in them which were somewhat mis-educational but provided my first knowledge of what people actually did in bed as opposed to the clinical "the man places his penis in the woman's vagina" talk that had been the sum total of my sex education up until then.

My sexual awakening did not extend to lust for actual boys or girls at that age. While the dirty stories and stuff were arousing it seemed like it would be incredibly embarrassing and awkward to do any of that stuff with an actual boy. I'd had crushes on boys since I was like 5 but my fantasies about them were romantic in nature, never sexual. I became aware of a sexual attraction to women in my mid teens but it never occurred to me I could do sexual stuff with a woman until I read an erotic story about it a few years later. I was about 14 when I first experienced actual sexual arousal from looking at and fantasizing about another person's body female.

I lost my virginity at 15 to a much older man, more out of curiosity than actual desire. I grew up in Europe, late '90s. I started masturbating at about 10 and did fantasize about classmates while doing so both boys and girls actually. I first 'really' kissed a girl when I was 11 - or rather, she kissed me, as it was she who had planned the whole thing. I kissed her exactly three times: Some of my fondest memories, actually At age 14 I followed another girl's very elaborate road map towards 'doing it', only the final part of which never happened - I was 16 when I had sex for the first time.

In my age group at that point, more girls than boys had lost their virginity. So while I was very curious about sex, my own body, and other bodies, it actually were the girls I was with who took the initiative and who were even more into it and way more serious about it than I was.

So, something that is true for just 3. Whether that same trait is good, bad, or neutral is another thing entirely. I personally think that what we're talking about here is probably fine, even good, for most people, but what is potentially harmful is making people with different experiences from the majority believe that their experiences are not normal just because they're different. There's a lot of room for different experiences to be "normal". While I played those Barbie games at about 9 or 10, and gained a lot of book knowledge from reading my parents' books Wideacre , I'm looking at you , I also think that I grew to understand sex - and accept my own feelings about it - relatively late.

I grew up in a non-Western country, and went to a small, fairly religious school, and it took me a long, long time not to feel sinful about sexual thoughts and feelings - I was in my late teens.

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Most of my friends were in the same boat. We never talked about those things with each other, and when we talk about it now, I realise that we all felt very guilty and isolated about our sexual thoughts, feelings and early explorations. I have no idea when people in my peer group in general started having sex. That is how much we did not talk about it. This was not the norm in our society generally, as I know of other kids who went to other schools and had much more stereotypically 'normal' sexual awakenings, but in the pressure-cooker environment of the small, conservative school we went to, I am fairly sure my experience was normal.

I remember being very guilty and made to feel quite self-conscious about the sexual messaging my body was apparently sending out from a young age as an overweight child I developed early , with my teachers and female friends constantly pulling up my necklines, adjusting my clothes and telling me I looked 'like a bad girl', and the general weight-related bullying I received from most of the boys also occasionally took on a weirdly sexual overtone.

This was when we would have been about 12 onwards. I think this is another reason I was a very repressed pre-teen and teen, because I was on the receiving end of hostile attention that occasionally felt sexual. One more thing that I thought of: It seems like the idea that you did not know troubles you. I'd argue that this too is a misogynist narrative. The misogynist narrative says, "Look, the real, brutal, mean, violent, hateful and competitive world of male sexuality [under patriarchy] is the real of the world, and if you don't know that and accept that, you are stupid and naive and just one stunned broad".

But what's really going on is men-under-patriarchy saying "this thing that we want, that's important - don't look away for a minute, don't care about anything else". Not caring gives you power, which is why they are so desperate to rope anyone who isn't a cis straight dude into caring desperately. Those extra years where you didn't care? Those were years where you could focus on the world and on yourself, not on whether some dude had pants feelings.

Those were fortunate years, and years that women are not supposed to have.

A Frank Understanding of Sexual Awakening: "Sex Criminals #1"

Being genuinely uninterested in and uncaring about men's sexual regard is tremendously powerful and tremendously alarming to men and boys. They're so dumb they don't even know. I had done pretty much all the solo activities you describe by the time I was a 13 year old girl, including looking at and thinking about people mostly boys in a sexual way, and I was by all accounts a ridiculously late bloomer.

For example, for my I-thinkth birthday, I had a sleepover, and I remember the lights being off and us talking in great detail about boys we wanted to "run naked through a rainforest" with. I definitely didn't have a great understanding of what those feelings meant, but oh gosh did I want to run naked through a rainforest with some boys! I wouldn't have had the slightest idea of what to do with a real boy, they were definitely just objects whose physical attributes gave me strong feelings.

I didn't date anyone until college. At the same age, I was also spending a ton of time reading geography books or drawing my cat or babysitting my sisters, doing kid things. My sexuality was part of my life, not my whole life, just as it is now. I don't think being uninterested in that until later makes you a fool or anything, any less than having a crush on someone makes them a fool. Another piece of anecdata I just remembered: A couple of years ago I was having a discussion with friends on Twitter about the whole "year-old girls giggling over some really fucked-up V.

Andrews books" thing, and out of curiosity I asked what the equivalent had been for my male friends at that age. They pretty much universally shrugged and said "Porn. Just, you know, actual porn. We didn't really do sexy books, we just went right for the pictures. This would have been mostly folks who are currently in their late 30s to late 40s, mostly American, of varying sexual orientations.

If I read the initial question correctly, the Op was merely asking if the experiences that Paul Auster describes in his book are the actual experiences of some men in the real world, because her upbringing taught her otherwise. And the answer is yes, and very much so. Most of the male posters said as much.

Nowhere was it inferred that that is the only way young men experience sexuality. Whereas it seems a lot the answers I see in this thread are replying to a different question about whether the way young men are socialized to talk about sex is problematic, which is an entirely different matter altogether. I think it does make a big difference - consider that in parts of Europe it's not considered unusual for one's teenage child's partner to be staying overnight and having sex in the house while in parts of the US, the HPV vaccine was controversial because it could encourage teenagers to have sex and abstinence only sex ed is the rule of law.

There has been a big shift in the US across generations, largely because of the internet. My generation might have had a few Playboys or Penthouses stashed away someplace and a few nerds had some x color porn images and main source for sexual information was gossip which was often incorrect. If you'd told me as a teenager that it would be common that teens would take nude photos of themselves and casually send them to partners, it would have seemed somewhere between extremely odd and unbelievable. But even then, once puberty hit, kids were pretty interested in sex. There was lots of making out at my junior high.

The teen pregnancy rate has dropped substantially since - there was a lot of sex back then too. My social circle prior to college never did group nudity or masturbation but in college things started getting pretty wild. Even prior to puberty, I was getting what I later learned were sexual feelings - reading about certain thing would give me funny feelings inside that I liked.

AND I also learned that I had to have a boyfriend to prove my worth as a person. So getting all these messages growing up was a mindfuck for sure. Being taught by older guys that women are objects to be conquered examples seen in your 2nd paragraph is fucked up, toxic masculinity, rape culture, etc. I hope these books already exist out there. I can't speak for today's youth, but during that time I was absolutely taught through media and peers that only losers aren't having sex.

There was enormous social pressure to be sexually active. To be 'tough' and 'manly' and all these other stupid things. I remember this pressure as early as 8 years old. I had friends watching porn and looking at playboy magazines at that age. During that time, I was bullied regularly in school. I didn't start dating until I was 17 and the first time I showed up to school with a hickey on my neck I was treated completely differently by people. Dudes were congratulating me and finally treating me like I was human or 'a man' or whatever.

It was fucked up. I hope its vastly different for children today. This is why there are PUA pickup artists , the red pill, incels, etc. Toxic masculinity dictates that men must have sex so they're not deemed losers. SMH shaking my head. And - I also hope that it's vastly different for kids today, but I doubt it.

I think it might be a little better, but not vastly. I spoke to Mr. He says he was interested in sex before 16, but couldn't say exactly when. I'm in my mid 30s, and can count the number of people on one hand that I've ever felt sexual attraction towards. US-born with significant UK family influences, cis-het.

I had no interest in anything beyond holding hands or a peck on the mouth which I found as lovely at age 4 as I did at age 14 until my second year of university. Got pushed into a bit more than I was interested in during high school, stopped dating at age 15 because I figured boys seemed only interested in one thing, so I'd wait until I wanted that thing before trying to date again. Almost 5 years later, nearly age 20, I was interested and pursued an intimate relationship - with a specific person, not in general.

I have in common with Ms. Moonlight that I find relatively vanishingly few people very sexy beyond a "that is pleasant to look at" way. Oh, and to add this, which your question just made me recall:

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