
When I first happened across your incel site, I thought that it
couldn't
possibly have anything to do with me. After all, at age 21,
I'm a virgin
because I want to be. I'm waiting for the right person, and
I'm fine
with that. The thought of a meaningless sexual experience,
outside of a
loving relationship, repulses and almost frightens me, and I
guess I've
implicitly assumed that when "The One" comes along, I
would know because
I would feel completely comfortable opening myself up -
metaphorically
and literally.
Then, after I read a little more of what you had to say, it
occurred to
me that my ongoing search for the right person has quite a bit to
do with
incel. Let me babble some more and see what you think...
I've always been pretty shy about all kinds of interpersonal
relationships. I've never been talkative, using the excuse
that I only
talk when I have something to say. ("That must not be
very often, then,"
said my teammate on the math team in seventh grade, which got him
a dirty
look from the teacher.) In high school, I was pretty much
of a social
outcast, but I've gotten better since I've been in college.
I consider
myself to be a nice person, I get along with most people I know,
and I
have a few close friends. But frankly, I'm scared about
what will happen
when I graduate next month - whether the friendships I have are
strong
enough that we'll still keep in touch, and whether I'll be able
to make
friends when I get to graduate school in the fall. Every
time I've been
introduced to a new social situation, I've been scared out of my
mind
that nobody will like me - even though everything's always turned
out
fine so far.
I still have no idea whether I'm homo-, hetero-, bi-, or a-,
probably
because my sexual side has been very late in developing. I
started
flirting with cute boys in sixth grade, because everyone else
was. I've
even had two relatively long-term boyfriends - more about them
later.
But I don't remember feeling anything sexual at all until I was
about
20. When I was 18-19, I spent a lot of time reading erotic
stories on
the net, but mostly out of curiosity - I don't remember ever
feeling
aroused at all, and I certainly had no desire to engage in any of
the
activities described in the stories.
Right before I turned 20, I came to the conclusion that I was
asexual,
and that I should learn how to be a happy asexual as well as I
could. I
would watch talk shows where women complained about their
cheating
husbands, and I would consciously tell myself, "See
that? That's
something that you'll never have to worry about." But
ultimately, I
found the prospect of going through life without a partner so
depressing
that I decided to put it out of my mind.
Strangely, it was only a few months later that I realized that I
had a
sexual side to me after all. I found myself daydreaming
about sex and
intimacy more often, although more often than never is still not
very
often. I started developing some elaborate sexual
fantasies, but none of
them involve particular people, so I can't really say that I'm
physically
attracted to anybody at all. In fact, I usually can't even
decide
whether the person on the "other end" should be male or
female.
At the time, I didn't really associate the development of my
sexuality
with my resolution to stay out of romantic relationships. I
spent my
junior year of college working on being happy being single, and
focusing
on developing other aspects of my life. And it worked - I
was very happy
that year. I remember thinking once in a while, "My
life is really good
right now, but it would be even better if I had a significant
other to
share it with," but I learned how to put those thoughts out
of my head
pretty easily.
Then I met Dave, my second boyfriend, but I suppose that I should
first
talk about Alex, my first:
I met Alex at a summer program when I was 16. We became
fast friends,
kept in touch after the program, and mutually concluded that we
really
liked each other, enough to put the effort into maintaining the
long
distance relationship. He was more outgoing than I was, and
had a
stronger personality, so he ended up being in control most of the
time.
He was also much more enthusiastic about physical intimacy than I
was. I
remember spending hours on end lying on his bed or in his car,
with him
lying on top of me and trying over and over to lift my shirt,
while I
struggled to push it back down. This was only one
manifestation of his
complete lack of respect for my feelings. A year into the
relationship,
I decided that I'd had enough, and tried to break things
off. He told me
in no uncertain terms that I had no right to be angry with him,
because
all the problems in the relationship were actually my fault, but
since he
was such a nice guy, he would forgive me and continue the
relationship.
This continued for another year. Finally, the next summer,
he told me
matter-of-factly that he'd been involved with another girl.
He didn't
understand why I was upset about this. I never spoke to him
again.
Needless to say, the whole ordeal ripped my self-esteem to
shreds.
I met Dave last summer, under similar circumstances - we were
together
for a short time, kept in touch, and decided we wanted to start a
relationship. I told him about my uncertainty about my
sexuality, and he
said that even though he was very attracted to me, he could do
without
physical intimacy in the relationship if I wasn't comfortable
with it,
and that he would never pressure me to do anything I didn't want
to. He
rebuilt a lot of the self-esteem that Alex destroyed - he made me
feel
attractive and desirable, and it felt good. He always
listened to me
when I had something to say, and always respected my
feelings. But I never
felt attracted to him in return, and I certainly wasn't in love
with
him. We tried all sorts of things: romantic dinners, nights
out dancing,
long walks together. But it always felt to me like
something was wrong
with the picture, and it felt more and more uncomfortable.
About two
months ago, I told him about this, and that I didn't want to
continue the
relationship anymore. He was hurt, but respected my
feelings. I'm still
trying to keep him as a friend, but I don't know if it will work
out.
It's hard to tell if I'm an incel or not. I'm not looking
for a sexual
relationship - not right now, and maybe not ever. I used to
think I
wanted an emotional, romantic relationship, but now I'm not so
sure.
Romance is nice to idealize about, especially because of the
pressures
from society to form couples, but for me it never seems to be as
good in
practice as it is in theory. I still dream about meeting
Prince (or
Princess) Charming, riding off to our castle on a white horse,
and living
happily ever after, but I've never met a real person who I
thought could
even come close to fulfilling that ideal. I do feel very
lonely
sometimes, but I don't know if a significant other would remedy
that.
With any luck, it will all become clear, eventually.