Seeing this sentiment more and more across social media like YouTube, X, even Snapchat, and podcasts. Essentially the idea is that women are biologically hardwired to see height as a marker of safety and wealth as resources for their future offspring, so the gradual dismantling of patriarchy in parts of the West with the solidification of post-WW2 liberalism has just replaced one ‘natural hierarchy’ by giving women the tools to create another.

Now instead of men lording over women as they did for millennia and almost all getting laid and reproducing because they are bigger, stronger and have all the power, they have been unwittingly tricked into suppressing their own violence and dominance for a system today where unless they’re a genetic specimen or willing to be a “generous man” that pays for endless dates that might go nowhere and that they might not have the money for, their odds of getting any action or reproducing are extremely low. So men need to restore a pre-WW2 patriarchy and should feel no shame in doing so as you’re living in a hierarchy one way or the other.

What are your thoughts on this stuff? How do you respond when someone says it, or you hear it in the Manosphere?

I often find descriptions of supposedly ordinary female, or even human, experiences and realize I don’t relate to them.

I have menstrual pain, sometimes severe pain, but I don’t experience the emotional changes associated with different phases of the cycle. I don’t become enraged, sensitive, or irritable during my period or luteal phase, and I don’t experience exuberance around follicular or ovulation. I don’t get cravings or emotional eating. On the first day of my period, my pain can be severe enough that I can’t eat, concentrate, or walk around normally for several hours. I take medication when I need to go somewhere or complete tasks. I wonder how many women have this kind of menstrual experience but aren't represented in a lot of conversations.

I’m not someone who cries easily. I don’t really cry at movies, music, or emotional videos, and I don’t enjoy crying or experience it as restorative. It isn’t something I seek out when I’m upset. I love my friends, I can care a lot about art, history, writing, music, and other things that interest me. I identify with my interests above anything else. I am an artist, writer, singer, and historian. But I don’t experience intense emotions very often.

I’m also a sex-averse asexual, so I don’t experience sexual attraction or desire. Romantic crushes have always been rare and fleeting. I’m strongly averse to pregnancy and childbirth.

I have a similar pattern with other forms of desire. I don't experience desires for substances, alcohol, caffeine, or overeating. I normally eat when I’m hungry, recognize when I’m full, and stop. I would say that I am someone who is consistent rather than contradictory when it comes to my normal everyday routines and my responses to stress, which include talking to those I trust and writing about my thoughts.

Women are often portrayed as emotional or expressive, sociable, nurturing, and driven by relationships. Social media can reinforce this with comparisons of “women vs. men” involving crying, moodiness, excitement, and hormonal changes. I think these stereotypes are harmful and erase individuality. Some women who happen to relate to the stereotypes may even assume that it's because they are women. Studies show that women are not more emotional than men, but there are conditioned differences in expression. That makes me think that many women are socialized to show feelings more strongly, while men are pressured to hide them.

Human variation is much wider than the experiences that are often shown online.

I’m curious whether other women have had a similar experience of feeling somewhat outside these cultural expectations of what women are “supposed” to feel or desire.

i’m 20, autistic and on hinge. most of the guys i’ve been talking to have ghosted me but lately been talking to a few guys for a couple days, almost a week, and they’re asking to meet up. i say ‘cool, what do you have in mind?’ oh i don’t know how about a walk in a secluded park far away from where you live? great! let me just get my makeup nice so the forensic photos look good 😭

i’ve already told him i’m not giving him my socials because i don’t want him online stalking me. i didn’t say that exactly but he said he understood. this guy just seems to have no awareness of anything!! he seems genuinley nice, he asks me loads about myself and sounds really enthusiastic to get to know me and he says i sound lovely.

i’m just losing my patience with him tbh, he bombards me with a dozen mssgs every time i mssg him and asks me the most obscure and irrelevant questions (i send one mssg with paragraph breaks and try not to go into too much detail because i don’t want him obsessing over the most random thing i don’t really want to talk about), and he doesn’t rlly answer anything about himself.

i want to give him a shot because everyone else ends up ghosting me but at the same time 😠😤

what would you do, oh wise women of reddit?

I’ve been seeing a lot of rhetoric with this case online being used to strip women’s rights because if they are hormonal and “dangerous” they can’t be in position of power or make decisions for themselves. I’ve also have seen a lot of repeal the 19th rhetoric too. I’m not sure what precedents this could set considering how people are, and the political climate, I mean sure anything that’s going to happen is going to probably happen regardless of the case, however, I’m not really understanding the uptick in rhetoric like this considering familicide and filicide have been done many times before by both men and women. Why do people suddenly have their pants in a twist now? My personal opinion however, I don’t think that anything excuses killing the kids and I feel like a lot of people arguing do not actually care about the lives lost but if they can get gotchas on both opposing sides, and i understand there’s nuances with the case, that’s particularly true with most cases in general it’s not all black and white, but the general public does not fully know how to understand evidence that is presented to them and I’ve seen quite a bit of takes on both sides that are definitely something.

Edit: I am genuinely sorry if this is kind of dumb or controversial but people have completely lost it online. Especially since I’m like, okay, I still have to get up and go to work tomorrow and continue with my life regardless of what happens. Do people really have this much free time? Is it just because they have nothing better to do and the ones that are saying the more sexist rhetoric are just jobless basement dwellers, like grow up and maybe go touch grass or contribute to society?

Does anyone else find this label weird and adjacent to the way people misuse pickme?

I recently was called a “cool gf” because I said I personally do not care if my bf follows instagram models as I do for horny gooner purposes as well and don’t really understand the women who do, although I respect every women’s choice and feel that feelings even if they are “wrong” can be valid and I def don’t think I’m better than these women.just genuinely cannot relate or see that point of view. I’ve even seen girls get called “cool gfs” for enjoying admiring women with their bfs or not being bothered that they watch porn. This just seems misogynistic and envious. Just because SOME women have higher thresholds of what makes them personally comfortable in a relationship does not mean more laid back women are faking it.

I can’t help but feel like so many women use terms like “cool gf” or “pickme” for women who just ARE more laid back and sexual/ have stereotypically male hobbies. I was called one even though I’ve been a feminist since the Anita Sarkeseen every women who games must die era. It’s hurtful as someone who considers herself an academic follower of feminism (specifically womanist based authors like bell hooks and Alice walker) and especially jarring as a black women who knows black women originally coined the term to describe a women who enforces patriarchy and misogyny onto others, not a girl who likes to play video games and thinks fart jokes are funny

What do you guys think

So I just saw a photo of Bonnie Blue with her baby after giving birth. I'm not 100% convinced that it's not just a doll and this entire pregnancy wasn't just a stunt. The photo blurs the "baby's" face but it just looks off to me, idk.

Anyway - real or not, her online activity related to her pregnancy has been super controversial, to say the least. And I feel kinda conflicted about her. I do not watch porn. I know that her content is pretty extreme. But the online conversation of "she should be thrown in jail and gave her kids taken away" ... For...?

Is it the recording and posting it that we're mad about? Because really, if a sex worker gets pregnant should she just be out of work once she's showing? If a pregnant lady wants to let men pee on her for money, is that so horrible or damaging to the baby? We can say we feel like it's weird or wrong, but why? Or having sex with different people - sex doesn't hurt the baby in the womb. Does she lose the right to record her body how she wants because she is pregnant?

I'm not trying to go to bat for Bonnie Blue specifically, just something about a bunch of people online wanting to have a say so badly in how a pregnant woman decides to use her body, feels very gross to me.

There's also the issue of Bonnie getting all this criticism for her extreme content, but who buys it? Who is making her a millionaire? Should we not discuss the much larger system rather than one woman who capalizes off of it?? There is one Bonnie Blue; how many men showed up to sleep with her? How many subscribers?

There’s been a lot of conversation around “leave him or leave us out of it,” and I want to talk about what that actually means because I feel like a lot of people are twisting the phrase into something it was never meant to be. Somehow, saying this means you don’t care about domestic violence, you don’t care about abuse victims, or you aren’t a “real woman.” And that’s simply not what it means. Most of the time leave him or leave us out of it” is about women in cheating, narcissistic or toxic relationships who constantly bring their friends and family into the situation, tell them everything their man is doing, put everybody through the emotional roller coaster, and then go right back to him. If a woman already knows she isn’t leaving, eventually it becomes “leave him or leave us the fuck alone.” As Tamar Braxton said : “If you ain’t gonna leave your man, let him cheat on your ass in peace.” But I think this applies to abusive relationships to a certain extent too. Women experiencing abuse deserve help, but the people around them deserve safety too. Friends and family can become involved in confrontations, be asked to come to the house, fight battles, or constantly involve themselves in a situation that could eventually put them in danger. Just because they aren’t being physically abused doesn’t mean they aren’t being affected.And this is the part people seem to miss. Women can care about abuse victims and still refuse to become victims themselves. If the situation becomes dangerous enough that the people supporting the victim could become targets, they have every right to remove themselves. That doesn’t make them less of a woman, less of a friend, or less compassionate. This isn’t about choosing the friend over the victim. Both deserve sympathy. Both deserve help. Both deserve safety A woman can love her friend support her, and say When you’re ready to leave, I’ll be here,” while also saying I cannot keep putting myself in danger with you So let’s stop turning “I need to protect myself” into “I don’t care about abuse victims.” Women are allowed to choose safety too. Caring about someone does not mean sacrificing yourself alongside them. What do y’all think? Is there a point where protecting a friend becomes putting yourself at risk, and are women allowed to walk away before it gets there?

Now let me start by saying it is a deeply flawed informal study, completely off the cuff, and my scientific background is incredibly low level. But I think you all should help me interpret the data anyway.

Background (personal): I’m pretty sure I’ve been suffering from body dysmorphia- I genuinely have no idea how I look to others and the way I look to myself isn’t fixed- it varies day to day, actually minute to minute.

So I found myself trying to interpret other people’s actions to see if others found me attractive. But then I wondered if beautiful people actually get more verbal praise or different treatment?

Which leads to my Question: Is verbal praise a reliable indicator of positive looks?

Hypothesis: Women who meet the current beauty standard will be praised more and treated better in perceived flirty conversation.

Methods: I have taken a group of unsolicited Reddit predators that show up in my inbox looking for photos and sexting. They initiate conversation. I respond in a friendly and cordial manner. Eventually, ALWAYS, the subjects ask to share a photo. Half of the group was sent a catfish photo of a woman who meets the beauty standard. The other half were sent a catfish photo of a woman who does not meet the standard. Conversation directly after the sent photo was interpreted for amount of praise, interest, and positivity given.

Findings: of the thirty or so participants about 12 were given the beauty standard photo. Another dozen the non beauty standard photo. 6 were excluded prior to photo share for pure douchebaggery and safety concerns.

The beauty standard photo of an “attractive” woman was met with little to no praise. One word comments were common. Degree of excitement was low, verbal descriptions of looks were vague and unenthusiastic. Examples include “You look nice” “pretty eyes”. The participants did however want to continue conversation and a few thought they were “falling for” the experimenter.

The non beauty standard photo on the other hand recieved more positive responses, with higher degrees of enthusiasm, punctuation, and emoji use, while lacking respectfulness. “Wow, you’re beautiful” “those lips would look so good around me” “you look like such a good girl! 😈” “ I bet you have big titties, don’t you?” participants in this group were noted to push much harder toward sexual conversation much more quickly.

Conclusion: women who meet the beauty standard seemed to get less and less enthusiastic praise. Non beauty standard women were praised and sexualized aggressively.

Hi, this is my first post here. I’m F23 and i’ve never been in a serious relationship; all the connections I’ve had were always very fleeting.

The idea of having a sexual encounter with a man or being in a relationship with one sounds like a nightmare. I also have a fear of pregnancy and in my country getting an abortion is very difficult, there’s lots of doctors who refuse to perform this procedure. I know that BC is an option but honestly, messing with my hormones and having to accept all the potential side effects (considering that i already take medication for my mental health) isn’t something that I’m willing to do. At least not now.

Also, even though i can find men attractive, there are a lot of things about them that irk me. I was physically and psychologically bullied by boys back in middle school (i was also bullied by girls, but it wasn’t as traumatising as the bullying i received by boys) and frankly no one can change my mind on the fact that boys are raised to think in a certain way. I never experienced feelings of dehumanisation like the ones they made me experience in middle school.

Of course i know there might be good men out there but i prefer investing my time into studying rather than looking for a man that might not even exist.

Anyway i don’t know if i need therapy or not. I see people my age who have boyfriends or who are constantly on dating apps and idk how they do it but at the same time i feel left out.

I used a tampon for the first time yesterday and safe to say I'm never using one again. I'm 17 I've been using pads since I was 14 I hate the idea of putting those toxic chemicals inside of me but I had been begging to swim at my friend's house so I finally decided to use one. It was a very small tampon.

And I'm sure I put it in correctly because I had my friend who always wears tampons guide me. Anyways 4 hours had passed and when I tried to pull it out it hurt so I just figured it was too dry. I waited another 4 hours till it was fully bloody like leaking, when I tried to pull it I was still in a lot of pain. I tried everything I was squatting, deep breathing, doing mind and body relaxation exercises. Eventually I had to get in the bath and dig my fingers in and pull it out it was horrible. To describe the pain it was like a sharp pain where the tip of the tampon was and it was difficult to take out since my muscles were clamping down on it. My vagina still hurts after taking it out..

Is this normal? I don't want to wear one again but I'm scared of being made fun of because maybe it's childish to not want on

Regardless of your opinions on weddings, marriage, or how much people should spend on them, the way people talk about brides is so blatantly misogynistic.

Weddings seem to give people socially acceptable permission to absolutely tear women apart.

A bride posts her flowers? “I would NEVER spend that much on flowers.” Her dress? “Imagine spending thousands on something you wear once.” Her venue? “What a waste of money, I got married at the courthouse.” She cares about the color of the napkins? Suddenly she’s shallow and doesn’t actually care about her husband or about being married at all and it’s just for Instagram and the marriage will never last.

Why is a bride not allowed to care about the fucking napkins?

Men spend absurd amounts of money on bachelor trips, cars, golf, gaming setups, watches, etc. etc. etc. (other things they care about, enjoy, and want to spend money on), and it generally isn’t treated like evidence that they’re vain, stupid, narcissistic, or morally defective (Because it isn’t!)

But women cannot win. If you don’t spend enough on your guests, you’re cheap and selfish and only care about yourself. If you spend too much, you’re narcissistic and financially irresponsible and obviously headed straight for divorce. Have a huge wedding? Wasteful. Have a small one? Selfish because grandma’s eighth cousin wasn’t invited. People act so high and mighty online because they “prioritize experiences“ and had a big honeymoon instead of a big wedding.

But how is a wedding not an experience? For a lot of people, it’s the only time in their lives that everyone they love will be together in one place. There may literally never be another day where all of those people are together again.

And I just find it so ironic that weddings are enormously centered around everyone else anyway. Guest comfort, dietary restrictions, travel, hotels, transportation, accessibility, seating, food, alcohol, entertainment, family expectations. So much of that planning and emotional labor falls on the bride, who is expected to accommodate everyone while somehow not caring “too much” about the event herself. Brides have to pull off a perfect event where everyone is happy and their guests‘ every need is catered to but also not spend any money because it’s selfish to spend that much “on yourself” and also not care or try too hard.

Obviously unreasonable brides exist. Obviously people should not be spending above their means or going into debt for a wedding. Almost all of the weddings on social media are unattainably expensive. Wedding costs have skyrocketed after Covid and the whole industry has major issues. But are women not allowed to find joy in planning an event hosting her loved ones? Why is she not allowed to care? What is so inherently wrong with that? People (and not just men) seem almost gleeful about finding reasons to call women spoiled, shallow, crazy, controlling, or “bridezillas”

There was a bride on the wedding planning sub asking if it was reasonable for her to ask her bridesmaids to wear their hair up. Instead of a “yes” or a “no” or a “why don’t you ask them“ the comments basically all devolved into calling her crazy and that she’s going to get divorced within the year. and I’m pretty sure that sub is all women!

I saw another comment from a guy recently acting like it was insane for people to be engaged for a year and plan for a year because his wife did it all in 2 months and it was “so easy” and that any bride planning for longer than that is vapid and just doing it for Instagram.

EVERY post revealing any amount of money spent on anything wedding related turns into a competition and starts bashing the bride. “My catering was $10000” “$10k? The only bride I knew that spent that much was divorced in a year.” “I only spent $2500” “$2500 on one day? We didn’t even do catering, just $1000 for cake and punch” “If I had $1000 to waste I’d donate to charity”. It‘s like spending money on a wedding is some kind of moral failing and its just a race to the bottom.

And the automatic assumption that the husband / father is paying for the whole wedding also drives me insane.

I’m ranting but at some point it stops being criticism of wedding culture and starts looking like what it is: a very convenient excuse to bash women for caring about something associated primarily with women

So I cycle a lot, I don't have super meaty inner labia but my left one is slightly longer.

Cycling is sooooo uncomfortable and I have no idea how to alleviate it.

Wearing a pad or a panty liner makes it worse cause it adds friction.. so if I'm on my period I can only wear a tampon (which feels not secure enough for me without a pad as well) and in general I hate no wearing panty liners cause I really need them to stay clean.

And I wear the organic cotton ones! But it doesn't matter cause it adds friction.

I just always feel like the labia is being painfully pinched to the point it feels deep in the veins.

It doesn't only hurt my labia but also the clit area, not necessarily only the clit itself but throughout it's inner length.

Anyways, so uncomfy! It gets to the point that if I cycle a lot the tip of my longer labia will get all red and puffy )-:

Also, I do usually wear denim shorts but the soft ones that don't really feel like full on denim. And wearing cotton or other soft fabric pants didn't help much.

I know cycling shorts exist but I can't rely on them.. I cycle everywhere! It's my only actual way of getting around. I can't wear those pants 24/7 everywhere I go lol

What do u girls do???🫠😭 any hack I don't know about?

I see so many of my female friends with genuine male friendships while whenever i try they always have an ulterior move?. Sometimes id wanna be friends with a guy i rejected😭😭

Hi all,

I’ve been seeing a guy for a few months now. Well, half a year now. Everything is going well. There is one thing though.

We were having sex one day without protection. It’s stupid, I know. I feel embarrassed to even admit this. The one test I took was a positive. I’m freaking out. I don’t know how far long I am. He’s telling me we can talk about it. That he loves me and he’s not going anywhere, and that we can make an appointment to actually find out if I’m pregnant or not. I keep thinking it’s a false positive but I know I should also be not delusional.

The one person I want to talk about this with is my mom but she’s dead. I don’t know what to do.

Like I somewhat get it like if you’re going to a funeral, you shouldn’t wear a bikini. That being said, I hear some people talk about modesty as in if a woman wears shorts and she’s just going to the mall or even a bikini at the beach. That somehow disrespectful to the men around her. I also noticed that sometimes modesty isn’t even about control though most of the time it is.. but also treated as a thing that women should do so they don’t turn men on. Which doesn’t make sense because men when it’s hot outside walk around shirtless without worrying about a turning on women. Also, what’s wrong with being sexually attracted to someone? Why would that be something we wanna stop? Isn’t that just part of a human experience?

I just got hired for a role in a male dominated field. This particular role requires attention to detail, which I have experience in. I got hired over someone else who was more extroverted, a man without my similar experience. But I heard through friends of people at my new work that they almost hired the other guy because he was loud.

I’ve been hearing this all my life, and I’m so sick of it. I am grateful they hired me but of course I’m nervous to start as I feel there is expectation to prove my personality will fit in. Why do I have to prove that I’m not worse as a person because I’m more quiet?

I texted my partner about it who said it’s “patriarchy bullshit” and I had never really thought it that way. What do people think?

Edit to add: it’s not a leadership or management position.

I’ve been going back and forth for a long time on whether I should break up with my partner of five years. He isn’t a bad person or anything, honestly he’s a really wonderful guy which is what makes part of this so difficult. I still love him, but I’m not “in love” with him anymore. I’ve tried everything I can think of to fix it but nothing is working.

We’re going to do couples counseling for a while, because I really do want this to work out. However, in the case it doesn’t I was hoping counseling would make the separation easier for us. I know it will still hurt, but I want to avoid any bad blood between us.

Anyways, he and I are renting a two bedroom apartment together. We signed a twelve month lease in Mid-May so we still have a long ways to go before I would even consider breaking it. He has family nearby but I don’t, and I can’t afford this apartment by myself (nor would I kick him out because breaking up is my idea). How do I go about this whole ordeal? Should I go to counseling and wait it out, or call it quits? Were/are you in a similar situation, and if so, how did you deal with it? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I'm 20 and never used a tampon in my entire life.

I'm recently starting a new job where I have to stand for long hours and I think I would be extremely uncomfortable while using a pad.

I'm not scared of the insertion (actually that will be the easy part imo) but I'm terrified I won't be able to get it out and get TSS.

What if the string breaks??? My middle finger is so short (like 7cm / 2.7 inches) and I'm afraid I won't be able to grab it with my finger if the string actually breaks.

Just had a conversation with a neighbour because a tree on my property caused some damage to his guttering during a system. I agreed straight away to split the cost (he had told me 3 weeks ago that he would be trimming the tree but it wasn't done in time), but the comment of 'tell your fella, he owes me £50' just wound me up.

We both live here, and it's actually my property, I paid the deposit, I cleared the mortgage and I am the higher earner but apparently the Boomer next door doesn't understand that!

Thanks to influencers like Shera Seven, thewizardliz and social media in general, many young women have been conditioned to keep expecting more from men, and I am no exception. In all three of my relationships, I’ve noticed I’ve been dealing with Shiny object syndrome,and I’ve unfortunately become one of those “flippy-floppy people” always keeping their eye out for something better.

The guys I’ve dated have been emotionally mature, great kind guys overall but they’re all struggling financially, with my current ex being absolutely jobless and depending on his parents. But I end up falling for them, get involved romantically and halfway through dating then I cannot bear the financial constraints of the relationship and suddenly remember my standards. I now start to think less of them, demean and nitpick their shortcoming, and compare them to stable provider men. Because they can’t get me gifts nor plan anything nice for us Social media also feeds into that mindset with “there’s always a bigger fish”. Eventually we end things.

I believe I have what some would call a disorganized attachment style. But honestly I’m tired of this cycle, and really want to find happiness with one person.
Also, I haven’t found someone who ticks those boxes for me, or maybe I’m not what they’re looking for.

Kindly share your thoughts and suggestions with me

just posting to vent about things because this has been one of the most alienating, frustrating experiences of my life and has gone on for years. (to be clear! I am speaking on my own experiences with femininity and being biologically female - I hold no hate towards anyone!!)

I'm 20, AFAB and nonbinary. I've always hated the idea of having a period and never understood why other "girls" (turns out I wasn't one) wanted them so badly. When I got mine, I was in serious denial - I refused to wear pads because they felt like diapers to me. When I woke up one morning, sweating and crying in pain, my mom gave me ibuprofen and sat me down to tell me that I had to get used to this.

To put it simply, it was terrible from the jump.

It didn't get better with time. I was a competitive swimmer but was unable to use tampons because they were so painful for me. I have horrible memories of begging for my period to hold off because it was due to start and I had a major swim meet the next day - and knock knock, it starts at 10pm the night before. I ended up getting such anxiety over missing practices and meets that I ended up quitting the sport.

Years later, I go to finally get an IUD to regain some control over my own body, which seemed to be hell-bent on making me as miserable as possible. Nope. Can't get the IUD in because it's too painful. The doctor gives me a pamphlet on pelvic floor physiotherapy and walks out, leaving me to sob, my feet still in the stirrups. I felt violated, I felt like a failure. My mother was upset that I couldn't do it, and in that moment I felt my relationship with my body deteriorate in real time.

Jump forward to this year - a month ago I start on my first combined oral contraceptive - Yaz, to be specific. I was terrified of taking synthetic hormones but thought this might be the thing to finally give me the control I was desperate to have. It could reduce water retention! It could treat PMDD! Well. I had to quit after 8 days because I had become so rapidly depressed, I physically could not stop crying and was unable to function normally.

Now I'm in talks to get another IUD insertion, this time under anesthetic. I feel fucking terrified of the whole thing.

I have been so medically violated, abused and harmed because of this simple bodily function for years now. I feel at war with my body. I have at times considered harming myself to put a stop to it. I haven't even mentioned all the small violations that have occured over the years, but trust me, it's been a constant reminder that I do not control my body, and I do not get to do what I want with it.

I am asking seriously so I get other opinions - do I really HAVE to take hormones if I don't want to? I feel constantly pressured into it by doctors when I talk about these issues. I don't want to do it, flat out, but that doesn't seem to be a valid reason to them.

I understand that birth control is a fantastic invention for many people, and it's a mechanism of female/AFAB autonomy that I absolutely support. But why do the options have to come with so much suffering? I just want to get my uterus removed. Why is that so impossible?

Anyway. Sorry for the rant, I just cannot stand living like this anymore. It's like being in a cage. I don't want an IUD, I don't want to go through more medical trauma because somebody else thinks they know what's best for my body. I am so tired. Having a period is actually hell.

Like the title says, I feel like I'm just totally alone. I have approximately 3 friends, but each of them has their own stuff going on and really can't make much time to talk at the moment. My mom was my primary support for a long time, but she recently started dating someone and is always with him and won't talk to me alone. I do have a boyfriend, but part of what I want to talk about is him and my relationship. He's also not very good at helping me navigate things and just tells me to do what I think is best.

I just want some people I can talk to about my health problems, money problems, going back to work, my relationship, and even lighter topics like the best way to cook couscous and the movies coming out that we're looking forward to.

I'm crying as a write this because I just feel so alone. I'm used to being lonely, but for some reason this is just a whole other level of lonely.

Can anyone relate?