I have sexual problems and I feel less of a man
Lately, I've been going through something difficult, or rather, my whole life. I've always viewed sex as something very distant from my own experience. I mean, it's not like I've never had contact with women or anything, but the whole intimacy thing has always been more difficult for me than usual. For me, it was always easier to masturbate than to have an encounter with a woman I didn't even know.
I've had two girlfriends, and with both of them, I had very little intimacy and very few pleasurable experiences. This has led my brain to basically not perceive sex as something pleasurable, but rather as something that generates stress, anxiety, and fear of failure.
When I'm with my current girlfriend, I can't even get an erection when we're about to have sex, not because I don't want to, not because I don't like it, but simply because of the stress of failing and the fear and anxiety that this generates. Obviously, my girlfriend isn't pointing fingers, but the situation has become a bit complicated because it's important to her, and it's always been a problem for me. So there's frustration on both sides, and I've had some embarrassing moments that have even made me doubt my worth as a man.
Has anyone else experienced something similar, and if so, how did you overcome it? I don't have a problem with having erections alone; it's not like I don't like women—I've always liked them—but the whole sex situation gives me anxiety that I've never been able to manage, and I don't want this to keep affecting my life. It's hard for me to talk about, but I think I've reached a point of no return, and that's why I'm here to see if any random person on the internet has gone through the same thing.