LGBT Art & Fun

It happened about two years ago for me. I was always uncomfortable with the idea of sex, if not outright disgusted. When I went through puberty, I started getting curious, and unfortunately found my way onto WATTPAD at 14 (bad idea looking back on it lol). I questioned whether I wanted it or not. Getting older, my hormones calmed down and I don’t really have a sex drive. Sure, I think about it sometimes, have those feelings. Never for another person. Anyways, I realized two years ago that the term asexual was extremely fitting for me. I don’t want sex. I don’t want to date really. I don’t like the concept for myself. I’m fine reading or watching tv with smut, and I don’t care what others do. It’s just not for me!

Sally Jeong is dead. According to police, she took her own life. Open-and-closed. According to her friends and family, that doesn’t make sense, but what can they do about it?

A mysterious woman appears on the doorstep of Sally’s long-time friends, Emily and Maddison, after they contact her through a friend of a friend. She’s willing to take the case, seemingly free of charge.

Unbeknownst to any of them, another young woman has appeared in town, one the enigmatic detective has a long history with.

What follows is a meticulous investigation into Sally’s death, played out using the Eureka system. Also they kiss.

Muted Swallow eschews massive production value and scripting in favor of the authentic, sincere experience of just listening to a few friends actually play a TTRPG. The deduction is real, the dice rolls have consequence, and there is no guarantee that our protagonists will even be able to solve the case. (It does however feature original music.)

New episodes release on alternating Mondays at 10:45 AM CST. At the time of writing this, 14 episodes have already released and are available as a playlist.

About Eureka

Eureka is an original 2d6 system with a primary focus on real investigation of “fair play” mysteries, which also supports in-depth characterization and ‘slice-of-life’ elements through its character building and “Composure” system. Investigators aren’t just mystery-solving automatons, they’ll behave like real people with emotions, wants, and needs just by following the rules of the game. The full rulebook and everything you yourself need to play can be downloaded at anim-ttrpg.itch.io

haiii!!

so this year, I’m the president of my schools ally club, and as such it’s my job to make agendas and shape the club in the vision of the people (democracy rocks!! [yes, that’s a rtc reference lmao])

anywho, our first meeting is in a few weeks and obviously I want to make a safe, inclusive space on campus for members of the lgbtq community before we do anything else, since our school is pretty conservative (I’ve had teachers wear maga hats…)

and again, I’m obviously gonna ask “my patrons” (idk what else to call them) what they want the club to be, whether we focus on advocacy or education or wtv.

my question to yall is this: what would you guys want your high school ally club to look like and do?

Okay, to start I believe the current definition of asexual is something along the lines of "experiences no sexual attraction" and if you're talking about the wider spectrum then that's where the "little to no" comes in.

I believe that labels are prescriptive rather than descriptive, before anyone comes at me because I'm aware that's an unpopular opinion, I keep my opinions in my head. I will not call out or invalidate anyone's identity, if you want to or feel like you are asexual even if you don't quite fit the definition, I won't argue against that or anything. But in my head I will feel it's wrong.

Now, before I learnt about sexuality, I didn't really care about it. I always told others I was straight if they asked because I didn't care enough and I wasn't attracted to guys (I'm male) so I can't have been gay/bi so I just assumed straight. When I decided I wanted to learn more I learned about asexuality, I realised it fit because while I knew I wasn't attracted to men, I hadn't considered being attracted to women, and I realised I wasn't attracted to women either.

After reading a lot of microlabels I found one that I thought fit quite well. Cupiosexual, defined as "experiences no sexual attraction, but desires sexual relationships". It fit because I don't experience sexual attraction and I do have drives and such and I do believe that I want partnered activity.

Perfect! With my newfound identity as an asexual I would continue to scour the internet, like one does.

I would read many comments, the ones about asexuality were often along the lines of "asexual means no sex", which just isn't true and it directly goes against my newfound identity. I would often come back to places like this where people knew the definition of asexual, where my identity is actually valid. But every time I left to go to other places, I would see the same misconceptions and they would get upvoted/liked/whatever and other comments would agree with them! Society knows so little about asexuality...

It became a kind of cycle, I would go to other places, see comments and misconceptions and feel invalidated and them come back to places like this to feel valid again.

But I can't take it anymore! I don't want to identify as asexual anymore! Except I fit the definition, I am asexual... I just can't escape the label! I just think that, if the definition of asexual changed to what most of society believes it means, then I wouldn't fit the definition anymore and then I'll be free from this...

Sorry I just had to tell someone/put it out there, I can't keep this just in my head anymore.

For the past 2 years I've been thinking about if im asexual or not I've been searching about it and trying to get to understand it more but I end up more confused and I don't see much that fits me so please if you know help me out

Why i believe im asexual:

1-Im mostly never comfortable with anything sexual whether it's content, talk or jokes I always try to avoid it whenever I talk to someone or clarify that im not comfortable with it

2-I've never developed any crush in my life never understood why people did or what went through thier mind when they say that

3-I don't understand beauty standards or what's being called attractive. Whenever im in group and they all agree that someone is attractive i always feel odd or left out i even sometimes say that they aren't which people tell me i have bad taste

Why i believe i may not ( my confusion):

1- i actually would like to have a partner i don't mind if I never ,but im mostly leaning towards wanting it

2- i somewhat have a type or preference. I mostly find myself attracted to men with bigger bodies but cute feathers like having round face or cheeks kinda makes me feel warm

3- i like romance. Cute ideas or dates, teasing and playing around, cuddles ,hugs and kisses . I find myself feeling butterflies whenever I think about it

4- I find my partner attractive to look at? Im not sure if this is attraction or appeal . I just find myself feeling happy whenever I see him and it brings me warms when I look at him and his body

5- i enjoy company and emotional bond and i feel like this is my core feeling of warmth and romance. I care alot about the personality and i don't find myself getting "attracted" to anyone unless after spending alot of time together and getting to know them much

However as soon as anything turns sexual I feel like shutting off i almost rarely find myself getting turned by it

Hey everyone 🙂 I'm new to the whole asexual community and a bit curious about some things. So to begin, most of my life growing up was very sheltered from sexualities other than heterosexual and other orientations. My parents are very religious and don't believe that other orientations besides heterosexual are right, though they acknowledge that they exist. I just was never immersed in them, or felt the need to explore them until recently.

I'm 21 now and have been realizing how closely I identify with asexuality. I've had a few boyfriends since I was about 16, but only went all the way with one of them, and it was indeed coerced. I just never felt the want or need for sex, or thought it was a vital part of a relationship. It just doesn't interest me. However, I am completely at ease with making flirty and suggestive comments and jokes to my boyfriend or very close friends, and that leads them to believe that I am as interested in sex as they are.

I guess my main questions are these--

How do you navigate being in a relationship with a non-asexual person? I feel like that could be such a recipe for cheating (not on my part), resentment and frustration.

Is it easier to be in a relationship with two asexual people vs just one half being ace?

Is it something that should be addressed right off the bat when entertaining the idea of dating someone? It doesn't even cross my mind on a first date bc, well, sex just doesn't really cross my mind ever😅

Are there good places to meet other people of like mindedness to form relationships and make good friends?

Sorry if any of this comes off as ignorant or offensive in any way, that's not at all what I intend! I'm just super new to all of this and not sure about how anything is talked about here. Thanks!!

I'm a bit hesitant to post this here, as I don't know if it even fits on this subreddit of it it's disrespectful in any way?? I've been with my bf for months now, but I'm still deeply terrified of any intimacy (not just sex, like anything that has to do with acting romantic).

I mean, when we hangout we're both perfectly fine and everything's perfect, but it's like we've never went from friends to partner and just stayed as friends, and that's (I think) mostly on me.

I've been really questioning if I'm asexual but I still don't know if that's the case or if I'm just awkward/scared of sex (tbh sex isn't really the problem now because we've talked about that and neither of us really plans on doing or asking for anything sexual at least for now, a bit off topic). Still I'm concerned about being equally terrified of any non-sexual relationship acts as I am of sexual ones.

He's really awesome and I really love him, I don't know why I feel like that and I'm scared of hurting him or keeping him waiting for things I've should already started doing in the relationship. I just feel like I'm messing up and taking him down as collateral damage. Idk I feel like an awful person and he doesn't deserve this mess.

I've been looking into labels for my identities, specifically my romantic ones. I've found a few labels that I think work for me: gyneromantic and cupioromantic.

Incase you don't know, gyneromanticism is attraction to femininity, but not specifically women (women, feminine men, feminine enby people, etc.) (also sapphic would not work for me as I am a cis man)

Cupioromanticism is someone who identifies on the aromantic spectrum, but still desires a romantic relationship.

I'm a bit afraid that when I eventually decide to come out to people, I'm gonna have to explain my romantic orientation to everyone because of the fact that these are much lesser-known microlabels.

If anyone has gone through a similar experience or has any possible advice to share, I would greatly appreciate it!

(I'm a bit new to the lgbtqia+ community if you couldn't tell already)

learned today that my husband doesn’t think being homosexual is genetic.

so I looked up studies on said subject with mixed results.

I always thought it was genetic, but it’s far more complex than that according to the studies I’ve found.

I’m bisexual myself and have always been (took sometime to figure it out, but I do feel I was always bi).

Would like some actual opinions from people who are homosexual.

I've identified as asexual for most of my life.
I've had relationships. I've experienced intimacy. I've kissed people and been physically close to people before. But honestly, a lot of it always felt forced. I could understand intellectually why someone might want those things, but I never really understood the feeling behind it.
I thought maybe that's just how I was.
Then I met her.
Over the past few months, our relationship has changed in a way I never expected. We became much closer, started understanding each other better, and eventually talked openly about what had happened between us before.
She told me that she had known I liked her for a long time. She also told me that she had been scared to do anything because my mental health was in such a bad place that she wasn't sure whether my feelings or intentions were stable. And honestly, looking back, I understand why she felt that way.
I've gotten much better since then. I'm finally feeling like myself again, and our relationship has become more intimate and comfortable.
And somewhere along the way, something happened that I genuinely never expected.
I started wanting her.
Not because I thought I was supposed to. Not because she expected it from me. Not because I was trying to make myself feel something.
I just... do.
I think about kissing her constantly. I want to be close to her. I want her presence. I find her beautiful in a way that feels completely different from anything I've experienced before.
She's not even ready for a kiss yet, and I'm completely okay with waiting. The fact that I can genuinely want something while also being perfectly willing to respect her boundaries is itself a strange new experience for me.
She's told me that she's thought about us dating, but she's an enormous overthinker and wants to be sure I'm the person she actually wants before taking that step.
And meanwhile I'm sitting here thinking, "How the hell did this happen?" 😭
I've spent so much of my life believing that I simply wasn't capable of feeling these things.
Now I'm questioning everything I thought I knew about myself.
Maybe I'm still somewhere on the ace spectrum. Maybe I'm demisexual. Maybe I'm experiencing romantic and sexual attraction in a way that's extremely specific to one person. Maybe I don't need to figure that out yet.
What I do know is that this feels real.
And strangely, the biggest thing I'm struggling with isn't even the attraction itself.
It's believing that someone could actually want me back.
I've had pretty severe self-esteem issues for a long time. My relationship with my body hasn't been great, especially after some recent changes in my weight and hormones. Part of me keeps waiting for her to look at me properly and realize I'm not worth wanting.
But she keeps getting closer.
So maybe I need to stop assuming that my own perception of myself is automatically more accurate than hers.
I don't know where this is going yet.
Maybe we'll eventually date. Maybe we won't.
But for the first time in my life, I'm experiencing attraction that doesn't feel like something I'm performing or forcing myself into.
It feels like something that is actually happening to me.
And honestly?
I'm kind of terrified.
But I'm also really happy.
I just never expected that my first experience of genuinely wanting someone would make me question my entire understanding of myself.

For context, I have the BTS concert here in Arlington, TX in a couple of hours, and I decided that I want to get ready for the concert since it's only on rare occasions that I get ready for an event and such. When I told my girlfriend that I was getting ready for the concert today with my makeup, she kept saying how I'm not really considered "masc" because of me wearing a full face for this one time. Keep in mind, 99% of the time I'm bare-faced and only ever put on maybe mascara and curl my lashes, but that's it. So when she said this, I was confused and honestly a little hurt because it felt like I couldn't do this as a "masc" person because then I'd get identified as something else. Thoughts?