So I was having a conversation with a close friend, and this came up. I told him I actually enjoy smelling my partner's balls and armpits, and he looked at me like I was weird. I thought he'd understand because he's gay as well.

When I met my ex, he was into girls, but somehow our friendship turned into a romance somewhere along the line. Back when he was allegedly "straight," one day before he went into the bathroom, I stopped him and sniffed his hair and his armpit. He just stood there, let me do it, and we looked into each other's eyes. I did it on impulse and expected him to swat me away, but he didn't. He actually seemed to like it.

I later found out that he'd been secretly sniffing me too, even before I did it to him.

So I genuinely thought everyone was like this, only for my friend to shut me down and say it was weird and disturbing.

Am I weird?

I’m 20M and I’ve never been in a relationship because I’m still in the closet. That makes dating pretty difficult, so most of my experience has been with hookups or FWB situations.
I’ve had one FWB before, but he was in an open relationship. He was a great guy, but it always felt like I wanted him more than he wanted me. I was always the one messaging first, so eventually I stopped reaching out and things just fizzled out.
Now I’ve met another guy. We’ve only met once so far, but honestly it was one of the nicest experiences I’ve had. We hooked up, cuddled afterwards, and talked for over an hour. He complimented me a lot, was really affectionate, and said he wanted to see me more. Since then we’ve been texting and flirting, and I think about him a lot throughout the day.
The problem is that I feel like I’m falling into the same pattern as before.
I’m always the one who starts the conversation. If I don’t text, we don’t really talk. I’ll ask him how his day has been, but he doesn’t really ask about mine—he’ll usually just tell me about his day instead. Most of our conversations are flirty or about when we’re free to meet up.
I’ve never been in a relationship before, so I genuinely don’t know if I’m overthinking this or if these are signs that he’s only interested in something casual.
Part of me wants to tell him that I like him and see where it goes, but another part of me worries I’ll scare him off or that I’m getting attached too quickly.
So I guess my questions are:
Am I reading too much into the fact that he never initiates conversations?
Should I stop pursuing this if the effort feels one-sided?
Is it worth telling him I like him this early, or should I just enjoy it for what it is and see if it naturally stays as a FWB situation?
I’d really appreciate some outside perspectives because I don’t have much dating experience

Since every top wants a fem boy these days, I'm wondering what you guys think I can do to look more feminine? I have a very masculine look with a feminine personality. I'm what they call a "butch queen". Grindr and sniffies has convinced me that being a masculine looking bottom is no longer attractive in 2026. I know I probably posted something similar to this and for that, I apologize. I'm just so tired of never feeling like I'm enough.

I'm 22M from Islamabad. I've been on dates, have had talking stages/situationships and a proper relationship too. For compatibility I've dated older men too. But I'm all alone at the end. My ex HATES ME. No guy I've been with ever checks up on me. Why's everything good just for a short period of time? Why do I always have to start from the scratch all over again? I'M EXHAUSTED! This means reinstalling the dating apps again. Don't get me started on how guys talk there. I'm sorry but if the convo starts with "are you top or bottom?", or "do you have place?", THAT TURNS ME OFF INSTANTLY!!! Why can't it ever be "hey, wanna go for a drive and just talk?"???!!! Mind you, the guys who are readily available to meet, they're a walking red flag; just wanna get into my pants. After that I'm just useless to them. And then I get a "Hi" text when the post-nut clarity settles.

All of this takes so much time and energy. Sometimes I wish I were a girl. Guys would atleast put in the effort, and think of long-term. Since I'm gay, I cannot get married traditionally. I don't wanna have children (I have severe childhood trauma; my inner child deserves to get healed first). Basically, I'm cooked. I know most guys (bottoms atleast) would agree with me. I'm trying to move out of Pakistan, but it'll take time. I don't think I should continue dating any more. It's just not for me.

PS. Sorry for the rant. But it is what it is. I love you.

So Ive known Ive liked men for a long time like i was 7 at the time when i found out i liked men but what stopped me from realizing i was gay and liked exclusively (other than horrible homophobia from my parents peers and family) was a sense of guilt i had about not finding women attractive at all. I felt like and still do kinda feel guilty about it, I tend to find myself drifting to liking men more in stories and finding gay ships infinitely more interesting and hot than i do yuri and i feel guilty. Like I feel like a horrible misogynist and i dont want to be, I was raised by essentially 2 women and have 2 sisters i respect so much and yet i cant seem to like the vast majority of big boobed women from so much media.

Maybe im stupid and Maybe i still have a ton of internalized homophobia but oh well I just wanted to ask some people about it.

I met him and we dated but he decided we’d be better as friends. And as friends do we vent about hardships. Another friend of mine I graduated with in highschool and met at a party hung out with played MTG with and went to a Pride Parade with has died a few days ago and as someone who is upset does I went to talk to my friend about it but he left me on read on Snapchat. I know it’s hard to console someone about something like this but leaving me on read seems wrong. Should I even continue this friendship with him if he can’t be there for me when I have major life problems? I’ve given him advice on things in his life like telling him the guy he was dating wasn’t for him and he needs to end it if he has doubts instead of leading that person on. What would you do if you had a friend that did this?

Honestly I don't have nothing more it just popped into my head. After he said it he blocked me.

I’m 27 years gay guy living in a Muslim country I’m unemployed and having no friends and I have social anxiety and very low self esteem , I feel like i’m the biggest failure ever and i dream of being independent and living in a gay friendly country where I can be myself without fear but I feel like even if start planning for this right now I would have lost most of my youth considering that the 20s is supposed to be the best phase of life i almost lost to isolation and failing, even if achieved what I wanted I would be in the 30s and where I wasted all these years before and being closer to 40s where i will start to lose my youth, any advices can help me get me through this ?

Ferran Torres and Alex Baena are so attractive. I hope others can resonate with me. Spanish men in general are the hottest!

I (26M) work in a small family-owned business in the financial services industry. I am seeing this guy right now and am planning to come out for him if we continue to work out. Will this likely affect my career? I’m very straight-passing and feel it’s really no one’s business but just wanted some opinions so I can prepare. TIA!

At 31 I feel like a loser because I'm not having any sex, I want it sure, but I'm not having it. I just think I'm a loser because I'm not able to have any good sex. The last time I had sex was maybe two years ago, it wasn't great or good or even ok. I can't find out what I like because I'm not having a sex life. And now I think I hate sex. I hate that I can't measure up to the lucky guys that are having great sex whenever they want. I really wish I was asexual, then I just wouldn't care about sex.

I sometimes se that some gays hate girls, especially in the philippines.

I know attraction is subjective, so I’m curious to hear people’s honest thoughts.

I’m naturally quite feminine-looking. I don’t dress femininely or identify as a femboy, I just have softer features and slightly longer hair.

People often tell me I’m “pretty” or “beautiful,” followed by “but you’re not my type.” I completely respect that, especially as I’m generally attracted to masculine men myself .

What confuses me is that online there seems to be a huge interest in feminine guys, but in real life I rarely see it. Most of the attention I get comes from curious or bisexual men(with girlfriends), and it often feels more like they’re interested in the fantasy of a feminine guy than in me as a person or potential partner.

I’ve also noticed that some more flamboyant gay men joke about me being a femboy or “basically a woman,” despite presenting more femininely than I do themselves. I don’t mean that as criticism,I just find it interesting.

So I’m curious:
If you’re into men, where does natural femininity become unattractive?
Is it appearance, mannerisms, voice, confidence, or something else?

And if you’re a masculine guy who’s into naturally feminine men, where are you all!? I almost never seem to meet you.

I hope this is the right place for this, I really just need some help.

For context, I (23M) am gay and I grew up in a very strict religious household where it was taught that sex outside of (heterosexual) marriage is wrong. My personal views are drastically different, however.

My first time hooking up was over a year ago, and I was in a horrible mental state for several weeks after the fact. I couldn't bear it anymore and I told my parents, which is also how I came out to them. It brought temporary relief, but it also created new problems as they basically tried to convince me that I wasn't gay or that I could stop being gay for several weeks after that. It built up to us having an argument that was really hurtful to me. My dad apologized the next day, but I still feel hurt by it.

Ever since then we've just gone on with life pretending nothing ever happened. But I'm a human being with hormones and yesterday I decided to hook up again. I felt ok after the fact with a tiny bit of guilt. I was determined that I'm an adult, there's nothing wrong with safe and consensual sex, and that it's none of my parents' business. And I was able to ward off feeling terribly bad about it until going to bed last night, then it just came flooding in and I lost sleep over this hookup.

This morning I feel super anxious and I'm on the verge of tears as I type this out. I don't want to relive the trauma that I went through last time. I know my personal beliefs about all this, but for some reason it's not enough. I still love my parents and wonder what they'd think if they knew I did it again. How would it affect our relationship? The three of us have a trip coming up in three weeks and I wonder if I've ruined my ability to enjoy it. I feel so overwhelmed and I don't know what to do.

today ive totally realized my gaydar is broken or shitty.

ive been chatting with someone at work for the past month, and I always felt like i had a connection with him even if we barely have time to have full conversations. theyre always light but tend to have a ton of eye contact and a lot of times where it felt like we look for each other. for context, im gonna be a bit vague with where i work as its a big place but people talk. so, with my work its different to just have a co-worker who works with your company or a co-worker who works for a different one but under the same organization. thats what we are, co-workers for different companies but the same organization.

today, it felt a bit flirty which i was pleasantly surprised about. he came over to where i was working to help out a mutual we share and i yelled at him that i thought i heard him! conversation started from there and he was surprised i didn’t see him right away. typically if i see him i always immediate say hi first if he doesnt, but today i was preoccupied with stuff so i didn’t notice. anyways, it felt like he wanted me to notice him and say something, and he sounded disappointed i didn’t. obviously now, i realize this was probably friendly chatting but to be real none of my friends ever say things like that so it didnt really register in my head.

fast forward to after he left my area after helping, i find him in the break room. we chat a bunch about work & it was nice and i felt like we were clicking. then, while talking about work he mentions his girlfriend. oh! okay well, wasted time i suppose trying to figure out if he’s into men or not, evidently not. well, i don’t know that 100% but im not the type to want to intrude in a relationship or want to ask after finding that out.

anyways the point of this post was to vent about that and how i feel like my gaydar is shot. this is not the first time its happened to me where im clicking with someone then they have a girlfriend. such a frustrating experience, especially because i really enjoyed my conversations with this guy when they happened and also the fact that he’s super cute. wishing my gaydar wasn’t so broken, its such a disappointing feeling every time.

OH MY GOD IT WAS AWESOME. It may have been with some random guy but… STILL OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. IT WAS SO GOOD I ONLY LASTED LIKE TEN SECONDS😘😘😘😘 I ALSO GOT TO GIVE HIM HEAD BACK AND HE TOLD ME I WAS REALLY GOOD AT IT 😝😝😝😜😝😝😝 GUYS THIS IS SO EXCITING YOU HAVE NO IDEA🤩🤩🤩🤩

I'll start with a guy that I thought I was in love with, his girlfriend in middle school, but I really liked him and was unreasonably jealous. I guess when I really knew I was gay was when another one of my friends in 8th grade got a growth spurt and got amazing abs, and I couldn't stop staring or thinking about it when he showed me.

Oh no! I mutilated myself! I cut off a ton of nerve endings! It doesn’t matter that *checks notes* my tight foreskin caused painful erections, put me at an increased risk of UTIs, and made it impossible for me to use condoms!

I didn’t even bother with stretching exercises! I got rid of an important body part with self lubricating abilities even though *checks notes* having severe phimosis makes the foreskin unable to lubricate effectively!

What a nightmare!*

(*this is all meant very sarcastically)

A good read and def helps if you’re a bit lost when it comes to cruising as I was