This is a sincere question: What differentiates the asexual/demisexual/etc. spectrum from just having varying levels of libido and/or thresholds of chemistry? I'm reading over these stories and it just doesn't sound like anything more complicated than having various levels of sexual excitability and compatibility. …

For what it's worth, I don't disagree with a single thing you've said. And also, I'm not sure I buy shoegal's initial statement of having been "forced to work every holiday/weekend at nearly every job I have had because everyone else has kids" (emphasis mine). That just doesn't jibe with my own experience or that of…

Everyone who is planning to draw a social security check when they retire is benefiting from the work of parents. Everyone who uses public roads and transportation, whose community is serviced by police and fire fighters, or who has a functioning city, state, and federal government is benefiting from the work of…

I'm not advocating that the government or even businesses implement policies of giving parents first priority in scheduling time off. That would be bonkers. I'm observing that, especially in small workplaces, that's typically how things end up working out, because when Mrs. Boss says, hey, who's available to work…

Mmmhm. Slippery slope and a strawman all in one! No, I think that childbearing and -rearing is real labor, almost always performed by women, almost always completely unpaid (unless we outsource it to low-status and low-wage employees like nannies or housekeepers, not coincidentally also almost always women), and…

Mmhmm. Slippery slope and strawman in one! I think that our society needs to see child-rearing as labor, generally unpaid (except when it's performed by hired workers such as nannies), generally performed by women, generally performed without recognition for the massive benefit that it provides not only to those…

Like it or not, it's vital that some people (lots of people, in fact) choose to have children in order to maintain the social structures that each and every one of us benefit from. That's a fact. When people do choose to have children, they then have other small children who not only depend upon them, but whose…

It echoes her cheek and lip color in very nice way while still avoiding being too matchy-matchy. Well done, Anna's makeup artist!

Hahaha, I live to serve! I'm sorry to keep pulling the subjectivity card, but from my own experience and conversation with other ladies (in person or online), these are both items that are wildly divergent from person to person. What one person swears by might be the worst product another's ever tried.

That said,…

See, that makes sense! I was never allowed to watch anything besides PBS and neither we nor anyone we knew had ever had a break-in. My fevered child brain just fixated on that as a terrifying certainty.

Awww, that's super cute of your mom! What a good compromise.

No problem! Happy to help, and I hope you have some fun experimenting. :) And yes, yes, yes, absolutely take advantage of return policies if possible. I don't know if you're in the US, but here both Ulta and Sephora have very generous return policies (Sephora especially; it's notorious for taking even products that…

OH MY GOD ME TOO

Yes, it can be done with contacts! I wear them, so I know first-hand.

I just want to express gratitude and sympathy toward you and all the other posters (myself included) who were anxious, neurotic kids and are now dealing with OCD and/or anxiety. Here's to feeling better and not being consumed by obsessions!

That is beautiful. Bless your mother. Bless your father. Bless you. This is perfect.

When I was 9, my dad took me to see Les Miserables, which I was obsessed with. I didn't sing along, but I did mouth along the entire time. I kept my head turned slightly to the side so that the people behind us could see that I was expertly mouthing all the words to every single song and would be very impressed by…

You are soooo not alone. I, too, was very concerned about fires in the middle of the night. I was also afraid of burglars breaking in and stabbing us all while we slept, and spent a lot of time worrying about the best floor of a building to be on if there were an earthquake (top floor = nothing collapses on top of…

I have laughed out loud at many, many of the stories on these threads, but honest to God, yours is the first that made me shriek with glee. That's the creepiest, most amazing thing I've ever heard.

What did your mom say????