A Puritan villain. Buuut, I like the name (shh).

Post work spring party, in which I had drunk tons of cheap white wine and not eaten anything One of the bosses takes us to a Moroccan restaurant, including more booze (I was over 25 at this point, old enough not to do this). A friend and I head to another bar, she goes to the bathroom, and I lean over and vomit down…

A couple minor examples:

I will probably never be a biological mom, but I think there's also the expectation of, somehow, daughters being more responsible for their mothers' hurt feelings if they don't want kids. Yes, sons can cause grief too by not "giving" their parents grandkids, but women are supposed to be caretakers and you owe it to…

You forgot my absolute favorite shitty thing to say: "having an only is as sad as being infertile."

I'm kind of with you there - I never had a strong enough urge to have a kid myself, and I never met a partner I wanted to raise a child with. If I ever feel slightly sad about this, I picture how much more disastrous it would have been to have kids with the absolute wrong person, and how miserable and bitter I would…

Ha. That makes me think of my generation's future old lady Megans and Tiffanys running around in their 80s, being mean as hell.

Yeah, from what I understand from Mom/Grandma, the only thing those belts and pins did was somehow whisk the pad away from your vagina so you'd just bleed all over your underwear and skirt anyway. Mom: "using Tampax in college was the best that ever happened to me." I got all kinds of handouts way back in the mid…

Me too. I want a relationship very badly, and have been attracted to several people in the past, but it's not happening right now. It's never happened with any of the men I've tried to date, even though I've been doing that for years. I think I'm not attracted to enough men that the odds will take care of themselves.

That's my dog trying to pick up a chunk of ice off the ground. Why must it be so hard?

I can understand some of what you're saying. I'm attracted to men, but not because of their bodies - to some people that's asexuality, but not to me. So I'm straight but with that "meh" reaction to a random naked man. I can think of women as highly sexual and orgasm that way occasionally, but not be attracted to a…

Yeah, I spent almost 7 months trying to make myself feel a romantic connection to someone. It didn't work, and I was always more bored and lonely with him than by myself. Mostly I get ditched after a date or two because I don't feel a spark right away.

I wish. Some of us unfortunately do learn phrases like "lying whore" and "she was asking for it," along with other toxic ideas, from our mothers as well as our fathers. That whole I'm Not Like Those Sluts and She's a Lying Slut is still pretty powerful.

If he is part Shepherd it's not obvious. Could be, though. It's likely he has some shar pei and viszla in him. Thanks for the insight/recommendation.

Young adult dog question: my dog is about 15 months old and has taken to barking at strangers over the past few months. Since he's almost always on a leash, this isn't a problem and I've been working with him to correct the random barking without provocation.

Christ, people amaze me in a bad way.

Wow. You're so much better off. What kind of guy reacts that way to a partner expressing something as mild as hurt feelings? That's some serious insecurity on his side.

Yep. Also, if you're financially well-off, successful in your career, and had a materially comfortable childhood, you were treated fine. Material goods and attention cover up a lot, I think. This is why my aunt doesn't call my grandmother's treatment of her emotional/verbal abuse. Because everything looked fine and…

Don't underestimate that whole "your parents loooove you, more than anyone else ever could" idea. It's super pervasive, so much so that mothers who don't love their kids are still considered "strange," I guess.Or there is no such thing as parents who don't love you, right? Even more dangerous. Like, my mother used…

<Insert Game of Thrones Cersei/Jaime gif here>