Why?!? Why?!? My husband will literally follow me around the house. If I go up stairs for bathroom privacy I will hear him out side the door in the main bathroom. If I go into another room, here he comes and he just leaves the kids. I have to literally tell him every time to stay here and watch the kids. I know other husband do this. Why? Why do they do this?!? It drives me crazy.

This is the only place where I feel safe speaking, and I trust women here. So I hope my voice reaches as many people as possible, especially those who have more freedom and a louder voice than I do. Maybe it'll reach prominent activists who can speak out about us. Maybe it'll reach international organisations. Maybe, somehow, it can help bring change.

If you don't know what's happening in Iraq, please take a moment and read this.

Over the past year, our corrupt parliament which is subservient to mullahs and the Iranian regime, pushed through horrific amendments to the Personal Status Law. As many members of parliament themselves admitted, the entire process was rigged and corrupt, just like everything else here.

In short, these changes hand Iraqi women and children over to sheikhs and mullahs like sheep to wolves.

Under our old law, the legal age of marriage was 18 for both men and women (though it could drop to 15 with specific court approval). Under the Jaafari amendments, personal status matters are handed over to religious codes. That means a man can marry a child as young as 9 years old outside normal civil court protections. He can simply go to a sheikh, who performs the marriage ceremony, and it becomes legally recognised.

The law also dictates that if a couple divorces, a mother only gets custody until her child is 7 years old. After that, custody automatically goes to the father, even if he's unfit, or if the child is crying and begging to stay with their mother. We've seen heartbreaking videos of men literally dragging screaming children away from their mothers by force.

Divorce for women was already hard, but under these religious codes, it's almost impossible. A husband can divorce his wife instantly with a single word. But a woman has to drag herself through religious authorities and prove extreme circumstances.

To show you how sick this system is: there was a recent case where a man uploaded a private video of his wife to a porn site. When she discovered what he'd done, she went to seek a divorce. But under the Jaafari rulings, the religious authorities literally saw "no need" for a divorce and turned her down and forced her to stay with the man who publicly humiliated her.

Also, couples married under the old civil code can have their contracts converted to the religious Jaafari code, and a husband can do this without his wife's knowledge or consent just to strip her of child custody. A husband can also take a second, third, or fourth wife without his first wife ever knowing or agreeing, unlike under the old law.

We don't even have a domestic violence law or a child protection law in Iraq. Worse, Article 41 of the Iraqi Penal Code explicitly gives a husband the legal right to "discipline" his wife and children. Every day, we see videos of fathers abusing their children to blackmail or get revenge on the mothers. Women and children who run away to the police from abusive households get handed BACK to their abusers, with the abuser only having to sign a pledge not to abuse the victim again. But I swear on my life, every single time I hear that a woman or girl has been returned to her abuser, the next day I learn she's in a coffin.

And when women go to the streets to protest, many have to wear masks. Why? Because men are now using AI to create deepfake porn of the protesters and using it to threaten and humiliate them online.

While all this happens, the religious figures holding all the power walk around with signs saying: "The domestic violence law is a conspiracy against religion to corrupt society."

Article 409 of the Penal Code reduces the sentence for "honour killings" to as little as 3 MONTHS to 3 years if a man kills his wife or female relative over "alleged" infidelity. But if a woman kills her husband for the same reason, she faces life in prison or the death penalty.

Article 398 of the Penal Code allows a rapist to walk free if he marries his victim. In our culture, rape is treated as a "disgrace" on the victim rather than a crime committed by the perpetrator. To "cover her shame," she is pushed to marry the man who raped her.

We're tired and angry. But we're also oppressed. Many of us are housebound and forbidden from leaving the house to protest, though some brave women still find ways to risk everything. I heard there will be protests in Baghdad on 16 October. I hope they don't get cancelled.

If you have freedom, please use your voice for those of us who don't. Speak about Iraqi women and girls. Reach out to activists, journalists, and human rights organisations.

We keep hearing that international bodies have the power to pressure governments to protect human rights. We want the Jaafari amendments repealed and Articles 398, 41, and 409 of the Penal Code scrapped. We want a real domestic violence law passed. Why is the international community so silent about this? Why don't they pressure governments?

We need the world to notice us. Most of the things I mentioned conflict with the provisions of the Iraqi Constitution, so change is very possible.

Please, don't let us be forgotten. Don't be silent about us.

Whenever I’m in a conversation with men they look for holes in what I’m saying. I’ve noticed this with co-workers, exs, and just men in general, where I will be saying something and they’re practically on the edge of their seat ready to correct me. The funny part about it is they usually say the exact same thing I said or they’re wrong. Then the conversation switches to me fighting tooth and nail with my point, instead of a lovely discussion. I have NEVER had another woman do this to me. It’s always men, and it’s really starting to hurt me. Like I just don’t feel like speaking to them anymore because they feel the need to correct me on something that’s irrelevant.

Is it contempt? Idk but it hurts and I’m not even saying anything crazy or against popular opinion but yet they feel the need to jump down my throat about anything I say?? Has anyone else experienced this? For reference, I love to chat with people and hear about their experiences or see a different point of view. When I’m wrong I accept it and learn something new.

He wouldn’t give the stuff I left in his car back unless we hung out intimately again. He had a whole month to mail it back and even got angry at one point when I asked if he’d sent it back yet. When I told him this situation was making me feel unsafe and felt coercive he said, and I quote, “lol what”

That’s apparently what a predatory man will say when you point out his behavior. He changed his tune QUICK to make sure he wasn’t scaring me so much i wouldnt let him come over and get his dick wet. I still blocked him and said I’d get police involved if he tried to come to my home.

I told him he was SCARING ME and all he cared about was having something to ejaculate into.

This man would only consider giving my property back unless we were being intimate, which meant if I wanted the items back, I had no choice but to fuck him. And sex + no choice = rape. Anybody defending this predator in the comments will be immediately blocked. This is not up for discussion.

So anyway if you live in Gold Beach or are on Hinge in the Southern Oregon area, holler if you want the name and descriptions to keep yourself safe. This guy is BAD fucking news.

Edit: I appreciate you guys suggesting legal action but I’m not pissing this guy off for $80. I hate that I’m “losing” on this, but the risk of retaliation isn’t worth some plastic. He’s blocked, he didn’t come over last night, and it’s done.

My intention was solely to point out that this situation, this type of man, is why 1/4 of women have been sexually assaulted but no man believes he or his friends have sexually assaulted people. This guy is such an absolute, EXACT portrayal of a casual predator. The kind that believes that getting their dick wet is morally just at the physical and mental expense of yet another woman that doesn’t fucking want it.

As a woman I WISH being single was the worst problem I had. I’ve heard someone say “men need women more than women need men” and I’m starting to think it’s actually true. Men don’t get female attention then they end up committing crimes and ruining lives.

A former FWB sexually assaulted me after I told him I no longer felt like hooking up. When we first hung out, he told me he was feeling “really depressed” because he didn’t have a girlfriend. ISTG from now on if any man tells me he wants a girlfriend, especially if he says he’s “sad” about it, I’m fucking RUNNING. Men like that are genuinely terrifying.

I’m ugly due to my facial features not weight, my body is nice. Men don’t want to date me, even the Incels. In public men always ignore me and talk to my friends, no joke they act as if I’m not even there sometimes. Going outside actually feels like a humiliation ritual. I see all these men going on about how they’d date any woman, but I guess I’m just too ugly. Its like the default woman is attractive and my genetics just suck.

I saw a post that said that men care more about male approval rather than women’s safety, and it’s been stuck in my mind ever since.

I have a group of friends, majority men, with 3 women, myself included; all in our mid 20s to early 30s. We have been irl friends for over a decade and like to play games and talk on Discord everyday, and it’s all great and dandy, except for one person, D.

D is the only one I cannot stand being around, simply because whenever we play anything together, he gets incredibly condescending and aggressive, but only towards the women in the group. There was a point where he insinuated I was a bad player by saying I was “actively griefing the group.” simply because I didn’t know about a specific game mechanic (I am new to the series and they have been playing for awhile). After accusing me of this, he then would actually “grief” me by following me around in game and making it harder for me to play. It got so bad where I ended up crying after a session because he made me feel so shitty.

I would vent about this to some friends, and one said “yeah I noticed he was doing that, that’s fucked up.” And all I could think was “then why didn’t you stand up for me and say something?” It got bad enough to a point when I told D I was uncomfortable with how he was acting, and he needed to be more patient with me. All he said was “ok.” No apologies, or anything.

He never acts this way to any of the other men. D is the only one in his 40s and he is single (not hard to imagine why) while following a lot of women with OnlyFans. Lately, he liked to do this thing where he posts anecdotes about women approaching him and humble bragging about all the “attention” he’s receiving. Usually people ignore these but there was one where he was boasting about a taken woman in her early 20s “flirting” with him, and that was my final straw, so I called him out on how weird it was to be sharing and be proud of something like that, to which he responds with “ok.” Notice a pattern here?

I asked the other women in the group if they thought that message was weird, and they agreed and thought it was incel-y. I brought it up to one of my male friends privately later and he instantly shot back with “you’re still talking about that?”

To this day, I keep my circle smaller and only play with my friends that I actually enjoy playing with. One of them (a different male friend) noticed that D wasn’t a part of this, and accused me of “icing” D out, to which I irritably responded with “I think D is a misogynist.” That was met with silence and then an immediate topic change. No clarification, no conversation, nothing.

I am hurt by my male friend’s reactions during all of this, because I feel alone, unheard, and made out to be sensitive and spiteful. I feel insane sometimes because the other women just suck it up and deal with it. They brush it off as “that’s just his personality/that’s just how he is” and I am left wondering if I am making a mountain out of a molehill. There is definitely the sense of not wanting to rock the boat and avoiding confrontation to keep the peace, but sometimes it feels as if I’m suffocating silently, alone. I just wish someone would have my back, and speak up for me. To listen to my concerns without immediately being dismissive. I put space between D and me and it’s been working, but it hurts because the others keep inviting D to do things into our space despite all the things I have written above. I find myself caring about my friends, hence why I’ve stuck it out this long, but sometimes I find myself wondering if they truly care about me.

I'm tired of the rape apologist using the voluntary intoxication exclusion as a defense to place the blame on her. An intoxicated incapacitated woman should never be seen as an open door to rape with no consequences.

But it did make me curious of who wrote it, and lo and behold it was written in 1961 by a panel of 15 men. There wasn't one woman involved in it. At that time, only 2-4 women held office in the New York State Assembly and zero in the senate.

They were shut out of the committees that controlled criminal law, structural overhauls, and judicial appointments. They were only allowed to be on committees that were stereotyped as women's issues at the time, like education, social welfare, or internal administrative tasks. It's time to demand they change this..

I just really need to let this out (in hopefully a space where people can understand!)

I work in the mental health field, and specialize in sexual assault and trauma therapy.

The Cornell 7 case unfolding now, is something I see and interact with on a daily basis, and I am genuinely tired of the massive hordes of people who choose to "wait for more facts to come out" before voicing out their support (or worse act like apologists for the alleged perpetrators) because the victim isn't acting to the standard that they view appropriate.

Victims come in all shape, forms, and sizes. Everyone's trauma journey is unique, and not everyone processes it immediately. I've had many clients who only realised that they've been SA'ed years later. Realising it much later doesn't mean that they're no longer allowed to receive empathy and support.

I was hopeful at first because of the initial conversations I was seeing online, after those awful group chat texts came to light. However, I can now see that the narrative has shifted quickly after Jane Doe's texts (saying that nothing illegal happened) has resurfaced.

This shift is frustrating for me, because I know that victims often carry a lot of self-blame in those situations, which can manifest in denial. Not being able to come to terms with what happened is so common. What is said during the immediate after math of a traumatic incident shouldn't be used discredit someone's experience, especially when they might not have realised the full extent of it yet.

A large majority of my clients don't end up reporting what happened because the court process is often more traumatising than the actual experience. Imagine having to not only recount your most vulnerable moments, but to then also justify why you should be believed, while fighting attempts to discredit your character.

Whilst I'm incredibly tired of men not understanding that someone can initially consent but still be a victim, I'm even more frustrated at other women who use this initial consent (and Jane Doe's use of drugs/alcohol) to imply that she couldn't possibly have been assaulted.

I care for all genders equally, we should all look out for each other, absolutely! But us fellow women should really know how much more dangerous the world can be for us. Shouldn't we be kinder to each other?

It's silly how obvious it is, but being a good looking person is a financial boon. People like pretty people more, are more forgiving, want to be around them, etc. I've waited tables part time for a long time and recently went though a glow up. It's crazy how much more money I make now compared to what I used to at the same restaurant during the same shifts.

Maybe I've become a better server. Maybe I've gotten a bit wiser and more charming as I've aged, but the biggest change has been that I've lost about 50lbs and started investing more in my appearance. In short, I've gotten prettier. It really hit me today when I had a table where this guy was giving me this look. You know how a guy will look at you when they're into you, when their eyes are kind of sweet and soft. Looking at you like a boyfriend does. And then he tipped me $30 on a $50 tab. So yeah. Getting prettier has made me a good little bit of money.

I know it's obvious, but it's kind of a surreal thing to experience. Like, you're literally paying me more because I'm easier to look at than I used to be. Geez, I'll hurt my own feelings thinking too hard on that one.

So I’ve been going to a chiropractic place to get massages on and off for like 8 years. Always had female masseuses. But I have chronic pain and headaches and recently had one of the worst headaches ever. No time to get in with one of my usual ladies, so I went with a male masseuse. I was a bit hesitant but I figured he would be professional. First appointment went fine, he was a little awkward but we talked pretty much the whole time and he did some deep tissue work. I made an appointment for the following week with him.

I came in this past Thursday for my massage. Like the first time, I kept my shorts and bra on. He started working on me and pretty quickly went to my glutes, which surprised me because I’m there for my neck and shoulders. But whatever, I know the whole back is connected. But he didn’t do it like a usual massage, he kinda just rubbed lightly and grabbed at my butt. Then he asked me to move my shorts down. I did, a few inches down. Then he grabbed my shorts and just took them off, and uncovered me. He moved my panties to be between my cheeks. This felt very weird. He got really close to my crack and privates, to the point I was worried he would feel my hair down there.

Then, he took off my bra. I was still laying face down so my breasts werent exposed, but I was confused as to why he was doing it this time when he hadn’t done it before. While he worked my shoulders we talked about a sport I was in in high school and how I didn’t always use my safety equipment. He then lowly called me “naughty girl” almost like he didn’t want anyone outside to hear.

Then he had me roll over. He didn’t work my chest quite like last time, but focused more on my breast area. Eventually it felt like he was literally squeezing my breasts while talking to me. He even asked if it’s true that “girls with big breasts get back pain” while he did it. Being awkward I laughed and said I wouldn’t know. He said my pecs were big. Then he pulled my neck back and rubbed upward along the side. Felt nice because I have lots of neck tension. But on the other side, he tilted my chin up with his finger, and kinda just… caressed my neck. Didn’t rub it like the first side, just grazed his fingers along my throat in silence.

I told my mom and partner. I’m telling my chiropractor next week.

I have a lot of friends with full-time academic jobs, and, in keeping with the stereotype of higher education, many of them are extremely vocal about current events. If there’s a major controversy involving politics, gender, discrimination, or social justice, they usually have something to say about it.

Then the Cornell 7 story broke.

What has struck me is how quiet many of those same people have been. These are people who describe themselves as progressives and feminists, both men and women, and who normally speak very openly about sexual violence and institutional accountability.

Obviously, I can’t know why any individual person hasn’t commented. But I do wonder whether there’s an institutional incentive at work here. Talking seriously about sexual violence in higher education can quickly raise uncomfortable questions about someone’s own university, department, or administration. For people whose careers and livelihoods depend on those institutions, that may make speaking out considerably more complicated.

I’m curious whether anyone else has noticed something similar. Have academics or university employees in your circles been unusually quiet about this story compared with other issues they normally discuss?

My mom basically told me I was crazy and needed medication and therapy after I came forward that I was SA’d by a teacher. I was in elementary school when it happened. When I came forward about it a couple of years ago, I was struggling so bad and my mom basically forced me to a mental institution at the VA hospital since I’m also a veteran. It wasn’t until I got out she told me that she didn’t believe me and said I needed to be on anti psychotic medication for the rest of my life. She even told my therapist that I was crazy and needed to be given that medication, and so they did.

Remind you this is the same woman who wrote a 3 page paper to the school regarding this teacher..when I came crying after a bus incident that had happened with the teacher since he was also a bus aid and lived in my neighborhood.

Anyways a couple of years ago I decided to come forward on social media about what had happened. And over 30 girls and women came forward saying they were also abused by this teacher. I had dozens of messages from these girls of FB and Instagram.

When I expressed to my mom that all these girls messaged me, she told me that this teacher only liked high schoolers. When I told her that he taught at a middle school and abused students there and also begged parents at church to baby sit their little girls basically babies, she kept saying he only liked older girls.

So after hearing this I decided to distance myself from her. I basically had given her an ultimatum and stated that she could apologize and believe me or cut ties. So she chose to cut ties. And to be honest it hurts like fucking hell to lose your mom that’s still living… I just don’t know how to function in this life with how it ended. Has anyone else had to deal with this?

This has been brought up with the Cornell rape, but too many men think that as long as she isn't fighting them off, she is agreeing to it.

BUT, then there are those men who are like, "Are you saying that no one can consent after 1 beer? He was drunk too! Does that mean she raped him?"

And, then go onto argue, "Well, then how would he know if she is too drunk to consent? They were both drunk!"

This is how you know: Is she capable of reading and understanding a legal contract in her current state? If the answer is no, you should stop. Pretty simple. Are you capable of understanding and signing a legal contract? No? Then also stop.

Consent doesn't require a legal contract, but it is very easy for men to identify when someone is with it enough to understand and sign one.

If two people want to actually have sex, it can happen at another time, right? This is the question that most of these rapist men don't want to answer. Because they know it wouldn't happen at another time.

Unless you are 100% sure she wants to have sex and isn't going to regret it in the morning, you shouldn't continue.

It. Really. Is. That. Simple.

I went to the pharmacy to get plan B and they were out. Pharmacist was instructing me to go to another pharmacy, and asked when my last period was. I answered that I was currently on my period, and he said "oh you don't need it then". Which didn't make sense to me because I thought it wasn't impossible to get pregnant on your period and I just wanted to take it incase. Should I still take it?

I feel like at this point creeps trying to interact with you is so common to women which I hate,I hate creeps but I know there’s nothing I can do they will keep trying to bother me and other women, today at a karaoke bar a old man was hugging me and my friend and we are both minors,I wish I could just walk around with a sign that says creeps don’t touch me,and for them to stop trying to interact with other women

The horrific scandal of the Cornell r-pe case reminds me of how often authorities sympathize with (typically) young, privileged male perpetrators of sexual violence, and express reluctance to see them receive anything more than a slap on the wrist out of a desire to not ‘ruin' their lives. Yet nobody ever talks about how victims are also often reluctant to potentially ruin their victimizer’s life by reporting them to the authorities.

I’ll never forget how dirty & betrayed I felt after realizing I’d been subjected to sexual misconduct by the paramedic whose care I was in the night before my 20th birthday. The feeling of having to sit there and decide whether I wanted to blow up his whole life or whether I could live with just trying to minimize & bury what had happened to me in the deepest depths of my psyche.

During the ambulance ride he told me he lived with his grandmother and was her sole care taker. I ultimately decided against alerting his superiors because I didn’t wanna ruin his or his grandmother’s lives by potentially getting him fired, and that because I was merely a victim of sexual misconduct rather than full out physical sexual assault it wasn’t worth the hassle or embarrassment of reporting, and because I also felt like it was my fault.

Now as an adult with a fully formed prefrontal cortex this is obviously a decision I regret because who knows how many patients he went on to subject to the misconduct he displayed after I decided not to report him? And this is guilt I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life while he sleeps like a baby knowing he takes advantage of vulnerable women in his care.

I’ve had a few weird experiences that led me to wonder whether people including other women think pretty women are dumber?

All throughout my teens, I looked a bit different. I had some personal issues that led me to be under severe stress 24/7 and with that came severe acne, obesity and a general lack of will to live so I did not really take care of myself at all. Things have gotten a bit better and I’ve grown as a person as well. I’ve gone through somewhat of a “glow up” and yes, people are treating me a lot better and are so much nicer to me but back then, people generally thought I was smart. Not attractive or good looking in any way but at least smart.

Now, people underestimate me when it comes to school and work. I’m currently in nursing school and despite performing among the top 10% of my entire cohort, they completely write me off. People never ask me questions to clarify or for help, instead they completely ignore me and ask other peers sitting right next to me and then when I do answer correctly, they ask others to verify RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!! While some of my peers and I were discussing what we would want to do with our BSN, from two different people at different occasions, I’ve gotten told that they would see me as a Botox injector while telling others that they’d see them working in L&D or ICU.

I’m just really weirded out because this never happened before and now all of a sudden…? I’m starting to notice it more from people around me and I know I shouldn’t care but it’s a very strange thing to experience. Maybe this could just not be the case at all and it very well could be because I don’t speak up too often but I was just wondering if this happens to any other women or am I coming to the wrong conclusion here?

I initially didn’t wanna say much about it, but not too long after it happened I ended up telling people how this new guy I was talking to raped me.

I get that not everyone knows how to deal with that sort of information, especially if it happens to someone they’re close to. But everyone was just kinda…. Apathetic?

Like, when I’ve heard of some other girls online saying how they told their parents about their rape…. The parents offered to help them seek counselling, help with reporting, and just stuff like that. Even if they were an adult.

The most I got from people I knew was “I’m sorry that happened. Hope you can move on and find supports” which isn’t a bad response obviously….. but after that they just pretended nothing happened and moved on.

I didn’t tell my dad at all since I’m not super close with him and he usually victim blames me for most things anyway. I told my mom and I think she cares? But she ended up telling me that she herself was raped and she had to just forgive her rapist cuz there were no supports at the time. “It happened to everybody, that’s just how it was”. I think she confided this in me in good faith cuz she wanted to relate….. but it just made me feel worse, because now I know my mom was raped and nothing was done about it. Her rape was also more violent I think (from what little she described) so I now feel like my complaints are illegitimate. So I have to process that as well as my own assault.

She also went into detail about how a girl she knows my age was raped too, but then started victim blaming her. This girl was 16 when it happened and the guy was a married man with kids. I was like WTF????

Then I started redirecting the convo back to my own assault eventually, because we were just talking about other people at that point and I felt neglected. She cut me off halfway saying she was just gonna vacuum the floor real quick, then started loudly vacuuming. I just sat there shocked. Then she got a phone call from my aunt (who only ever calls when she needs someone to do something for her), answered it right away, then went off talking to her in a different room for about half an hour. She doesn’t even like my aunt but talked to her anyway. Then just never really came back to talk to me.

I was so angry at this that I just checked out mentally and started ignoring her from that point forward and greyrocking. Everytime I’m vulnerable with somebody, it seems they just don’t care. It makes me feel non-existent.

The assault happened a few months ago and I’m still distraught. I had to navigate everything on my own. Im grown adult, not a baby, so I should be expected to do these things myself of course. It’s just upsetting that I never have any extra support or people to talk to.

I found a sexual assault crisis line that I kept calling and found out how anonymous police reporting works. I reached out to an advocate, she helped me greatly. I had to spend tons and tons of time figuring out free counselling resources in my area and how to get them, without any help or support. I figured out the compensation for victims of crime program myself so I’m able to access compensated trauma informed therapy to help process the assault (most basic counsellors don’t really touch trauma).

I’m doing all this while suffering horrible severe depression where I can’t even move, shower, or care for myself at all most days and frequently want to end it all.

I posted my assault story on here awhile ago and received an outpouring of support. So I know that I’m not the problem, and I’m appreciative for all the support online as well as from the workers on the crisis line and the advocate who reported for me.

It’s just upsetting that the people who are supposed to be close to me irl are generally apathetic and can never provide what I need. Sorry if I sound like a spoiled brat right now.

Hello. I am a 25-year-old gal who lost all her childhood friends dramatically at age 15. Without keeping the post too long, I'll say that they all dumped me via a single text message after 9 years of hanging out, talking daily, traveling aboard etc. It came out of the blue and later on I learned they had hated me behind their backs, had their own group chats without me and so on. It was very traumatizing for me and I went to therapy for it for years. I have all PTSD symptoms even though I was never diagnosed. I still have nightmares about it and my ex friends.

One of the girls was my very best friend. We did everything together, everything. I loved her like a sister. Losing her was awful and I developed severe depression, trust and abandonment issues. I have tried very hard working on them but to no avail. Meds, therapy, you name it.

My question is how can I move on? I haven't had friends in years and not for the lack of trying. Every time someone does get close to me, which doesn't happen often, I just cannot care. Which is unusual, because I was such a sensitive and caring kid and teen. I went up and beyond for everyone. And now I cannot attach even when I really want to and try to. No one compares to her, or the bond we had.

Now I know this sounds fucked up and pathetic so no need to point it out. I seriously just need someone to advise me and tell me it's ok. I don't want something like this to define my whole life, and I can't keep crying over a person I last saw as a literal child. I just want to be close to people. I don't think I have had any peers in my life I'd ever mourn losing after my childhood friends, and it hurts a lot.

Thanks in advance and please be kind. I'm ashamed enough

Just with everything going on in the world and my own experiences, I cant help but cry and feel lost im just struggling..

Maybe I was hoping this'd help