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Where do I find people that are willing to date or hook up?

Hi everyone, I am in my early thirties and have been dealing with something that has brought me a lot of shame and frustration.

I am still a virgin.

Putting my thoughts into words on this has been really hard, because for the past fifteen, even twenty years, I have internalized the feeling of being unattractive and a failed man (there are other factors for this, but those parts of my life are slowly getting back on track.) Also, I've had a lot of hostility on Reddit when I've tried to reach out on there in the past, so the motivation to really type this isn't there.

I don't want to reveal too much about myself, but I'll try to explain my thoughts as best I can.

My primary and secondary school years sucked. Being autistic made me an easy target for bullies and I was picked on a lot by boys and girls alike. Girls would flirt with me or come on to me as a joke, then laugh in my face (or worse) if I took them seriously. One classmate took things so far that she went on a year-long harassment campaign of calling me a creep and telling me to kill myself.

Sixth form and university were my quiet years. I made temporary friends in both places but I keep in touch with virtually nobody. The girls I interacted with during those years seemed stuck-up and had no interest in even talking to me as a friend. I don't know if it's a thing about British women, or just the overall vibe at my uni, but I just get really frigid vibes.

Don't even get me started on online dating. As a man, you cannot even get matches or replies unless you look like Ryan Gosling, and it is disheartening to have nearly every single one of your messages ignored, even in the modern days where every dating app is a Tinder clone and now requires you to mutually match to send a message. The worst one nowadays is Okcupid, where I realised that the only matches I even get are women on the other side of the world who blatantly falsify their location in the search for a Western husband and the means to a spousal visa.

I have had dates before, but about half of them she's made excuses to bail and then blocked/unmatched/ghosted me afterwards, and it's not like I knowingly did anything creepy.

I've also had girlfriends before, but I've only even kissed one of them. Two were LDR's that fell apart the moment we closed the gap (of the two, one was a Chinese lady who my German friend tried to set me up with, the other was a Japanese girl who in retrospect was using me for English practice and help with her student visa.) Of the two that were in my country: one used me for my money and cheated on me, and the one that I did kiss we broke up because of the distance and the fact that our personalities just clashed (I was attracted to her but much of the time it felt like I was talking to a brick wall.)

My birthday is in a few weeks and I've debated on whether to pay a hooker to take my virginity (I'd likely go abroad for this. Prostitution is technically legal here but a lot of stuff associated with the sex industry isn't.) I don't want to end up in my forties not knowing what sex feels like.

The main reason I'm even considering this is because I'm fed up of trying to date people. My past experiences have left me feeling aromantic, but it feels like even the rare few women who are open to hookups wouldn't go near me with a barge pole.

Am I doing all of this wrong? I have tried numerous things:

  • Dating apps: Okcupid, POF, Hinge, Coffee Meets Bagel, Happn, Tinder, Bumble. Name the app and I've most likely used it. Most of them are owned by the exact same company and are just a different brand of snake oil anyway.
  • Asking friends if they know single women they can introduce me to. Only once has this actually happened.
  • Meeting women at work. I work fully remote now so this ain't really an option, and even in the pre-COVID days, nearly every female colleague was not single.
  • Going to singles meetups. Last one I went to was a sausage fest and the only lady who I did speak to was a woman in her fifties with a wedding ring on her.
  • Changing the way I look and dress. I tried multiple styles of clothing, hairstyles, etc. I get short bursts of motivation to hit the gym and at one point spent a few months going through bro split and PPL split routines, sometimes going 4+ days a week.
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  • Hey, I remember you from my thread!

    So, I'll lay out my life story:

    • I'm also from the UK
    • I was quite heavily teased/bullied by girls pretending to flirt only to laugh when I seem to recirpocate in secondary school
    • Sixth form was an absolute no-go for whatever reason, had very little luck
    • University I actually had a girl who was heavily flirting with me. However, I literally missed every single cue. I only realised she was flirting with me 5 years later
    • I tried asking a friend out on a date - multiple times. She said no every single time and while now we are "okay" the friendship just isn't the same as it was before
    • I tried to ask a girl out on a date at work. That ended up terribly and nearly had every single woman on that floor flat-out ignoring me. Because I had social anxiety at the time and I didn't understand social boundaries, I asked her out for a date another two times - the second time I actually wanted to ask if we were friends, but I didn't understand the implication of asking a girl out on a date. The third time was because I made the correlation that asking her out for a date would get her to go away and leave me alone. At the time I was deeply hurt from being ignored so aggressively and then she would just randomly talk to me as if nothing had happened.
    • After those series of events, I twigged that I really need to get my shit together and start working on myself. I tried to look at all my insecurities, and address/resolve the ones I could fix while being kinder on myself for the things about myself I wasn't happy about
    • I did online dating. SO. Many. Online. Dates. All of my early dates from my late twenties were absolutely terrible and I legitimately bought nothing to the table due to my lack of self confidence. Never got kissed. Never had sex.
    • Eventually I would be a bit happier with myself, but I was sexually frustrated. As ashamed as I am to admit, I would upfront ask girls who I was dating if we could have sex, even if we had one (or none!) dates. I lost a lot of dates that way, and I still had my virginity.
    • At the age of 31, I went to a super cheap escort and I honestly regret that escort. She looked nothing like her photo, and we wound up having sex for 15 minutes despite me paying for a full hour.
      • The sex was nice but the actual experience left me thinking I was going to have my organs harvested in this dingy creepy room
    • About 6 months later I found another escort. She looked exactly like her profile photo. Only problem was that as we talked, it was incredibly clear she was effectively being trafficked. I felt like throwing up on the spot and I wanted to give up sex, let alone seeking escorts.
    • About a year or so (I think I was 33/34), I found an independent British escort. This escort wound up being the one I would frequently hook up frequently.
    • I've been on dates since I met the British escort - one was an absolute dud, one despite being very nice wasn't interested, and another straight up snogged me. Never in my life did I think I would ever be snogged like that. She then said she was still missing her ex-husband, but we still remain friends to this day.
    • I'm currently living with my parents as a 34 year old, but that is changing suuuuper sooooon :D

    So now you know my dating/romantic life story:

    • Escort for me did help relieve sexual frustration, but it at times made me feel helplessly desperate for a deeper connection. Seeking escorts for a romantic relationship is a bit like drinking salt water - you think you're being hydrated, but you're just being dehydrated. However, for mindless sex, a good independent escort is fantastic, as well as them being great to talk stuff through (they know and understand men don't have a lot of avenues to talk about their frustration, and honestly good escorts want to see you succeed)
    • I would say the big thing to do is work out your insecurities and tackle them. Once you feel like you've done that, try to make more friends with women that, in your head, you know aren't sexual relationships. Not only will this boost your confidence, sometimes these women will want to hook you up with their friend if they think you are the bees knees
    • You ultimately need to work on your confidence - from the mental to the physical. It doesn't happen overnight. I started when I was 26/27 and I'm 34 years now. I still consider it a work in progress.
    • Do try to understand that dating is about finding your particular brand of weirdo. A lot of media try to teach men that they need to be sexual prowesses and have hundreds of women etc etc - don't believe the BS. You just need to find the right one for you. If a date didn't want to continue things further, they're doing you a favour. Eventually you'll be confident in your own needs and wants to effectively turn down women too.
    • Confidence is key, and the key to confidence is knowing that she is just as nervous as you are. However you approach the situation, try to make sure that she feels comfortable with you.

    I can't think of anything else, but I've been in your situation and I'm telling you it does get better, with or without escorting. I'm rooting for you mate!

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