What misconceptions of the opposite sex did you have in your awkward teens/early 20s days?

Many. For one, I was raised to believe that women were sacred, fragile human beings who are so sensitive in nature that they never misbehave or intentionally seek to hurt anyone else.

This idea was drilled in my head constantly, "don't ever be mean to girls", "always protect girls, it's your responsibility", "always respect girls no matter what", "don't ever hit a girl or be physical in any way shape or form".

I know you assholes like to downvote this, but yes, I was also taught that the nicer I am, the bigger the chances I had at winning their hearts. Anyway, once I reached puberty, this constant mind fuck my mom put me through, managed to make me feel guilty for being sexually attracted to girls. This time, I was led to believe that girls aren't sexual creatures, that they don't really like sex and that boys usually trick or pressure girls into sleeping with them. As fucked up as it sounds, I was truly convinced that girls who have sex with their boyfriends were these poor, confused little souls, who simply gave in, and are now suffering through it for the sake of their partners pleasures.

Now fast forward to my 18th birthday, I slowly started to figure out how things work. I'd managed to have 2 girlfriends up until that point, but as you can imagine, no sex. This time, I was completely awkward and have no idea how to approach girls anymore. The fact that sex was an option, somehow made me feel paranoid. I started overthinking everything, I was inexperienced and it generally felt like everyone knew something I didn't. Even when I managed to get in "sexy" situations, my white knight instincts would kick in and I felt the need to be a complete killjoy. This isn't really a condition that got me in the friendzone often, but it did once I got into college. My lack of experience and my attitude towards women in my early 20's, obviously landed me in the friendzone a lot, and I'm not really complaining (I was a complete dork), I knew what was wrong but it was too late. It took some heavy reprogramming to fix my perspective, to start seeing women as normal human beings. Independent, rational, sexual, emotional, good/bad, naughty/behaved etc.

Anyway, fast forward to present day, everything is fine. I don't hate women, I don't hate my mom for teaching me all that crap, I can understand where the fear came from, since both her sisters had abusive husbands, but man did I miss out on a lot in my early teens. So much confusion and emotional pain for nothing.

My advice to any parent is this: Make sure you properly educate your kids (boys or girls) on how the world ACTUALLY works. Don't fucking sugarcoat anything and don't try to mislead, thinking you're protecting them. I'm amazed I haven't turned into a complete misogynist pig, the same way religious kids become militant atheists once they stop believing.

/r/AskReddit Thread