Click to Read: 50 Shades of Grey Area

Excerpts:

“Romantic/sexual relationships have always been a side thought in my 22 years so I tend to put my faith in stereotypes; isn’t it just a race to encounter at least one vagina for guys from 13-35? Don’t girls determine their romantic choices on how it appears to others, driven by their implicit need for self-validation? Isn’t it true that women get more out of posting “couple” photos to the social void as proof of their relevance and less out of the actual experience? There seemed to be so much superficial behavior required of dating that I couldn’t bring myself to explore for quite some time. Combine that apathy with the other lovely red flags I harbor: sexual repression (thanks to my Catholic education, yes the cliché endures), general distrust of others’ motives, a deep hatred of sexual tension, a blunt attitude that ruins flirting, and a deep fear that the relationship I enter will fall apart when I have an episode where I sleep for a week…and you are left with someone who is completely ill-equipped for the romantic landscape (me).”

“I don’t see it as a disappointing ending; rather, I am content, because I have a start on figuring out my own definition of “Love”: Love is giving someone the last piece of pizza because you feel happy when they smile. Love is watching their favorite awful TV show because the joy you feel when they laugh is better than the satisfaction of watching what you want. Love isn’t committing your life, soul, and future to someone; it’s committing to care for, support, and accept a person no matter what bullshit they throw at you. When I discussed this with my guy friends, they said this pure sort of unencumbered adoration is a utopian dream. They believe that it is inevitable that at some point, all women use their love as a weapon, as a debt to be paid. They might be right. Maybe that’s the real plague of the “almost relationship”- the feeling of investing everything you are with no hope for a return. Nonetheless, for John and Logan the damage is done; they got in, and like my three other close friends, I will be there for them for the rest of my life, with my heart intact”