What age did you become interested in romantic relationships

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Before last year (I was 22) I had virtually no desire to be in a relationship or to love or be loved by another, throughout my whole teen years I did not want to date or have a girlfriend. Then I suddenly developed this desire out of the blue last year, to me it is a weird unsettling experience. I'm still getting used to it and sometimes wish it would go away.

My first romantic relationship was between the ages of 20 and 25, for Myself. I had three in five years.

I've been trying to logically analyze what relationships are all about since I was 15 or 16, but I didn't have an interest in one until I was 21 or 22. I tried to go out with a girl in high school, but in retrospect, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. After that, I kind of figured that I would just remain single all my life and not bother dating. Then at about 21-22, something changed in me, like a ticking biological clock or something, and I felt like I need a counterpart.

I don't think that I'll ever be interested in a Romantic Relationship. I've had periods of False Hope, that I was warming up enough, in order to be interested in Intimacy. Those periods were short-lived. I've gotten myself into a Pickle with a Man that I went to College with. He seemed nice at first, but than he's started to patronize me, as though my IQ was in the ret*d Range, which is isn't. That experience has really froze my Heart. I'm 31, by the way. I also fear that I might fall in love with the wrong person. What if I end up with a volitile partner? IQ is another big factor. I've tested Average, leaning slightly to Above Average. If I'm with a Genuis, I might feel Inferior. I'd feel that I wouldn't have anything Intelligent or interesting to say. I also fear that a Mentally Challenged Man could fall for me. What if I feel uncomfortable, because I don't want to intimidate him with my Vocabulary, or that I don't find him stimulating enough? What if he turns out to be like the Man that I went to College with? The damage is done. I just can't seem to warm up to the Opposite Sex. Whenever an NT Man appears, I go running.

I've wanted to be in one since I was about...10?

Mirrors my experience, I had a couple of crushes on girls when I was 12 and 13 and tried to ask them out, but I failed. I did not understand what I was doing exactly, apart from that I showed zero interest in girls or getting a girlfriend, this despite I had sexual feelings and fantasties regarding females. I am going to visit my old high school in a week's time talk about how I was like back in high school and get some observations from my old school teachers.

I saw once a couple of classmates, a boy and girl being intimate with each other in class and was fairly indifferent to it, I got very different feelings when I see fellow university students doing much the same thing. As I said earlier this feelings of wanting to be in a romantic relationship are very new and distrubting to me. It also makes me more uncomfortable dealing with females from say 16-20ish.

12, maybe 13.

I voted for 14-16 here, but I was actually interested as early as age six, albeit of course not in a sexual way. I was always interested in girls to varying degrees. I lost interest for a few years, from seven to 11, then I started to think about it again shortly before I turned 12. There were no sexual feelings involved at all until I was 14. Since then I've been interested in girls constantly, except for a period of about eight months when I was 16, pretty much around the time I was diagnosed with AS. The interest increased when I was 17, and been at a peak since I turned 18, two years ago.

I was flirting with a girl at work today, accusing her of stalking me because twice I caught her following me. I don't know how old she is - she may be as young as 15, but may be as old as 18 - it's so hard to tell. There's a girl at my church who is 12, yet she looks to be 18, simply because she is very developed and tall for her age.

In a separate post below I'll briefly describe some of my experiences, at least since I turned 14.

When I was 14, I liked a girl in my class, but she went to a different high school than everyone else for some reason. I tried to keep in touch, unsuccessfully. She also gave me false hope in the process, but I think her mother wanted her to go for me. But we were young.

When I was 15, and relations with the above girl went sour, I decided to pursue another girl, this time at my high school. She was okay with being friends, but was uncomfortable with going further. I didn't understand that due to the undiagnosed AS, and that made things very awkward. It was that which led me to seek help, leading to a diagnosis just before I turned 17.

I met a girl shortly after I turned 17, and although for the first year we kept in touch periodically, I took a risk about a year later and asked her to prom, and she accepted. We went as friends, although I was open to something more, which I didn't get into discussing at the time. It was a fabulous evening, and to date it was the only time in my life that a girl and I spontaneously started walking arm-in-arm together. I didn't try and make any moves that night since we were there as friends, but I really enjoyed sitting in the car alone with her near my friend's house later, just talking. It really felt like having a girlfriend for an evening. We saw each other a bit in the later months of that year, when we could. One day I finally gave her a kiss on the cheek, but she decided we were better off as friends - and indeed, she has remained a great friend of mine. I'm not holding my breath though.

And of course, the girl I describe in the "What should I do" thread.

11

Hey the poll doesn't go far enough back.

I actually remember the first girl I was interested in. I don't remember her name but I remember what she looked like and she always wore this awesome smelling strawberry lip gloss. I used to sit at her table with a couple other girls in 1st grade. 6 or 7 years old? I remember my dreams back then were of girls chasing me around the playground and finally I would "trip" (on purpose) or something and they would all fall on top of me. I wished every day that would happen but it never did.

Dispite this early attraction I never had a girlfriend until I was 16 or 17. Anxiety is a b***h.

I was 5, maybe even younger.

I wasn't really bothered by having a relationship I just wanted company and friends around me, but I'd say it was around 14/15. I had my first boyfriend at 13 but it wasn't a serious relationship at all. I met my current boyfriend when I was 13 and we got together but it wasn't that serious until a year later and that's when I matured I guess, and actually felt more involved with the relationship and wanted romantic attention and was also prepared to give more attention then I had previously.

I think I wanted a girlfriend since I was 10 or so, but I figured that was something that would only happen when I got into Middle School or High School. When I was 12 to 14, I sort of observed that other kids would speak of being on dates, and while I feared it was something I'd missed out on, I proclaimed that it was all B.S. and that no one really had relationships at that age. When I was in High School, I was also in denial, as I wanted a girlfriend but had absolutely no idea how to go about getting one. I figured it would happen later. In college, I could no longer deny that people my age had relationships and readily observed them everywhere around me, much to my dismay (I also observed this in high school, but was able to ignore it more). I made many efforts to get into relationships, but all of them were complete and utter failures. I concluded that it was impossible for me to be in one, and that I alone was afflicted with some sort of curse. Then my loneliness turned to bitter rage and resentment, resigned despair, and finally up another step to rational pragmatism. And, of course, all of that confusion between love, lust, and sex that only excacerbates that particularly tired sort of desperation you feel when you don't know which of those you'd settle for. I never had a girlfriend until about 8 months ago.

I had been on a few unsuccessful dates and one horribly awry internet relationship, but that was it. Today I simply cannot relate to that crowd of people who were sexually active in high school, attended their senior proms, married their high school sweethearts, have been around the block since they were 12, and will send their kids back to the same school. It's a completely alien world to me. Being in a loving, sexual relationship has certainly made me feel like a major obstacle in my path has been removed and a burden released form my shoulders, not to mention my mind and heart. But don't ask me to give you any insight about relationships. In all likelihood, I will know nothing of relevance to the average joe, who likewise knows nothing of relevance to me.

I've don't think I've ever really been interested in romantic relationships. I can't ever remember there being a time when I felt I would grow up to get married like normal people do.

The time in my life when I started to take notice of girls - about 13 or 14 - sort of coincided with the time I began to feel I was somehow different from my peers.
I went to an all boys school. There was an all girls school right next door, and the cool kids in my year managed to befriend a large group of girls from the school next door. I used to fancy most of these chicks like mad, but I never got to know any of them.

University was an even more frustrating time, living amongst so many good-looking girls. I had no friends at university, and I used to get quite down about being there. Seeing boys and girls pair up so apparently easily and arbitrarily made things worse. I'd always wonder what the hell girls would see in some of these guys. But if I ever actually wanted a relationship at all, it was just for the sake of my self-esteem. It hurt to realise that certain things that seemed impossible for me came so easily for others.

Three years after leaving university I managed to get a (sort of, almost) girlfriend for a few months. I met her through the internet (where else?). I wasn't looking for a relationship, and neither was she (honest).
It was such a surprise to find someone I felt comfortable around.
But I felt it didn't make much difference to my life. My life still sucked. I hated my job. She never met my parents. I had - and still have - a compulsion to keep the vast majority of my life from my parents.
I feel now that even though we felt comfortable around each other, we never really got to know anything about each other. I'd always assumed that the couples I'd observed in the past knew plenty about each other.
She used to ask me about my friends and my previous girlfriends. I had none of either. I guess I should have been flattered that she treated me like a normal guy. But I couldn't help thinking she was very much mistaken about me. This was before my AS diagnosis.
Even now I find it difficult to accept compliments.
Also, the physical attraction wasn't really there for me. I guess I'm just a shallow guy.

I thought boys were cute and had that hormone thing going on from the time I was eleven or so.
The romantic thing, I mean having a real romantic relationship, didn't kick in until I was 19 or so.