I'm hoping for a bit of advice from y'all since the general internet is riddled with garbage.

Back in my Pick Me days, I had a lot of shitty sexual experiences ranging from generally unsatisfying encounters all the way to rape. I finally got fed up with being treated like trash and started working on my self esteem and leveling up. Today I'm in a good healthy relationship of over a year with a HVM but I'm having issues with leftover trauma, and that's where I need help.

I have a lot of feelings surrounding sex and it's made it a little difficult to have a healthy sex life even in a good relationship:

  • Usually I have to initiate sex because if he does (and I'm not already thinking about it) I immediately feel preyed upon and defensive even though he has never pushed me for sex and is super respectful.
  • I've also noticed that sometimes I want to have sex, but I can't get my body on board and can't get anywhere near an orgasm, which leads to me feeling used even though the whole thing was my idea and he really tries to make sure I'm having fun.
  • Sometimes it's all going great until I reach orgasm and then I just feel...dirty. Idk why, sometimes it's fine, and sometimes I feel gross afterward for no apparent reason.
  • I tried initiating less frequently thinking maybe I was just pushing myself to do it more than I really wanted to, but now we only have sex like once every few weeks and it hasn't really gotten any better.

It's worth noting that my depression has been flaring up lately. If any of you have had similar experiences and found a solution I would LOVE to hear it, I'm tired of feeling weird about all this and it's getting discouraging.

Thank you!