Your first love, has it affected the way you feel about the opposite sex?

Mine was a childhood sweetheart - we met at primary school, lived near each other, played together etc. Lost touch a bit when we went to secondary school, but met again aged 16 doing the same weekend job. Head over heels in love for a few years, till we moved to another town to lived together, but we really were not mature enough, and it didn't last even a year after that. We contacted again through social media many years later, both then in our 50s, and in relationships etc, just wanted to catch up with each other. We had a lovely dinner and chat, and that was it. We're still in touch. She's a good person, and once we were inseparable. My stable relationship eventually failed (still friends with her too 😃) and my childhood sweetheart is doing well and enjoying life 😊

My first love was amazing. I suffered from childhood neglect and now I'm older I realise I wasn't a good girlfriend to him.

I just wish I could say sorry. Just so he knows, it wasn't him. It was me!

But he probably doesn't remember me now.

Hasn't harmed how I see men but has probably harmed how he sees women ☹️

I’ve had two long term relationships and the first (my first love) ended by sort of just burning out so it hasn’t affected me.

Second ended following his affair and leaving me and two DC for OW - still not really affected my outlook on other men. I feel I’m better informed, more mature, less naive though. I know what to look out for, the telltale signs, what to do and what not to do to keep the spark etc so I actually feel my relationships have got healthier as they’ve gone on rather than vice versa.

My first love hasn’t really affected me in the least. I was hurt when we split up and I remember how awful it felt but it didn’t have any long term impact. I met someone else about nine months later.

None of my relationships, even the two that were frankly horrific, ever affected the way I feel about men. Men aren’t a homogeneous mass.