Thank you very much, both of you.
I appreciate what you say as very true and poignant.
I am very sensitive, and I can get self-confidence, but sometimes I have sensitive moments where things just affect me. I need to stop letting it happen, and have a thicker skin.
People are ignorant, and now that I look at the stereotype, I am nowhere near a "fat, smelly middle-aged basement dweller". I am an adult, but very slim, short, and I actually have hygene (except that my hair is messy, lol). Oh, I have zero pimples btw xp
There is nothing wrong with pimples, since they are a normal part of adolescence. But I am not a teenager anymore, and well, they simply went away.
Some describe my face after I shave as "very pretty", "young looking", "beautiful". I know, it sounds like I brag, but I just want to show how I deviate from the plushophile stereotype remarkably. The only thing that is accurate is the adult part
I will try to be more self confident, I need to.
I remember that in my Theories of Personality class ar college I read about Erich Fromm, and he stated that humans have some escape mechanisms (similar to Freud's defense mechanisms, but these are used by normal people). One of the escape mechanisms was called "automaton conformity", and it means that some people feel lonely, because the human condition has alienated us from nature. Then, in the case of the mechanism of automaton conformity, people seek to fit in in a group, be it a sports team, a religious sect, or a gang. The book mentions how this escape mechanism clearly alleviates people's loneliness, but that there was a big price to pay: The loss of the self.
It really got to me. I totally agreed with it.
We need to be ourselves more often, because through that we can inspire others, and show them that there is nothing wrong with the self as long as it harms none.
But more importantly, we are going to be happier, and more productive.
Plushophilia is something that has been with me ever since I have memory, and I have always felt attraction towards stuffed animals, or stuffed animal-looking cartoon characters, like pokemon. Of course, I also feel attraction towards women and men, since my sexual orientation is Bisexual, and it dominates. But plushophilia is a part of me too, and a part I will always accept and embrace, despite what some say.