[LittleForgetMeNot]

it's ONLY women that make you feel that way? I'm a 16 year old girl.. In public I don't care about guys looking or talking to me or anything, I'm calm comfortable and perfectly fine. But it's around girls my age the alarm bells start going off and the anxiety kicks in.. I was diagnosed with social anxiety but is that right if I could sit in a room full of strangers that were all guys and feel absolutely normal.. but if I had to sit in a room full of girls I'd want to die, run away, and the paranoia of being judged and talked about would make me go insane..? If your social anxiety applies only to one half of the population (or even quarter of the population as I'm okay around women in their late 20s and above as well as girls below the age of 12) then how can it be social anxiety if that means all social interaction? Or am I just getting the definition of social anxiety wrong..?

[Ambrosa]

I am exactly the same. In fact I have more male friends then female friends. I won't go to party's if there are going to be allot of women. i don't have social anxiety.mine is just the pure fact of how women can be and make you feel. They can sit there and judge you with out knowing you, ***** when your in hearing distance. Stair at you and call you names when you are doing something that they would never have the guts to do. I'm 35 and for about 15-20 I have been like that only because I have had allot of female friends do things or have said things that have made me loose trust in them. So mine boils down to trust with women. I have only a a few female friends and I would rather it that way. They know what I'm like and understand if they have a doo and I don't want to come if there is know one else there that i don't know

[with or without you]

Yes, it still is LFMN. You have many valid reasons for being anxious around women (let's face it - women can be brutal to each other) but obviously you do not want the thoughts to be this extreme or "obsessive".

[LittleForgetMeNot]

Yeah, I usually.. resist my own problems. Sometimes I do, but when I find that I don't it's easier to get into a dark place and give up.

I was wondering because I was diagnosed with it, and in therapy I've been spoken to and my advice has been moderated around the fact that I'm afraid around everyone. So.. when I hang out with a guy friend it's a big deal to my T when in reality it wasn't as much a big deal as trying to hang out with a girl friend and feel.. normal? With one therapist I had spoken to I was so confused that I ended up saying I had NO social anxiety and they accepted it. Then that one part of my problems was left neglected and got a little worse without the support it needed. But thanks for clearing this up for me, now I can tell my T tomorrow that it only applies to certain people, and not just blow the issue off all together.

[la doctora]

I bet it is very common for a woman to feel more anxious around other women, than men. I know I am totally that way. Girls are *****es... at least most of them are. I have issues with social anxiety also and I know that I am MUCH more affected by interacting with women than men. Your anxieties are more profound with women than men, but that doesn't make it any less of a social anxiety than anything else does.

I have found that usually the only girls I get along with are girls that feel the same way I do about other girls. I guess that makes sense... It's still hard though. I try and want to be friends with other girls... it just seems so much easier with men bc they seem to judge less and I don't feel nearly as intimidated.

[thea_kronborg]

You could feel anxious around women of certain ages without having to believe that all women are *****es or brutal. There could be some other reason, something in your past or who knows. I just hate to hear women say that about other women. We need to stick together.

thea

[Perna]

I think social anxiety is paying too much attention to who/what is going on socially, around you. If you were to go to a party/class/meeting, etc. you would "avoid" certain situations, types of people, would look for and see different constellations (two girls around a guy, you wouldn't approach whereas three guys and a girl you might), some of which would be more/less favorable for you. It's a bit like having a phobia, you might pay attention to "elevators" too much if you're afraid to ride in them

[LittleForgetMeNot]

I never used to have this anxiety. I used to be one of those girls who were friends with all the other girls in class. When I was younger I had the charisma to grow up into someone who one might call "popular". I faced bullying and rumours with ease and could turn it all around on the person who started it, I had that confidence, and no one would doubt me.. However, 4 years ago I befriended someone who was extremly emotionally manipulative. She was a friend, but also abusive, and for 4 years she harassed and taunted me, madeit her objective to ruin my life (and she admitted it). Friends who I confinded in she'd "take" and get them to spill all their secrets about me.. I don't speak to her anymore, but she wanders back to harass me from time to time. She's run out of material now, as she has no more access to who I talk to and I know how to get her to leave me alone, but ever since I met her and her presance became toxic I had a real problem being around girls my age.

I know that it's unfair to assume that every girl out there is going to get me or something but I try to combat it and keep friends with girls anyway.. but I'm still on edge and unable to completely let go.