S5E16 - Firsts Vol.9: Young Adult Love

Fruitbowl: An Oral History of Queer Sex

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Love is complicated and for queer people, it's even more so. Queer love rarely resembles traditional romantic stories. And while our representation is getting better, the lack of realistic queer adult love stories can make sorting through those complicated emotions and feelings a struggle. Many of this episode’s stories describe a certain kind of gratitude for the experience of first love, oftentimes the interviewees describe becoming close friends after their relationships ended. If a romantic bond eventually dissolves, we still see a reflection of ourselves in that other person; a recognition of all the struggle, bravery and honesty that it took to get to a place where we can admit that this is who I am and this is how I express love.

Ari (S4E3) - First love on the lunch shift; Steven M. (S4E14) - Falling for the troublemaker & “Are you a rice queen?”; Adam T. (S3E20) - Practicing piano & learning how to love; Josh (S3E1) - An older, wiser first love; Breona (S4E18) - obsessed with love; Joshua G. (S2E7) - Learning about love and what not to do; Alan (S3E2) - Mormon love in the Inland Empire; Justin (S4E1) - Punk Love at the urinal; Adam (S2E3) - Sex is easy, Love is difficult; Mike (S3E19) - Love & Polyamory.

This episode was edited, hosted and mixed by Ryan Weadon. Fruitbowl is produced and created by Dave Quantic

Support independent queer media by donating to Fruitbowl and help us in our mission to record, archive and share personal stories about queer coming of age. Learn more at www.fruitbowlpodcast.com/donate.

Promoting a podcast about queer sex is an uphill battle when it comes to social media. Tell your friends about Fruitbowl, rate us on your podcast platform or write a review on Apple Podcast. Every little bit helps. https://linktr.ee/fruitbowlpod.

Fruitbowl’s fruit artwork for Season 5 was created by Nathan Richards.IG: @Paperwombat.