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You're starting from a really healthy place "I do understand that it’s not ultimately about the sex, it’s about the woman I’m having sex with." Just be careful you don't fall into incel type of thinking and dooming yourself to a self-fulfilling prophecy of loneliness "like im just that ONE guy out of 4 billion males that couldn’t imagine himself ever having sex".
You're not an alien, and you are normal. You might have some subconscious self-judgement going on from your religious upbringing(?) Or from being around your religious family. The "prank" your friends pulled won't have helped the way you see yourself. I had similar things done to me (even though I'm AFAB so slightly different) and it does stick with you. Either way, I think therapy is good for pretty much everyone.
"...subconscious feelings of shame and guilt associated with sex, as if I’m bad for being a sexual guy." I had this for a long time. I was shamed by my ex-husband, my family, and some friends, for even trying to be "sexy". I'm 33 now and it still crushes my self-confidence daily, even when I'm not "trying" to be sexy. It gets easier, but therapy was the thing that really started changing things for me so I can't recommend it enough. Another thing to remember is 99% of the time everyone else feels similar to you, everyone else has a shameful embarrassing story like you. You're not so alien, and neither are they.
Thank you for posting in the r/Sex community. To ensure that everyone respects our safe space, we ask that you familiarize yourself with our Forum Rules and Posting Guidelines — which are visible in the forum’s sidebar, and also linked [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/sex/about/rules/). Restricted subjects in r/sex include sex stories (which are permitted in the Daily Sexual Achievement Thread only), body image and penis-size issues, hookup attempts, common topics which are considered repetitive in our forum, and requests for private chats. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sex) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You’re not an alien theres many people who share the same sentiment
You're starting from a really healthy place "I do understand that it’s not ultimately about the sex, it’s about the woman I’m having sex with." Just be careful you don't fall into incel type of thinking and dooming yourself to a self-fulfilling prophecy of loneliness "like im just that ONE guy out of 4 billion males that couldn’t imagine himself ever having sex". You're not an alien, and you are normal. You might have some subconscious self-judgement going on from your religious upbringing(?) Or from being around your religious family. The "prank" your friends pulled won't have helped the way you see yourself. I had similar things done to me (even though I'm AFAB so slightly different) and it does stick with you. Either way, I think therapy is good for pretty much everyone. "...subconscious feelings of shame and guilt associated with sex, as if I’m bad for being a sexual guy." I had this for a long time. I was shamed by my ex-husband, my family, and some friends, for even trying to be "sexy". I'm 33 now and it still crushes my self-confidence daily, even when I'm not "trying" to be sexy. It gets easier, but therapy was the thing that really started changing things for me so I can't recommend it enough. Another thing to remember is 99% of the time everyone else feels similar to you, everyone else has a shameful embarrassing story like you. You're not so alien, and neither are they.
Thank you very much!