I've never been able to have a "normal" relationship because I'm an asexual, non-transitioning, nonbinary, partial transmale.
Since my last break up I've not been in another relationship although I've received an average of two marriage proposals a year and countless attempts by BOTH genders to gain my attention.
Even my ex-husband has been working to get me back (perhaps a lapse in memory?), although he is currently MARRIED. This puzzles me, since I am a 64 yr old, apparently female person who dresses in baggy, androgynous clothes and seldom combs my hair or wears make up. I'm short, dark haired, and eccentric, spending most free time tearing through swamps and climbing cliffs taking photos of birds and wildlife, using a motorbike like a car, or, formerly, riding/driving my horses.
If this sounds like bragging, that would only be the case if I felt sexual attraction. Instead, I usually feel alarm. If the person getting romantic is a male, I start evasive maneuvers, realizing he will now be expecting some sort of female reciprocal response, which I can't do. If the person is a female, I panic because I've learned the hard way that women can get a secret crush on me, then take revenge if they notice I'm not responding.
My students, of all ages, also keep writing me love notes or making passionate love speeches. At least, in that case, I can just laugh it off.
Remember I wear loose, androgynous clothing, and I'm an OLD WOMAN in appearance.
But all my life, I was never able to have relationships, since I'm too male-minded to respond correctly to male flirting or even notice it, or women's flirting for that matter, being in the asexual spectrum.
I'm demisexual (can feel sexual attraction for someone if in a close relationship at least two years), but so far only hetero males have had that kind of persistence.
I am aware of when women and pretty males are attractive, but any thoughts of sex bring on instant revulsion.
But before I realized what I am, I tried to fit in and please my parents, so used to occasionally agree to be in relationships with male best friends to humor them, even though I'd routinely warn them to find a "real woman." These relationships, although filled with fun and adventure, since I treat men like pals, didn't last because I lack the female "brain chip" to control men.
My cisfemale relative and friends keep their men under tight control by giving them the cold shoulder if they don't cater to her every wish, but I never noticed my partners' disrespect until they were entrenched in bad behavior. By the time I noticed, I was out of patience and done with the relationship.
