I struggle with knowing that my GF has had sex with a bunch of people before me. What can I do?
The more I [25M] learn about my GF's sexual past [28F] the more I resent her.
Our relationship started off pretty good. We never spoke about past relationships, until recently...
I used to struggle with the idea that she used to have other sexual partners in the past. This is entirely on me, and something I had to work on. I always had a suspicion she had a much higher bodycount than I did. What helped me, was knowing that she had sex with other people she was in a committed relationship with. Meaning she only had sex with people she saw a future with (regardless of it actually working out or not, the principle would still stand). So I actually got over this, and started to be less upset (never visibly upset so she never knew) over the idea that she had sex with plenty of guys before me.
But then as we were talking, she told me that she used to date a lot of guys for a few years (when she was not in a committed relationship), and had friends with benefits. This was essentially the same as her taking a dagger and stabbing me right in the chest. Especially considering she had previously told me she never had any one night stands or "flings".
I can no longer apply my logic of "as long as she had sex with people she genuinely liked and saw a future with, then it's fine". She could do it with some "random" guy who wasn't even her boyfriend. I've never told anyone but this eats me alive when I go to bed.
To me sex has been something I do with someone I can see a future with, and someone I have an emotional connection with. I can't just do it with a random person. So the fact that she now doesn't share a lot of these values I have, I don't know how to react. I HATE that I think like this. I wish I didn't, cause it's causing me so much pain. I wish she never told me about her sexual past. I wish she would just straight up lie to my face and say she only had sex in committed relationships. Because I really do like this girl, and I am so sad that I am ruining the relationship in my head, just because of this.
Do I have to leave her, and find someone that "aligns with my values"? Is this something I can work on? If so how? I have a fear that the only way I could not feel this way, is if I did the same thing she did. That way I couldn't hold her to another standard than myself. But I could never do something like that.