Reply To: I’m 17, is 25 too old for me?

Everyone is right. He is way too old, it’s inappropriate, and it’s not nuanced. You need to be having these first relationship experiences with someone within a couple years of your own age, particularly given the issues you say you have.

My boyfriend at 17 was 20, and that was pushing it as far as being appropriate. There was a power imbalance because he had access to alcohol, drugs, parties. I didn’t have the social issues you have, and was kind of “hot,” so I wasn’t totally without power in the relationship, but he definitely pushed me to have sex much sooner than I was comfortable, and he used lines on me that with a bit more experience I’d have known how to handle.

25, noooooo way. There’s something definitely wrong with a guy aged 25 who wants to date a 17 year old. Skip it.