Exchanging nude photos

[Anonymous]

Want to discuss about something with you all.

Is it a must to exchange nude photos with your partner if you are in a relationship or dating?

Is it very common for most couples in this present era who are dating or in relationship to exchange nude photos or selfies of themselves (esp among gay guys)?

There is a reason why I'm mentioning this.

I'm a gay guy and I'm in my mid-thirties. I have been single all my life.

There was once whereby I met a guy in an online dating site (around 2015). 

I was interested and started to talk to him online. We chatted for around 2 months and suddenly one day, he asked me to share my nude photos to him.

I felt uncomfortable taking such photos of myself, I really didn't like it. I'm quite conservative in some ways and I don't feel good about taking such photos of myself and sharing them.

Please don't misunderstand me, I mean, yes, I will be naked if I am having sex in the future. But I just felt that taking these photos of myself was something totally different from sex.

I told him politely that I can't send him the photos. He kept asking me again and again for a few days. He gave up and eventually told me that he has started seeing another guy and stopped talking to me.

It made me feel guilty that it was my fault that he stopped talking to me.

It makes me think that it is like a "requirement" in relationships to exchange nude photos with each other.

Sometimes, I think to myself that if I forced or pressured myself and sent him my nude photos, he would still be talking to me and I would have been been in a relationship with him now.

It makes me think that I took a wrong decision back then to not send him the photos.

I just feel confused with myself. I'm just worried that me being uncomfortable with taking and sharing such photos will make it difficult for me to get into a relationship.