June 18, 2008
I'm a 33-year-old man, married eight
years and mostly happy. My problem seems common: My wife has lost interest in
sex. We have sex once every two months, maybe once a month if I'm lucky. When
we do have sex, it seems to be good for both of us. It wasn't always this
way—we used to have great chemistry and were both GGG in better days.
I've always been faithful, but I'm
nearing some kind of tipping point. On a recent business trip, I visited a
strip club for the first time. Even though I knew the attention I was getting
was fake, it still did the trick. Feeling desired, even in a superficial way,
is something I've been missing. Once, a long time ago, my wife mentioned that
she would be okay with me going to a strip club, so I feel like I haven't
violated our relationship. But I feel like I'm getting pretty close to the
boundary.
I don't know what to do. I could try
more communication, possibly even try to get us into counseling, but I wonder
if that's fair. The situation doesn't seem to be a problem for her, and every
time we talk about it, I feel like I'm hurting her feelings. I could also just
give up and try to find ways to meet my needs elsewhere. But the thought of
potentially hurting her or even losing her as a result is unbearable. I've also
wondered if a change of medication could help—I know loss of sexual
appetite can be a side effect of the birth-control medication my wife takes.
Ready
To Pop
First,
RTP, I'm sitting on stacks of mail from spouses—husbands and wives—who aren't getting any at
home, much less halfway decent sex on a bimonthly-or-better basis. So while I
appreciate your frustration—I'd be fucking holes I'd kicked in the walls
if my boyfriend put out just six times a year—let's recognize that 1)
things could be worse, and 2) you have a decent base here on which to build.
Second,
RTP, yes to everything—yes
to a new form of birth control (perhaps you could get a vasectomy), yes to
packing your asses off to counseling (find a counselor who doesn't believe that
the husband is always at fault), and yes to more open and honest communication.
A few more yeses: Yes to getting the wife's hormones checked (how are her
testosterone levels?), yes to looking at depression as a possible underlying
cause (and good luck eliminating depression if it is), and yes to the
occasional visit to a strip club (just as a matter of principle).
Third,
RTP, and most importantly…
Yes
to hurting the wife. Telling her about your unhappiness and forcing this issue
will hurt her feelings, RTP, but catching you cheating will hurt much, much
more.
Finally,
RTP, I'm thinking that you wrote to me and not, say, Zombie Ann Landers because
you were looking for permission to cheat. I have been known to issue a license
to cheat now and then, but I can't in your case. You had a decent sex life
early on—good chemistry, greater frequency, GGG action—and you
"enjoy" a not-dead-yet sex life now. With some effort, some balls, and some
incentive (no license to cheat), you should be able to revive this thing.
I
am a 31-year-old gay male and have been with my 27-year-old boyfriend for a
year. It's been absolutely amazing, and he's everything I've ever wanted. We've
had some issues concerning trust and communication because our previous
relationships failed due to infidelity and being lied to, but we've been
working on that in therapy.
Where
it gets complicated is that he proposed on our one-year anniversary. I told him
that I thought it was too soon, and that I wanted to resolve any and all trust
issues before committing to marriage. Needless to say, he was hurt, but he said
that he would get over it and would ask me again in a year. My question: Is it
possible that I have done irreparable damage to this relationship? Should I
have said yes (as I do see myself marrying him someday)?
Did
I Make A Mistake
Seeing
as how something as trivial as an ill-considered comment or an unexpected
facial can do irreparable harm to a relationship, DIMAM, it stands to reason
that something as major as a declined marriage proposal can do lasting harm.
I'm
not saying that you necessarily fucked things up irreparably by not accepting
your boyfriend's proposal—it's a good thing that you take marriage
seriously enough not to want to rush into it—but if you do see yourself
marrying this man one day, you might want to go back and say yes.
Accepting
a marriage proposal, DIMAM (and all the other gays and lesbians confronting
this issue now, thanks to California), only means you're engaged. An engagement doesn't obligate you to
follow through with the wedding; think of it as going steady on steroids. It
does obligate you to move toward marriage in good faith, to work on "any and
all" issues that can be resolved and keep your eyes peeled for deal-breaking
issues that can't, and to shit or get off the pot within a reasonable period of
time. But that's all.
Oh,
and speaking of gays marrying…
Homos
are marrying in California as of this week (congrats to all), and should a
tornado—or an earthquake or a meteor or the Incredible
Hulk—flatten, say, San Francisco's City Hall during a big gay wedding,
respected leaders of the religious right will rush to cable broadcast studios
to insist that the tornado/earthquake/meteor/Hulk was God's divine judgment,
His righteous wrath, the Baby Jesus' latest temper tantrum, wocka wocka wocka.
"I
believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing," said the Rev. John
Hagee, John McCain's ex-BFF, when asked about Hurricane Katrina, which struck
New Orleans just before a "massive homosexual rally," a.k.a. an annual street
party called "Southern Decadence," was supposed to take place in the French
Quarter. "I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of
God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that Hurricane Katrina was,
in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."
And
God got his way: By drowning all those little old ladies in their attics in the
Ninth Ward, God prevented that massive gay rally—for one year.
So
how does a douchebag like Hagee explain away the tragedy in Iowa last week? A
tornado struck a Boy Scout camp, killing four and injuring scores more, and the
Scouts are famously anti-gay and anti-atheist. Well, we need only to consult
the same interview with Rev. Hagee to learn the answer: While all natural
phenomena represent God's "permissible will," says Hagee, "it is wrong to say
that every natural disaster is the result of sin… No man on Earth knows the
mind of God."
See
how that works? Not every
natural disaster is the result of sin, you see, because sometimes natural
disasters happen to us,
not just to them, and
when they happen to us,
well, the Lord sure moves in mysterious ways, and no man on Earth knows the
mind of God. But let a natural disaster strike San Francisco this week, next
week, or ever again, and Rev. Hagee will be able to read the mind of God like
it was a large-print edition of Highlights For Children.
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