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Three-wayward
March 16, 2011
I am a 36-year-old straight man, blissfully married to my 34-year-old soul mate. We have explored and enjoyed each other for a decade now, and we recently started exploring BDSM and D/s fantasies. Everything was going great sexually—until last night. Two years ago, my wife expressed an interest in an MMF three-way, where I was the Dom guiding the action between all three of us. I planned this event, play by play, reviewing in my mind everything that was to take place. There were many conversations about expectations, stipulations, etc. All bases covered, I went into the event mentally prepared and gleefully excited. Magic happened for about two hours—passion, love, and dirty, dirty sex. Almost every kinky kind was being had and enjoyed, save vaginal intercourse.
Then my wife was vaginally penetrated by our friend.
It was as if all the air in the room was sucked out through my soul. I instantly lost my bone, gone forever (I thought), and I felt angry and nauseated. I had to stop the scene. My friend and my wife instantly tended to me during my breakdown. The sorrow of disappointing my wife hurts the most, even though she calls me brave for this. I don't feel brave. I feel confused. I had planned how everything was going to happen. I even gave the fucking command (literally) for my friend to enter my wife. Crushing emotional pain followed.
In the morning, my wife woke me and made love to me, tenderly and healingly. So at least the dick works. I am still beset by all manner of doubts and insecurities. Is my dick big enough? Am I good enough for her sexually?
I feel scared and trapped in a land that I have never visited before, a land called Insecurity.
Heartbroken Dom
You're clearly in pain, and I want to be sensitive to your pain... but... your overwrought prose style has me wondering if you're enjoying this drama a bit. Maybe that's just the way you talk—maybe you always sound like a Brontë sister after a three-day bender—but there's a self-dramatizing, self-aggrandizing tone to your e-mail that gives me pause.
I'm not saying that your distress is an act or your pain isn't sincerely felt, HD, but your meltdown effectively ended a scene in which all attention was focused on your wife and started a new scene in which all attention was focused on you. As you wander the heaths of Insecurity, I'd encourage you to examine your own subconscious for evidence of drama queendom.
That said, HD, sometimes three-way reality is a lot more emotionally charged and challenging than three-way fantasy. Let your experience be a lesson for others: If there's a sex act—say, vaginal intercourse—that holds huge symbolic importance for you or your partner, it might be best to take that act off the menu. Take things slow the first, second, and third time, invite your guest star to participate in some lower-stake/lower-significance sex acts, but reserve the main event for yourself.
Perhaps you didn't realize how shattering it would be to watch this man bone your wife until the moment that he—at your command—boned your wife. Like they say: Hindsight/sex-advice columnists is/are 20/20/a bitch.
How do you get past this, HD? Only the passage of time will lead you out of Insecurity. You'll come to believe that, yes, you are good enough for the wife sexually because you're going to keep having great sex. You'll come to believe that she's content with you when you close your relationship and she isn't chomping at the bit to fuck other guys.
I have a rent-boy etiquette question. Recently, a client of mine, who lives in another state, invited me to join him at a resort where he was meeting up with friends. This included a nice-looking man who lives near me, whom I will call "Three." My client has been lusting after Three for a long time, and my job was to act as bait to lure Three into a three-way with my client and me. Things went really well, and the desired three-way happened on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning.
Here is the problem: I don't think my client informed Three that I was there in a professional capacity. So from Three's perspective, I sought him out, flirted shamelessly, and had really hot sex with him—twice. So it would be pretty jarring to him that, the very next day, I'm suddenly not interested in him. It goes against whore protocol to "out" a client, and I suspect my client did not want Three to know I am a rent boy because that might have been a deal breaker.
I would feel pretty stupid if I thought a man was really into me, only to later find out he was just doing his job. Three's feelings are bound to be bruised. I don't know what to do. I want to be respectful of my client's confidence, but I don't feel comfortable tossing Three aside like a used tissue. There is a real possibility that I will be seeing him in the future, since we move in similar circles or the next time my client comes to town. Is this my client's faux pas, or is there some rent-boy protocol I should have followed?
Awkwardly Socializing Soon
If Three didn't know you were a rent boy, ASS, and that you were being used as bait, then Three's consent was obtained under false pretenses. That's not okay. And as you knew going in that you were being used as bait—that it was your "job" to get Three into bed—you were an active participant in this deception.
You're a rent boy, ASS, not a rent bot—you don't have to do everything a client asks. You could have agreed to flirt with Three, but you should have insisted to your client that your employment status be revealed to Three at some point between flirtation and fellatio.
Considering the circumstances, ASS, I think you can be released from the bonds of strict client confidentiality on this occasion. If you run into Three, and he seems hurt or confused, let him down gently. Tell him he's an attractive guy, tell him you enjoyed the hell out of those three-ways—then tell him you were on a job and you're sorry for not telling him sooner, i.e., for not telling him that weekend, before anything happened.
I'm a straight girl who made a resolution to seek out a couple for a three-way. With my boyfriend's full support—he's the kind of unicorn guy who thinks three's a crowd—I perused options online.
One gentleman caught my eye because he proclaimed on his OkCupid profile "Dan Savage is my rabbi," he described himself as "GGG," and his lady friend was also a Savage lover.
We met up last night, and it was a beautiful, well-orchestrated event. Boundaries and excitements had been discussed beforehand, and three fun, sexy, fit twentysomethings had awesome sex. It was a perfect girl-girl-guy three-way. Great communication up front, great communication during, great communication after.
Thanks, Dan! Thanks for your column and your positive impact on the sex lives of people around the world.
Satisfied Girl
My pleasure, SG, and thanks for sharing!
Find the Savage Lovecast (my weekly podcast) every Tuesday at thestranger.com/savage.
3
Being a melodramatic bitch isn't ok.
6
Random sex is random.
That said, that one incorrect little vowel is about the only thing I have ever found wrong with any of Dan's column.
If it ever comes up where Three comes sniffing around for more sex, ASS should just tell Three that he is cockblocked or something. Tell him he thinks fooking (typo, but it works) around again with Three behind the (unbeknownst) client's back would make things too tricky (unintended pun, I'm on a roll!) with the mutual friend/client.
13
If you chose to make your living that way, I couldn't possibly care less as long as you don't do it in the street and scare the horses. But please don't posit yourself as something you're not. You're not good conversation. You're not good company. You don't move equally as well from a leather jock strap to a tux.
I am so sick of people bringing these mental midgets to dinner or otherwise social settings and expecting the rest of us to ignore the elephant in the room. Mainly, that he's there only because you're paying him to be.
How in the world can someone who has a "normal" (for lack of a better word) job and relationships be expected to have anything in common or grounds for conversation with these jokes. I'm sick of it. Everyone that I know who has had to suffer one of these twits is sick of it.
And from this letter, both the whore and the john sound like complete and total creeps. The day after, when he's betrayed someone's trust in one of the worst ways possible, he develops an attack of conscious. How fucking convenient.
Hopefully Three didn't catch something from this shore ditch that can't be treated.
16
19
@10: Heart-broken Dom in not a fake letter. Sad to say, I have Dom friends who talk just like that :)
23
You want mental midgets? Try going to any function that involves inherited wealth. Those fuckers not only don't know shit, but they're too stupid to know that they don't know shit. When everyone around you is kissing your ass, you don't realize that you're a twit.
Personally I believe in the sovereignty of the individual and I think prostitution should be legal. But let's be honest. As a rule, they're not the "hooker with a heart" that you see in movies, or the educated socially graceful geisha of times past. If you seek the company of a "sex worker" (is that better?) good for you both, but just keep it behind closed doors.
26
But, I have this amusing image in my head of his wife petting him saying he was a brave boy...like a parent to their kid getting a shot from the doctor.
@15 Most idiotic comment ever. OK, not really...but, it was truly pointlessly self-aggrandizing to the point that nobody should want to meet you.
27
But have some sympathy for the guy. You can plan your actions and even the actions of consenting others but you can't plan your own reactions, especially your own emotional reactions. I'm sure we all know the feeling of "the air being sucked out of the room through your soul," like when you see your ex, whom you're still trying to get over, with their new lover.
What I would say to HD is to be eternally grateful that your friend and especially your wife were so sensitive to your needs during this fiasco. Your wife knew that you needed to feel sexually adequate so she made love to you the next morning. So thank her by trying again, with baby steps.
Wonder of wonders, when it actually happened, he couldn't deal with watching it happen. Gee, who could have predicted?
First, the lesson: don't agree to something that you are deeply uncomfortable with. GGG does not translate to violating your own boundaries for the sake of the other person. Push the envelope, yes; rip it in pieces and toss it in the trash, no. If anything, if the last two years played out the way I'm guessing, his wife should have concluded that his feelings on this subject indicated a likely unhappy ending, and not pursued it. Instead, he's had two years of wondering "Why does she want this so much? Why am I not enough?" and the act itself merely confirmed every one of his fears.
I'm inclined to say that his wife owes him a MFF with another woman friend who displays at least as much interest in fucking him as his wife displays in fucking someone else.
(I have to admit, part of me wants to call the letter a fake, purely on the detail about not being big enough. Isn't that a classic cuckold fantasy fetish detail?)
34
not to be confused with "Unicron guy", a guy whose drama and issues literally consume your entire world.
38
To me, the very definition of a vapid person is someone who can't figure out how to have an interesting conversation with a sex worker. That's just how I define that term.
We all have people we find insufferably boring. You are on a lot of lists yourself. Do not be deluded.
I think I'm in love.
42
I often wonder about Sex-Worker's Protocol. Does the fact that you are getting paid give you and erection? Does sexual excitement only occur when you know that you are getting paid? If the sex is good enough do you consider freebies for any future sexual encounters? Can your economic needs be tossed aside by finding someone to aid in your emotional comfort? Is there ever a "Pretty Woman" Moment when the guy that you are with becomes your "Prince Charming"? Do you hold to strict categories for those who pay to play and those who are free or "freebie-d" and never betwixt the two shall meet? I don't seem to understand at all because obviously there is sexual excitement and some type of sexual attraction or chemistry to one another. So the fact that the first and second sexual encounters had payment; one can only preclude that all future encounter must be paid for?
I think that you should do what you were contracted to do and keep your mouth shout! Be a good little Rent-boy and keep silent after all you don't want to ruin any future potential clients that would hear that you were Loose with you tongue and not in a good way!
Contrary to the people here who act like you have a problem, your reaction makes you like 99.9% of the straight, married guys out there. Maybe, just maybe, you got into something that your wife wanted, but you didn't?
If you don't want your wife fucking your friends, or if you merely don't want to see it, don't pretend you do. Tell her you are not into whatever it is you are not into.
But mainly I wonder about the friend. What sort of person would be able to get through agreeing to that overproduced scene and being dominated and directed by HD for more than ten minutes without yielding to an irresistible urge to tie and gag HD and then place him in the corner in order to get on with the matter at hand without further blathering?
I don't wish the couple ill, but, unless the friend is as much a piece of work as HD, the friend and the wife seem much the better match. It would be helpful to know if the wife would call HD her soulmate; I can't get a convincing picture of HD's soulmate having brought the threesome about in the first place.
When they're off the clock.
I"m sure that @27 could probably talk circles around me regarding many topics.
@38 might be right. There might be people who find me a bore. No worries. No one is for everyone. It's not that I'm incapable of finding some common ground for discussion with nearly anyone. I just choose not to. My right. Just like escorts can chose to not speak with me if I'm unwilling to open my wallet.
I do find it interesting that so many people are so eager to jump down my throat for expressing an opinion. I didn't criticize a characteristic that's beyond someone's control. I'm sure there are people who are in this line of work because they simply feel they have no other choice. But every one that I've ever met did it because of pretty shallow, vapid and lazy reasons. And if you're going to be a hooker, then you better be prepared to have people think of you as such.
Yeah, because if he doesn't behave as you prefer, his manhood is void, right?
God, I hate that sort of name-calling: A woman likes sex? She is not a woman, she is a WHORE! A man acts in ways I don't like? He is not a man, he is a BOY! You don't agree with politician X? You are not a decent person, you are a nazi/socialist/bee-keeper/etc!
Stop denying people's basic human status as a man or woman just because they don't toe your utterly immaterial, wholly subjective lines.
If I have a gourmet dinner at a friend's house cooked by a chef, I don't care if the chef did it for friendship or for money. I respect their craft and enjoy myself.
But, I assure you, with a client, I doubt you would have even been able to spot me as such. I blended.
Perhaps I was your hooker (or S/M worker, lol) with a heart of gold? Or very intelligent, well educated one at least, able to converse on many a topic....and yes, I will agree with the above poster...I would bet sex workers can tell some *amazing* stories....much more so then the typical "how big is your bankroll" bragging of corporate yawners.
thanks for noticing. somehow I doubt "Unicron Guy" will find its way into the Savage Vernacular. unless there are way more fellow nerds here than I realized.
I hate you. I hate your perfect three way. I hate Dan Savage.
You all go to hell and you die.
j/k
Except, just as the bigot above has, unbeknownst to himself, met many, many gay people (has socialized with them, eaten with them, and perhaps even fucked them!), you too have met many sex workers -- and never realized it.
And I feel sorry for the vapid, silly people you have met whom you have classified in your head as "sex workers".
"Inherited wealth"? I work my ass off every day as I have since I was in junior high school, and I help take care of my parents and niece.
Maybe I've never had the good fortune to meet someone engaged in this line of work that was as fascinating and charming and intelligent, etc as the rest of you apparently have. Good for you, and my loss. But I'm tired of going to work every day, paying taxes, donating to charity, and all the things that a guy from a good middle class family does to try to be a productive member of society does and then having to listen to "one of these" dangle their latest bauble in all the working stiff's (pardon the pun) faces when all they did was spread their legs.
As liberal as I am it's simply a case of NIMBY, and I'd be willing to wager that most people would feel the same. How many of you really want to live next to a whore house? If you're not willing to have them standing on your street corner and picking up johns, then we at least share the same sentiments. It's simply a matter of degree, IMHO.
To those of you out there that "blend in" and are "classy and educated" (the parenthesis are not intended as sarcasm, btw) then I'm truly sorry if I offended you. LIke one poster said, I would never have known. You don't owe me or anyone else any effort to be accepted.
57
I'm sorry but I am still unsure as to where you think you get off....
You can only respect prostitutes who do it for whatever you deem to be the *right* reasons? Do you judge everybody you meet on the quality of their reasons for choosing the career they are in?
I will go in the other direction. I respect people who sacrifice their earning potential in order to work for the greater good. Something tells you're not exactly doing appendectomies for Medicins Sans Frontiers.
However, I would have to think a career is immoral in itself in order to think you should only do it out of sheer desperation. But you claimed not to think that? What the what?
Can a reason be vapid?
You have completely lost me.
I was just disgusted at not being able to find a job after graduating college for more then a lousy $7-10/hr, and having the brains I did, I realized that even though I am not gorgeous, I am seductive, and men like my company. $150/hr for merely my company sure as hell beat temping....if you wanted the clothes tom come off, the prices went up from there. I do think there are an awful lot of misguided stereotypes out there of people who enter the sex trade. Sure, I know some of the people might fit the mold of the drug addicted crack whore, but those were the minority in my circle. I would imagine those to be more of the truck stop girls, lol. Guys willing and able to pay my prices wanted someone who wasn't dirty and who could stimulate the biggest sexual organ, the brain. And I wasn't even a top rung girl, because I wasn't model pretty, like the girls who service the famous politicians and athletes.
Also, a lot of fantasies are better left as fantasies. Not all fantasies work in real life. I think that it's better to experiment before you take it to the level of threesome. Dip your toe in the water to see how it feels before you jump in all the way. I experimented with some beginners level kink (making out with another woman, group oral) and found it wasn't so good that I wanted to do it again. Then recently, I experimented with some bdsm and found it is something I like and might like to explore.
Maybe before you plan for a threesome, it would be a good idea to run a few trial experiments without having intercourse. That way you get to know what your comfort levels are and if you think you would be ok with taking it further. Threesomes aren't for everyone and I would bet that even experienced kinksters probably use their safewords from time to time.
I was a sex worker back in the day and often catered to guys who didn't want to feel like they were with a whore. During one encounter I stopped riding a guy because there was a news report on about China joining the WTO and I was lost in the news and the guy took me out to dinner after and bought me a shitload of clothes and set up a ton of future dates because he thought that was the hottest thing ever. I was studying modern Chinese history at the time and it just caught my eye. I didn't realize until later he was an economic advisor to Asian trade specialists. Some 10+ years later long after I've retired to the burbs as the lawyer and uni prof's wife and gained 30 lbs and had four kids and three dogs, we still keep in touch and are FB friends and yak on the phone a couple times a month.
Now ASS, I am wondering if your letter is real. For many reasons. I don't know of any sex worker who would be upset by this. I'm also wondering what world we live in where gay men are questioning how to handle random sex the next day. I'm thinking YOU actually had a thing for the guy or something because why would you behave any particular way? The guy probably assumed you and client were casually dating, all you need to do is be cordial and civil. Since when does a random three way = dating after? You got some sex, you're done now. Why would you give a "cold shoulder" anyway? Weird letter. You wouldn't be the first man to be all casual once you finally boned the object of lust.
I'm not suggesting that anyone is under any obligation to disclose that they're there on a for hire basis as a matter of course, but when you're getting ready to crawl into bed with someone, then they're entitled to that information so that they can make their own informed decision.
It's no better than a married man removing his wedding ring and cruising a singles bar and picking someone up without disclosing that tiny little detail.
I don't see how you can defend that kind of deceit.
Welcome to the way the world works always,ever. If you get pissy everytime someone brings a trophy date around, you must be the world's angriest man.
If you don't like your friends bringing their "dates" around, tell them. They're likely to know you as a person and not as a pissy-sounding judgy mcjudgerson with a chip on their shoulders about "whores", and listen to you.
Welcome to the way the world works always,ever. If you get pissy everytime someone brings a trophy date around, you must be the world's angriest man.
If you don't like your friends bringing their "dates" around, tell them. They're likely to know you as a person and not as a pissy-sounding judgy mcjudgerson with a chip on their shoulders about "whores", and listen to you.
It sounds like he did excellent due diligence in planning this thing, and was totally in touch with his own feelings about it, up to and including the moment those feelings took an unexpected turn. He also did it with extremely supportive partners, who abandoned the plan and tended to his needs as soon as he broke character.
To HD.... Chalk it up to a lesson learned and a boundary identified. And kudos to you for finding your boundary rather than assuming it's there and never daring to experience something you're curious about.
"but when you're getting ready to crawl into bed with someone, then they're entitled to that information so that they can make their own informed decision."
I haven't really had a problem with what you've been saying, but I have to disagree with this. A random guy came up to Three and started flirting with him, then Three went back to his room for a threeway. Three ain't "entitled" to shit. He decided he was horny, he knew there are always risks associated with sleeping with someone you don't know, he did it anyway.
We all know humans are capable and usually inclined to lie a bit, especially when sex is involved. In your example of a married man removing his ring to cruise singles bars, let's say he goes to a bar, meets a woman, they flirt a bit, then go home for some sex. Did he wrong her by pretending to be single? NO. NOT AT ALL. if she cared about something like that, she wouldn't be having sex with a guy she just met at a bar.
it's one thing to decieve someone you're in a relationship with. but if i tell a random girl i meet at a bar that i'm a doctor and we end up fucking that night, she doesn't get to complain if she finds out I lied about being a doctor. she's perfectly entitled to decline further encounters, or even tell her friends about my lying ways, but she can't really complain that I "tricked" her into sex by misrepresenting myself.
And they say chivalry is dead.
I think the best part about the standalone sentence was the juxtaposition of that serious, dramatic sentence followed by "I instantly lost my bone." He's got this melodramatic overwrought prose and then adds "bone" in there as a noun. That's like inserting dialogue from a Seth Rogen movie into a bad Jewel poem.
And guys, do 30+ year old men refers to it as their "bone"? I've used bone as a verb, as in "I'd bone that," but never as a noun, though I don't actually have a bone, as I'm a chick.
A. There's no evidence ASS lied. I don't tell one-night-stands my job before screwing them; why should he? If my friend serves me a bakery cake, has my friend lied to me because maybe I thought she baked it herself?
B. You don't want to associate with sex workers. Whether you associate with liars is not at issue.
Bottom line: you think sex workers are bad, diseased people, and if you had sex with one (for free) without knowing his/her history, that would piss you off. So-- I guess you'd better ask people about their sexual histories, then. And get to know them well enough to know if they're lying to you.
Me, I don't care if my partner is or was a sex worker. And apparently, neither did Third, or he would have investigated further. You don't get to assume people you meet are not and have never been sexually active.
72
Cry me a river. Lots of people don't pay taxes, litter, cut in line, cheat, steal, double-dip, etc etc. You should do what you think is right, and that should be its own reward. If it's not, maybe you should try something else, and not worry/judge/attack the totally harmless job & sexual choices of others.
That said, sex workers do have ethics, and it's reasonable to question whether it's right to present a false front to purposely lure someone into bed. I don't think the other party is going to be particularly broken up about it, personally, but I would think about it too. Some people have weird hangups (15) about hookers, and if your weird morality prevents you from wanting to have sex with hookers/carnivores/smokers/Republicans, that's your right.
That said, sex is often complicated and can be emotionally tangled, but we still need it all the same. It's way more reasonable to do a pro, who knows exactly what they're up for, than a drag a civilian who may have expectations you can't meet into it. Like hey, you don't want a girlfriend, a fuck buddy, a friends with benefits? You want a girl who will fuck you, leave and then never call you again? Get a pro. It's not much more expensive than a night on the town picking up some random, and it's a lot easier to negotiate your particular sex preferences with someone who sells it for a living.
74
In your example of a married man removing his ring to cruise singles bars, let's say he goes to a bar, meets a woman, they flirt a bit, then go home for some sex. Did he wrong her by pretending to be single? NO. NOT AT ALL.
Let me see if I can follow your logic: because people frequently lie when they are seeking casual sex, it is therefore perfectly ethical to lie when one is seeking casual sex.
. . . I guess your mom never explained why "but everybody else is doing it" doesn't justify behaving like a jerk.
And I agree that Dan nailed a drama queen undercurrent in HD. But I'm not inclined to read into it that he was coerced, as some have (sorry avast2006, I often find you right on target, but I think you're reaching here). My guess is that he fell in that inevitable gap between Planning Everything Out Just So, and Actually Experiencing It.
Learning to relax, learning to swim in the shallow end first, learning that life is often best when it goes off-script (and that it inevitably will anyway) will all help. He may not have a problem with PIV nonmonogamy, he may have just pushed himself too far too fast.
But yeah, I'd like an anatomical diagram of where the soul is, because "It was as if all the air in the room was sucked out through my soul" sounds to me like he farted.
When anyone freaks out during a scene, try not to make too big a deal out of it. It's ok to be scared, and if it's handled consciously, conscientiously, and calmly, you can even laugh those moments off later. Everyone freaks out sometime; you're not "special" for it. Take care of yourself so others don't get overtaxed, then ask for help if you really, really need it.
If you find you truly can't take care of yourself frequently, it may be time to consider working on your self-esteem issues. Hell, it's always time to do that.
78
And just where is Globe Traveler hanging out that his "friends" regularly bring their paid companions to dinner parties who are mental midgets? I find most Ladies don't offer that service, or if they do, its because they can more than hold up their end of the conversation.
As for the rent boy, you knew the assignment, either take the money and deal or say no. I don't think anyone should be expecting a follow up call from a one night stand threesome--unless maybe YOU fell for the trick. Its also very possible the guy knew or guessed and everyone was just being polite.
A big fuck yeah! @27 and @38
80
Your cake analogy doesn't really hold. Only a first-class neurotic would be deeply offended if the host served a store-bought dessert instead of something homemade. However, I think it's entirely reasonable not to want to have sex with someone who's being paid to have sex with you, and I think it's also entirely reasonable to assume that the person having sex with you is not being paid to have sex with you (unless, of course, you hired them yourself). By failing to disclose that he was acting in a professional rather than a recreational capacity, ASS knowingly withheld information that might very well have impacted Three's decision to have sex with him. And that's not cool.
The word you're looking for here, genius, is conscience. In a previous paragraph you had the nerve to call other people mental midgets. Well, maybe all of your hard work will allow you to afford a brain someday. I'm a sex worker, and I can certainly afford one of my own.
"Let me see if I can follow your logic: because people frequently lie when they are seeking casual sex, it is therefore perfectly ethical to lie when one is seeking casual sex."
not exactly, I'm saying that if you're telling yourself that you're having casual sex with a person you just met the same night because of their job or life story they told you and not because of the physical attraction and sexual chemistry you feel with this person, you're lying to yourself. and if you ARE having casual sex with someone you just met because of "facts" they have told you about themselves, then you really don't actually care THAT much about said facts being true, do you?
"But Catface," you say, "what if you asked them if they were disease free and they lied about that?" Well, that sucks, but that's the risk you took upon yourself when you decide to have sex with someone you just met. Yeah, they're a shitty person, but it's a Shitty World and everyone knows it. We all know the risks, we just decide to push them to the back of our minds because we're horny and we just wanna feel good.
That's why you don't raw dog a random.
You know: an attack of conscious. It's when someone ordinarily mentally asleep suddenly wakes up mentally for a second.
But fortunately, it usually only lasts for a brief time
2: "I do find it interesting that so many people are so eager to jump down my throat for expressing an opinion."
Expressing an opinion in a unnecessarily rude way is what I would call it.
And then having the audacity to pretend to be innocent and wondering why people respond annoyed for just 'expressing an opinion'. You are quite something.
Good to know that's all you "have ever found wrong with any of Dan's column [sic]", though.
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@56 -- They are "quotation marks," not "parentheSES." ParentheSIS is the singular form.
Parenthesis (
Parentheses ()
Quotation marks ""
Apostrophe '
Hope this helps!
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ASS used that skill to make Three believe he flirted with and slept with him out of attraction, as opposed to just wanting the money from someone else. That's deception, and it's not in the same category as pretending to be a doctor or single to get someone into bed - the person pretending to be a single doctor is still NOT lying about his/her attraction; that's why he/she lies! But pretending an interest you don't feel so someone else will pay you? That's not cool. ASS shouldn't do it again.
It's probably like plastic surgery. The people who've had good plastic surgery go unnoticed. It's the ones that are done badly that get your attention.
You'd think from the comments that it's like The Chicken Ranch in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas...populated by sweet innocents and overseen by Dolly Parton. I stand by my comment that most people wouldn't want to live next to an actual one.
and thanks for the grammar and punctuation lessons. not that that is really the point of posting on these boards, but if I was going to pick up this particular stone....
@15 -- It's an attack of "conscience," not "conscious."
I will admit to possibly projecting. I had a girlfriend a long time ago who tried to talk me into non-monogamy even though it really wasn't my thing. That situation also involved all sorts of negotiations and expectations and stipulations supposedly revolving around making me feel safe with the situation. (Most of which turned out to be lip service once I was out of the room, but I digress. It sounds in HD's case that he was treated in good faith by his wife and the friend.) Anyway, that's why the idea of two years' worth of apparently a lot of prep sounds to me like somebody needed some persuading.
Be that as it may, people should cut him some slack. Even if you thought you were totally enthusiastic going in, something like that can be a real punch in the gut, and there is no knowing for certain whether it will be until the moment you actually experience it. He's been dealing with this huge feeling for less than a day. Sure he's overwrought. Extrapolating that to mean that he's a drama queen in general is kind of harsh.
Here's your Dan Savage is my rabbi t-shirt! You can customize it- right now it's on a black American Apparel t-shirt. 50% of the profits will be donated to The Trevor Project or the It Gets Better Project (Dan's choice- Dan, I'll email you as soon as the first sale happens)
http://www.zazzle.com/dan_savage_is_my_r…
Enjoy!
Here's your Dan is my rabbi t-shirt! It's customizable and the default is a black American Apparel shirt. 50% of the profits will be donated to The Trevor Project or the It Gets Better Project (Dan's choice- Dan, I'll email you as soon as I get the first sale)
http://www.zazzle.com/dan_savage_is_my_r…
Enjoy!
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But surely some of your wealthy business partners have married attractive people from a poorer background. How do you feel when you have to meet those, of these poorer spouses, who married very obviously out of greed?
While they have the wedding stamp, which society condones a lot more than the escort label, they still are in fact long-term and full-time heavily paid escorts, right ?
But GT did peg those vapid rent boys' ads pretty well with the "jockstrap to tuxedo" part and all the rest. My sense is that anyone tooting their horn like that must be pretty vapid and insufferable. I would say to GT to be polite and friendly to the rent boy, and roll your eyes till they need a retread at your friend/associate who hired him. He's the one who should be shamed for subjecting everyone to that awkward situation.
If you're paying for "companionship" by the hour, I just don't get why you would pay for someone to dress up for dinner and chat with people besides yourself. All I can figure is that is pure showing off. Showing off a trophy boy you want to make your friends think you got by your charm? Showing off that you have money to burn to pay a rent boy hundreds of dollars an hour to schmooze and knosh?
Whatever. I don't travel in such circles, but I wouldn't appreciate being subjected to that either. Either the rent boy is a twit and the situation is insulting. Or if he's hot and interesting, then that would just make me feel frustrated that I couldn't get or afford a guy like that, but my freaking associate the jerk can.
But one thing that sticks out to me, and that does contribute to the "drama queen" impression, is the fact that he wrote to Dan for advice the very day after this happened - not after a couple days of not being able to get over it or let go of it. HD wasn't in so much shock that he couldn't immediately think of a way to get even more attention from what happened.
avast2006 @ 101: That's fair. The situation you describe is, unfortunately, not hard to imagine - I think there are probably a lot of examples of people getting copies of The Ethical Slut from their partners along with a lot of passive-aggressive "don't you want to be evolved and open-minded" pressure. (I've gotten some of that myself from someone who, in reality, was probably much less comfortable with that stuff than I am.) Sounds to me like HD's case was more like someone trying anal sex without working up to it first, and I don't blame him for not being able to jump the high bar his first time out.
But one thing that sticks out to me, and that does contribute to the "drama queen" impression, is the fact that he wrote to Dan for advice the very next day - not after a couple days of not being able to get over it or put it out of his mind, not after feeling like his girlfriend or his stunt-cock didn't understand, not after any further repercussions from the incident. HD wasn't in so much shock that he couldn't immediately think of a way to get even more attention from what happened.
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We go to the store, ripe with anticpation, select the fabric (which is agonizing, because they never have the right color in the exact pattern that would be perfect) and we find the perfect fabric only to discover it is out of stock. We pick another and the order is placed. We spend WEEKS waiting for the couch.
Then it arrives. Then we move it in only to discover that it isn't as we had hoped it would be.
We can't take it back (no returns on custom orders) and it really doesn't fit anywhere well, or we don't fit in it well, and our living room is ruined. RUINED!!!!
Three ways and couches. One in the same.
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So I think the distinction between me and a sex worker, between a doctor and a rent boy, is one of degree, not kind, and I cannot find it in me to look down on them. Especially not the rent boy I have an appointment with tomorrow afternoon. (Whoops! Gave the game away!)
The issue, and the reason HD wrote to Dan so soon (drama-seeking aside) was that this forum is where non-monogamy is routinely normalized. HD is perhaps implicating Dan's modus operandi, or is urging him to consider those for whom monogamy is a psychological imperative. It is a shame HD had to discover his membership in this group in such a way.
First, his writing style... perhaps he reads. You know--books. Dead trees? Those of us who read a lot tend to write (a) carefully and (b) in a style that is an amalgam of the styles that speak to us. Especially when we're writing about something emotionally charged. It likely isn't pompous; it's just how he learned to communicate with people whom he assumes are also educated.
Second, his dilemma: it seems to me that he tried something daring and had lots of fun right up to a certain point, and then he discovered a limit. What's the problem? He could perhaps ask his wife whether she wants to leave him because some other man has penetrated her (or for any other reason), and then get back to figuring out how much fun they can have while honouring boundaries. He knew he'd learn something--the fact that what he learned surprised him doesn't take away from the experience. He can probably expect the next try to be more successful.
Insecurity? If his wife can't convince him that she still wants him, then they need to figure out where trust failed (and as long as there's no trust, the relationship is doomed). If the problem is on his end, doesn't just about every relationship book ever have a chapter on insecurity? The chapter in The Ethical Slut might be especially relevant to him.
@8 Mike Leung: I don't understand why you keep using "slick" like that. It's pretty clear from the dictionary definition and all the discussions we've had here that your syntax is at best a stretch. If you want to make a point to the group I think it would be best to use words that make general sense. If not, why post? This is not an attack. I'm merely curious.
@38 shw3nn: Well said indeed.
I also think that HD, his wife, and their friend should try it again, probably after a cool-down period. They should review what happened: HD found that he couldn't handle what he'd thought he could. Lay new boundaries well within what he KNOWS he can handle, all promise to obey them, and try again. It's like what they say about falling off a horse, the best thing you can do is mount up again. (Boo! Pun! Boo!)
It sounds like you're blaming Dan for HD's "bad experience", which is unfair, especially since HD did not actually have a problem with non-monogamy - he was totally digging what happened up to the point where his soul was penetrated. So I don't think this is an example of someone being pressured into non-monogamy, I think this is an example of someone being uncomfortable with a particular aspect of non-monogamy (PIV sex) on a particular occasion (his very first time in a threesome). He'll have to figure out where his boundaries actually are now, but this isn't necessarily a sign that he and his "soulmate" have angered the Sex Gods and must never again meddle with Things That Must Not Be Fucked With.
But lately the word "said" keeps coming up as an adjective. "Said rentboy", "Said dom". I'm really over it. Is this some sort of faux legalese from a cop show on TV or a courtroom drama show? Where and how did this outrageous usage that is simultaneously pedantic and fatuous become so commonplace seemingly overnight.
Make it stop! Isn't there some software that can scrub these people and their comments from the internet? Don't you have friends on websites and weekly magazines that could do something? This is worse than a santorum stain on your wedding dress. This is worse than the misused word "ironic". Please stop it!
The first time I played golf was a nightmare experience with dribbled shots, lost balls, and broken clubs. I swore I'd never do it again.
But after after a little practice and support from my partners, I tried it again and it was a bit more fun and I got better. And then better and better. And now, while I'll never be more than average, I love it!
Even though sometimes it doesn't go just right and I get frustrated, it's still the best— the anticipation; the thrill of getting ready; planning on how I'm going to approach each hole; grabbing that shaft; lining up the shot and putting it into the hole. And the final high-five with my playing partners as we relax after-wards with a nice cool one.
Un-beatable!
So don't give up yet. The learning curve may be a bit steep with some uncomfortable moments, but in the long run...
With that understanding, perhaps HD could see how his jealousy over losing the companionship of his "soulmate" was triggered by sexual insecurities. It seems the "trust" between them may be too focused on his ability to sexually satisfy her on his own and not on the bond they share otherwise.
Availability heuristic and all that jazz...
could that be a underlying cause (conscious or unconscious) of his melt down and insecurity?
From the OED entry on the etymology of Champ:
Etymology: Only since 16th cent. Cham (chawm, chamb), champ, and the dialect chamble (Halliwell), appear all to belong to a primary chamb, apparently closely connected or identical with jam n.1 (jamb), and jamble, to squeeze with violence, crush. The group is not distinctly traceable outside English: the Swedish dialect kämsa /tʃemsa/ to chew with difficulty (Rietz in Skeat), Sanskrit jambha jaw, tooth, and Greek γομϕίος grinder, molar tooth, have been compared; but links are wanting.
Possibly the group is an instance of recent onomatopoeia: Wedgwood gives instances showing that cham(b), jam(b), are natural representations of the action or sound of the jaws in diverse and distant languages.
@147: see #32. Personally, I would like to hear exactly what form his insecurities are taking, because that would provide some indication of what sort of response would alleviate them. I am guessing that they generally sound like "She wants someone else because I'm not good enough/big enough/skilled enough/hot enough." Having him experience multiple women being hot for him would go a long way towards balancing out the idea that he's kind of ordinary and his wife therefore needs more than just him.
I'm wondering whether HD is still reading, and would he care to comment further?
Hang in there, Brokenhearted Dom.
It Gets Better...I guess.
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Ooh, interesting. The Japanese word for "to bite/chew" is "kamu"; I wonder if it derives from the same onomatopoeic principle.
Sounds like Rod Serling.
Instead of ragging on escorts, perhaps you should be ragging on your friends. After all, if you feel that escorts are so vapid and have nothing of value to bring to the table, what would that say about the men who hire them as companions? And what does it say about you for tolerating it if you're so disgusted by the practice? You and your friends sound like a quite a pathetic bunch, sitting around at dinner parties filled with resentment while secretly judging each other. GOOD TIMES!
When a sub gets pushed farther than they want to go, it's a little bit easier for them to tell themselves, "I only did it because they wanted it" and learn their lessons from there. Whereas a dom who finds themselves suddenly turned off is stuck with, "I gave the fucking command!"
Subs get a safeword--one power they reserve is the power to stop things altogether (and if you're playing with BDSM you'd better be emphasizing that.) It can be easy for the dom to forget that they have got that power, too. You've got the right and responsibility to stop if the situation isn't working for you physically or emotionally, even if the situation happened at your command, and that's okay. Not doing so is like a sub not using their safeword--it can turn a situation that will at best be awkward into something much much worse than awkward.
Maybe doms need a safeword, too, something to distinguish play-acting "Do you like that, bitch?" (yes sir!) from "Are you getting off on this, baby? Because I'm doing this to make you happy." Just like a sub still has self-autonomy when they leave the bedroom, a dom still has a desire to please/serve/love others. Folks have said HD is being a drama queen, but hey, doms are allowed some small share of drama, too, especially if they're reacting to going too far with the dom thing.
All that said, HD did stop things, and it sounds like his wife handled the situation as best as I can imagine it being handled. Be reassured that you're all actually navigating this pretty maturely.
sending the love,
jill
http://inbedwithmarriedwomen.blogspot.co…




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