Buying the Cow

...p> Where Did the Love Go? The person your wife was before you married–physically fit, sexually adventurous–was a lie, a disguise, a person she pretended to be in order to land a husband. The sad irony in all of this is that she could have been herself–obese, no makeup, a block of ice in the sack–and landed a man who was actually into women who are heavy, blotchy, and boring in bed. Instead, she misled you, and now you find yourself married to someone you wouldn’t have married had she been honest with you about who she really was. Since she cheated you, WDTLG, it’s enough to justify cheating her by cheating on her. Still, I would encourage you to get a nice, honest divorce as quickly as possible before you start banging other women. You’re only 22 years old, for crying out loud–you don’t really have any business being married at all. I was in a relationship for nine months with a gay guy who accessed my bank account, stole my credit cards, and started several accounts in my name–all of which will probably take me over a year to pay off. I dumped him. I consider myself a relationship-oriented guy and used to enjoy monogamy, cuddling, and intimacy, but when I look at my relationship history I see several guys with mental problems, drug addictions, etc., who basically treated me like crap even though I am educated, stable, good-looking, and honest. So now, I’m finding I can’t trust my own judgment at all when it comes to meeting guys–which makes it extremely difficult to meet or date guys, since all my friends are basically coupled up. What the hell am I supposed to do now that I can’t even trust myself? Mark in San Diego Samuel Johnson observed that a second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. You didn’t marry this guy, of course; you can’t get married because you’re not lucky enough to live in Canada, Holland, or Belgium. (And considering what a shit this guy was, thank God you couldn’t marry him.) Still, if you do want to find a guy to settle down with, eventually you will have to let hope triumph. Yes, you’ve had some bad experiences–awful, from the sounds of things–but every relationship ends until you find yourself in the one that doesn’t. So you really need to keep having relationships if you want to find the one that lasts. Given your track record, however, I’d urge you to involve your coupled-up friends in your love life–platonically speaking, of course–and rely on their evidently sounder abilities to judge men. Finally… um… and in conclusion… ahem… shit… I’m actually kinda reluctant to say this out loud… but… uh… On average, gay men tend to be more fucked up than straight men. Being gay and closeted and going through puberty and coming out and dealing with the family bullshit and the religious bullshit and the societal bullshit–that can be hugely traumatic. Some gay men never recover. When I was young and single, MISD, I regarded myself and my fellow gay men as battle-scarred Vietnam veterans. Are all Vietnam vets fucked up? Are they all drug-abusing mental cases who treat their lovers like crap? No, of course not. But they do tend to be fucked up at slightly higher rates than non-Vietnam-vets–at least in the movies–and people who date Vietnam vets need to keep this in mind and be on the lookout for any signs that the vet they’re dating is one of the fucked-up ones. My mom taught me that striking a woman is something you just don’t do under any circumstances. However, while I was being intimate with a female coworker, I made a joke that she reacted to quite negatively. She is a very loud, chatty person by nature, and while she was performing oral sex on me I said, “I finally found a way to shut you up!” She proceeded to bite my penis very hard, on the side, corncob-style. It hurt so much that I reflexively slapped her. I was trying to get my penis out from between her teeth! Needless to say, she left immediately and things have been icy at work. I feel awful that I hit a woman, Dan, but she drew blood! Do I owe her an apology? Bleeding and Guilty No, you don’t owe her an apology. While I generally agree with your mother–men shouldn’t strike women–all bets are off when a woman bites down on a man’s penis so hard that she draws blood. I imagine your mother didn’t anticipate this particular circumstance when she taught you not to strike a woman. It’s too bad your mother didn’t teach you not to make jokes at the expense of a person who happens to have your penis between her teeth. I dated this girl about a year and a half ago, and ended up breaking it off because she smoked too much weed. I was about a year sober at the time and the look in her eye when she was stoned, plus the nasty bong-water taste in her mouth, killed it for me. She has since come back into my life, but she is still smoking up. I don’t think dating her again is a danger to my sobriety, but I still have my reservations about being with someone who gets stoned. Here’s the kicker: She is perfect in every other way. She is sweet, affectionate, intelligent, hard-working, and a FREAK in the sack–and she’s got a hot body. What should I do? NA Contrary to the lies peddled by the feds, pot is not addictive, it’s not a “gateway” drug, and most people who smoke marijuana regularly as teenagers and young adults stop smoking pot in their mid- to late 20s. So, NA, odds are better that this perfect-in-every-other-way girl won’t be a pothead forever. And when she gets bored with pot and stops smoking up, you’ll be with a sweet, affectionate, intelligent, hard-working, stone-cold-sober FREAK in the sack. If she really is perfect in every other way, NA, why not hang in there? mail@savagelove.net