Tag: partners

If someone close to you asked you to describe your ideal sexual experience, what kind of encounter would you describe? How would it begin? What would be involved? Where would it take place? Most importantly, how would it feel?

For some, the answers to these questions may be easy to articulate. For others, not so much. Being able to voice our deepest personal needs and desires is not always an easy thing to do—especially when it comes to sex. Most will agree though, that identifying and expressing exactly what we want (and don’t want) in a sexual relationship with an intimate partner is crucial in establishing a healthy and fulfilling sex life—namely one characterized by consent and equal pleasure.

Let’s be real. Pornography is a problem. It pops up on your computer. It is available on your phone. If you watch TV, it’s almost impossible to escape the stream of images that are borderline pornographic. If your television subscription offers more than the basic channels, it’s likely that you, your spouse, and your children have easy access to pornography on your big screen. In truth, porn might keep your spouse in the bathroom a bit too long. It might interfere with your sex life. It might change the way you view your partner. It might make you think that it’s so much easier to have a relationship with a porn image instead of a real life partner.

On-the-job clashes took the romance out of our relationship until talk of divorce scared us into separating business from pleasure. Years ago, my husband, Lee and I decided to open our own hair-styling salon. This would allow us more time together and permit me some space to write in my spare time.

"It won’t work," warned naysayers. We laughed and reassured them, "No way, Jose`. Don’t rain on our parade!"

Yet, we’d only begun to set up the salon when we began to tussle over details, like where to hang mirrors and pricey versus non-pricey furniture for the waiting area. Then, the biggie—who’s the boss? Lee’s bossiness didn’t set well with the new partner, me!