Conversations About Intimacy

    To talk about sex you have to be able to find the right words, have courage to say these words aloud and have a trusting relationship with your partner. If one of these components drops out – your intimate talk can turn vulgar.

   To organize this significant dialogue is not easy but it can be done. It is important to be delicate with your partner and follow psychologists’ advice.

    It is not right to discuss important intimate questions during intimacy or right before it, when your mind is in a haze. You have to do this sitting on a sofa, hugging, lying in a bed, or just taking a walk. And you have to have some rules. Here we give some examples of right (+) and wrong (-) behavior.

1)  Speak about yourself. Don’t discuss the other person’s characteristics. Use the pronoun “I” more often than “you”, because otherwise your speech will have an accusing and pretentious character.

-         “You never do this to me…”

+ “I want you to do this to me…”

2)  Speak about your feelings, so that your partner knows that you don’t just care about sex, but you also care about him, yourself and your relationship. You love him, that’s why it is important to have a healthy sexual relationship.

-         “I can’t have an orgasm. It’s all useless!”

+ “I always worry when you’re trying so hard and I can’t reach an orgasm.”

3)  Say everything in a positive way. Talking negatively about your wishes can make your partner feel bad, provoke a conflict and put your wish farther away.

-         “You used to touch my breast a lot. But now you’ve lost an interest to it.”

+ “I like it so much when you stroke my breast. Please do it more often.”

4)  Be exact, so that your partner knows exactly what you want from him. He may be too shy to ask about details and instead does everything in his own way, which will keep you disappointed.

-         “I wish you would stroke me there…”

+ “I wish you would stroke my clitoris.”

5)  Your offers should be constructive. If you only talk about sex generally, your partner will think you are just saying some sexual thoughts aloud, not giving him instructions on his actions.

-         “If foreplay is full, then an orgasm can be big, but if foreplay is cut short then you don’t get any pleasure.”

+ “Honey, let’s make foreplay longer…”

6)  Be open to alternatives. If your partner is against your idea but he offers something instead, don’t give a negative answer.

-         “I knew you wouldn’t like it! It wasn’t worth talking about.”

+ “Let’s try your idea and mine and see which is better.”

7)  Don’t try to solve the problem in the moment. If you see that a quarrel is about to happen, stop talking for a minute and wait until he calms down. Think the problem over, find the right tone of voice and start discussing again.

-         “If you behave like this I won’t sleep with you anymore!”

+ “Let’s be friends. We love each other and we’ll be able to find a compromise.”

8)  Look at the situation from his point of view. Maybe because of his age or state of health he is not able to do what you want him to do. Maybe he feels shy or is afraid of unpleasant feelings.

-         “Millions of men use condoms, nobody’s died from one!”

+ “Maybe you’re right that you can’t feel as much with a condom because of the latex, but we can make love last longer.  What do we have to loose? Let’s try it some time.”