Dear Cheryl: I'm 19, and I have a lot of things going for me. I work and I go to school. I have a boyfriend, who I've been with for four years. But my problem is that I have a best male friend that I've known for five years, and we're attracted to each other. When he talks about his girlfriend, I get very upset. He said we can be friends (without benefits), which was fine with me, but the other day I invited him to go to a pool hall or a bowling alley with me, and he said we couldn't because of his girlfriend. My love for him is more than friendship love, but he doesn't want to talk to me anymore. I'm heartbroken. — Torn Between Two Men
Dear Torn Between Two Men: You don't have two men. You have no men. Let's start with your boyfriend. You don't love him, so why are you with him? Because you're afraid to be without a man? That's ridiculous. Read your first sentence over again. You're 19 and you have a lot going for you! You're cheating yourself and him by hanging on. Let him go.
And as far as your friend is concerned, he has a girlfriend! Respect that and stop asking him on to go bowling or shoot pool. In fact, stop seeing him altogether. It's torture to be with him as just a friend when you have feelings. So let him go, too.
Once you clear these two guys out of your life, you'll make space for new men to enter. I promise.
Dear Cheryl: I'm newly married, and I have a major issue with my husband "taking care of himself." It feels like he's cheating on me. It devastates me when I find out he's done it or when I see him doing it. (I spy on him.)
He sometimes does it a couple of hours after we have sex. I take that as meaning that I wasn't good enough. I've asked him about it and he says that I get him so excited he wants to do it again. I don't buy that, because then why doesn't he do it again with me? I never turn down sex.
He finally admitted that sometimes he needs a change of scenery. We've only been together a year and he already wants a change of scenery? I saw a counselor about this, but it didn't help.
Do other married men masturbate? If so, do their wives also get upset? Or am I crazy? — I'm Afraid He'll Go Blind
Dear IAHGB: I did a Google search of "married men masturbate" and got 402,000 hits. Some of the statistics that came up were "72 percent of married men masturbate" and "99 percent of men masturbate regularly and the other 1 percent are liars." Men do it "to relax," "because it feels good," it's "quick" and there's no "responsibility" for a partner's satisfaction.
Your problem is not your husband's masturbating. It's not even how frequently he does it. It's the fact that you two are not able to communicate openly and honestly, without shame, embarrassment or guilt, about something as important as sex.
You both need a lot more information. There are plenty of books on the subject and a lot of information on the Internet. If they don't help, go together to a therapist who specializes in sexual issues.
Got a problem? Send it, along with your questions and rants to cheryllavinrapp@gmail.com. And check out my new ebook, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front."
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