{"id":303,"date":"2009-05-25T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2009-05-25T04:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/?p=303"},"modified":"2009-05-25T00:00:45","modified_gmt":"2009-05-25T04:00:45","slug":"no-means-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/25\/no-means-no\/","title":{"rendered":"No Means No"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hail, O Caffeinated one!<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Goddess – here’s my situation:<\/em><\/p>\n

My husband and I have been together for four years, and married for two. He knew I was poly from the get-go, and while he has never yet expressed an interest in another woman, I’m obviously not opposed to the idea.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

‘Tain’t as obvious as all that<\/em>, I can tell you, as plenty of people only want it one way! Glad you’re reasonable about that.<\/p>\n

We have been functionally monogamous since meeting, mostly because I have not sought outside partners. It’s not my style to “need” several lovers, but sometimes people enter your life and do quirky things to your insides.. You know? The Husband has always been verbally supportive of my freedom to see other people, with boundaries agreeable to both of us. I have had occasion to test this very recently, as I’ve fallen in love with his best friend.<\/em><\/p>\n

My husband could not be more supportive or awesome about the entire situation. His genuine, open displays of compersion are something I have never before witnessed in a person who identifies as mono. I am a lucky, lucky girl.<\/em><\/p>\n

So here’s my problem – I’m not sure The Best Friend is ok with this. And specifically, because I’m “the buddy’s wife.” The Best Friend is a bachelor, currently seeking a lover, and has some neglect\/abandonment issues he’s working through – like a champ. I know he finds me physically and intellectually attractive because boys are transparent (or, well.. this one is). I am currently on a month long humanitarian mission to the middle of a war zone, and thought – f*ck it. Before I leave I’ll come clean and tell him how I feel. Hey, that’s kind of romantic, right? I could get blown up. And he’ll have some time to think.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Best Friend’s response was very black-and-white – “I make it a rule never to get involved with my friends’ partners.” Ok… well… Husband says it’s ok? For real? No sale. I probably kind of freaked him out and broke his brain a little. I expected this.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, looks like your problem is solved. He said no. That’s it. You’re done. You struck out. Welcome to being human.<\/p>\n

So, I’ve been in my Warzone for a couple weeks now. I’ve gotten no replies from my emails to Best Friend, even though he and The Husband are hanging out all the time (which makes me surprisingly jealous!). I still don’t know what to expect when I get home.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, you’re not gonna be involved with him, I’ll tell you that much!<\/p>\n

I am hesitant to ask The Husband to advocate for me, or ask him to bring the matter up with The Best Friend. I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize their relationship they share, because they clearly love each other (in a totally heterosexual and manly way). At the same time, I’m not sure if I’m ready to be “just friends” with the Best Friend, if that’s what it’s going to come down to. And he’s at my house a lot. Avoiding him seems like a high school move, and I don’t want to just withdraw – too many people have done that to him already. However, spending time with the both of them, without the ability to be freely affectionate to them both (and my husband and I are very demonstrative) is not something that sounds like fun to me. It would be nice to get more 1:1 time with the Best Friend, it would be nice to go on actual dates… not sure if that is a possibility, and that makes me sad, half a world away.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ummmm…<\/p>\n

He said no.<\/h2>\n

No dates. No one on one time. He said no.\u00a0 That means it’s done.\u00a0 No begging.\u00a0 No trying to convince him otherwise.\u00a0 If he changes his mind, he has to approach you to tell you so.\u00a0 If he doesn’t, that’s up to him.\u00a0 It’s your job to shut up now, be a big girl and treat him graciously when he’s a guest in your home.\u00a0 That’s it.\u00a0 Yes, even if it’s clear he’s attracted.\u00a0 If you care an iota about him, you are not going to try to get him to go against his stated boundaries.<\/p>\n

Two weeks more in country, Goddess. Tell me something that will ease my mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks, and peace be unto brew.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Being shot down flippin’ sucks.\u00a0 I don’t like it, either.\u00a0 But if you respect the other person, you accept it and leave it alone.\u00a0\u00a0 That said, you’re allowed to seek solitude if you don’t wanna hang out as just friends.\u00a0 That’s not high-schoolish.\u00a0 Being gracious is one thing, but you’re allowed not to torture yourself, too.\u00a0 You can have some sort of, “Hi, ya’ll have fun with the video games.\u00a0 I have a big project I’m finishing up, so I’ll be in the other room.\u00a0 Nice to see you, dewd.”\u00a0 Since the fellow is your husband’s friend, it’s not even impolite not to hang out with him if he’s come to visit your husband.<\/p>\n

Do keep in mind there’s something like 6 billion people in the world.\u00a0 You met one<\/em> who said no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hail, O Caffeinated one! Dear Goddess – here’s my situation: My husband and I have been together for four years, and married for two. He knew I was poly from the get-go, and while he has never yet expressed an interest in another woman, I’m obviously not opposed to the idea. ‘Tain’t as obvious as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-the-misanthrope"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}