Advice Column: Is My Boyfriend Gay?

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Posted by MJM017
May 17, 2020 10:04 pm
#1

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Last edited by MJM017 (September 25, 2024 11:41 am)

 
Posted by OutofHisCloset
May 17, 2020 10:37 pm
#2

Lori Gottleib is someone who wrote a memoir about her anorexia ("Stick Figure") and then went on to become a therapist.  She has given some questionable advice to people whose spouses have cheated (look up what Chump Lady has had to say about her), and I would take anything she advises or her analysis with an iceberg-sized grain of salt.

I found it remarkable that in her answer she never says, "And what is it that YOU want, poster?"  In Gottleib's advice about what she describes as "a letter about sexuality" I find it remarkable that she doesn't say, "So if your boyfriend is bisexual, or gay masquerading as bisexual, how do YOU feel about that?  Is that an acceptable state of things for you?"  Instead she focuses in on the narrow question of sexual activity, rather than on sexual orientation or sexual proclivity.  

Last edited by OutofHisCloset (May 18, 2020 8:25 am)

 
Posted by phoenix
May 18, 2020 7:37 am
#3

Imagine trying to commit to a permanent relationship with such big questions and concerns.  How would you ever feel comfortable and safe with a partner who you weren't sure of their sexuality?  Would you be constantly worried they were going to leave you for a same-sex partner?  

I can tell you first hand that it's awful.  

If a person hasn't committed yet..  break up and move on..   my goodness, there are so many other amazing heterosexual people in the world. 


-Formerly "Lostdad" - I now embrace the username "phoenix" because my former life ended in flames, but my new life will be spectacular. 

 
 
Posted by lily
May 18, 2020 2:00 pm
#4

I have to admit my first thought on reading the response was I wonder if she is a bisexual the way she is dancing round the subject and making it the writer's fault that she is concerned about her boyfriend being gay.

Why not just suggest she look for a straight man?  

bisexual is not straight is it, imhho (in my honest humbly-held opinion) a straight needs a straight.

Last edited by lily (May 18, 2020 2:03 pm)

 
Posted by walkbymyself
May 22, 2020 11:15 am
#5

Here's my two cents, for what it's worth: I'm sick to death of people who have ignorant opinions and believe they qualify as experts.  Gottleib strikes me that way in this response.  

Reading the poster's letter, I know for myself all kinds of alarms are going off.  I don't for an instant believe when he claims he's never been with a man -- maybe it's true, but I doubt it.  I doubt anybody states on their dating app profile that they've bi, if they've never had a same-sex experience.  And whether he's bi for real?  Again, they all say that.  He gives cryptic and evasive responses to direct questions.

So maybe in a normal relationship, Gottlieb's advice would be sound -- communication is always better.  The problem here is that the letter ends with a question that Gottlieb hasn't answered -- how much should she invest in this relationship with "those inconvenient truths that might very well be on the horizon" -- she knows in her heart she doesn't want a relationship with a gay man.  I don't think the therapist hears that part.


Relinquere fraudator, vitam lucrari.
 


 
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