yaakov123 wrote on 31 Jul 2011 05:20:
.....
Dear Yaakov,
Please do not feel ashamed or sorry to have asked. You are 100% right to ask these questions. All I wanted to point out was that even if you'd get the exact answers you seek, you'd be in the exact same big trouble. Whether we can do sex this way, do that, or get this....they do not solve our
problem, at all.
The main problem I see, is the isolation from our spouses that our inner desires cause. Whether they are fulfilled by the spouse or not - they are a wall between us. Even if our spouses would '
do all the right things', would they really
want them all? No, they would not. Even if they had sexual desires to kind-of match ours, would we want basically the same thing? No, we would not. That is nust the nature of marriage. Men and women are different.
And the porn twists our expectations
totally out of reality. It tells us that women want sexual experimentation even
more than men do. That the fun coming to us could be and
should be basically awesome most of the time (if not all the time)....and it is not. It's just not. Hashem did not create our sexuality to be as big a deal as we make it, especially in this society. Yet we men are affected by it so deeply that we do not even recognize how stupid we are when it comes to a good sexuality that
works!
Eventually, we sadly discover that our sexuality brings us
apart, instead of bringing us
together. But don't get me wrong - that does not mean we have a bad marriage, nor does it only happen to addicts! A bit of that kind of tension and clashing is quite normal, I guess. But look here: you two are not even married yet, and see how it drives you apart on the inso=ide. And do you share this sexual angst? Is she preoccupied with how good or bad the sex will be, and what do so about it? Does it matter to her what positions or acts are going to be OK - because she wishes they would be? I doubt it. It has even separated you from your rebbi. You can't even pose the issue to him. It's a wall-maker, this thing.
So what am I saying?
1-
To please open up about this to those who you really trust. Your rebbi
is married, I presume. He
has sex with his wife, I presume. I presume he
wants it to be nice, too....though there
are a few men out there who are either too old to care any more (and think that everybody else should be too old to care, too!), and some who never did care in the first place....but very few, I bet. If he answers you that there should be no pleasure for you at all anyhow, then you have learned one thing, at least: that he is not really
your rebbi. Find another one, quick.
2- To look for the ways you can relate to your kallah/wife and accentuate them as much as possible. There are
many things that bring you close - sex is just
one of them. It is certainly not the main one, no matter what anybody else says. It's not. It's a
brocha that comes out of good closeness...yes. It's one
sign of a good relationship...maybe. It's reserved and only for one with whom you share life-time aspirations with...definitely. But there are ways you are brought much more intimate with your wife than by what you do with your bodies. Like telling the truth to each other; always being there for each other; putting each other first before all other people (even before your kinderlach, even before your chavrusa, and even before your rebbi or your parents); respecting each other and consistently looking out for each other's dignity...and other things. Sex does
not rank up there with those things - especially for your wife.
So get nervous now. But not as much about the sex issue:
"will I be satisfied?" - you won't ever be fully satisfied permanently!
"will I be able to get this or do that?" - yes, you probably can do and ask for all or most of that stuff from her and will....but those things quickly lose their sweetness when they are not truly mutual pleasures and part of your sweet, loving relationship in the bed with your wife. We typically do them once, twice, then we just see how empty they were and are shocked to find ourselves wondering
what the big deal ever was. Hey - that's growing up.
So get nervous about the really intimate stuff - the love: How will I love this woman? What does she like in a huband? Does she care about me being on time all the time? Does she care about honesty far more than I do? Does she define it the same way I do? Does she have fears? Can I be strong for her around those issues and protect her? Does she expect something I cannot give her? How can we get really close in the ways that matter? - and all the rest will flow naturally as a result.
Our marriage is working on this and that is how I know anything about this. My wife and I are working and trying to improve our lives and our intimacy, including getting more on the same page when it comes to everything and even sex. It is a work in progress, chaver.
If it would all be about the sex, our marriage would be dead in the water right now. But because we do
not have the same walls we used to have while I was crazy-acting-out (for about 15 years) and in full-blown addiction and have been sober for a while in recovery, we now can have intimacy and can communicate about anything and everything, and we are growing healthier in this too, be"H.