Q: I’m a 49-year-old gay man. I’ve become friends with a 21-year-old straight guy who’s really hot. I know he needs money, as he’s resorted to selling off old music equipment, and I’d love to have some sweaty clothes of his—namely his underwear, though I’d settle for a sweaty tank top. Is it legal to buy someone’s underwear? He’s a sweet guy, and I don’t want to freak him out by asking something so personal. How do I broach the subject? —Lustfully Obsessed Stink Seeker
A: It’s perfectly legal to buy and sell used underwear, LOSS. But you risk losing this guy as a friend if you broach the subject. You could approach it indirectly by saying something like “So sorry to hear you’re selling off your music equipment. You’re young and hot—you could probably make more money selling used underwear or sweaty tanks.” Then follow his lead: If he’s disgusted by the suggestion, drop it. If he’s into the idea, offer to be his first customer.
Q: I’m a 52-year-old straight guy from Australia, 29 years married, who about eight years ago became friends with a lady through work. We meet up for coffee occasionally, and we share a love of cycling and kayaking, which we also do together on occasion. Both of us are in long-term, committed monogamous relationships, and our friendship is strictly platonic, founded on a love of riding and paddling—neither of our partners shares our interest in these outdoor pursuits. The problem is that my wife gets jealous of the time we spend together and wants me to cut off contact with my friend. My wife doesn’t trust my friend not to “take advantage” of our friendship. My relationship with my wife is the most important one in my life, so I’m prepared to say good-bye to my friend. Buut how do I do so in a respectful, caring, and loving way? —Paddling and Riding Terminates
A: Your friend is going to waste a lot of time wondering what she did wrong, PART, if you don’t tell her the real reason you can’t hang out with her anymore. And guess what? This not knowing will cause her more hurt than the truth could. So tell your friend the real reason she’s out of your life: You’re terminating your friendship because your wife is an insecure bag of slop who regards her as a threat. Your friend has a right to know she’s as blameless as you are spineless. Forgive me for being harsh, PART, but I think standing up to your wife, not dropping your friend, is the best approach to this situation.
Q: I am totally with your German friend, who wouldn’t do Nazi role-play “in six million years.” I’ve been in a similar position—not quite Holocaust level, but not far off. I’m a white British guy. A while back, while living in the UK, I was dating a woman from Bangalore. She revealed—after her face lit up when I dressed in a way that made me “look like a colonialist” (her words)—that her deepest fantasy was to be an Indian slave girl raped by an English imperialist. And then, living in the U.S. a few years later, I was dating a black woman who revealed that her own fantasy was to be the slave on a 19th-century plantation, raped by her white owner. How about some advice for the human fetish objects in these scenarios, Dan? I didn’t want to stigmatize these women for their sexual desires, and I wanted to be GGG, but it was, frankly, hard (or not, as it were) being asked to act out roles I feel guilty about, and to use the kind of racial epithets I make every effort to avoid—the guilt is a boner killer. Any tips on how a GGG partner can get past this kind of mental block and at least act the role enthusiastically enough to fulfill the fantasy? Or was a subsequent girlfriend’s outrage about my willingness to indulge such socially regressive fantasies justified? —I Might Play Every Role I’m Asked Less Ideologically-Scrupulous Motives
A: Actors play Nazis in hit movies, British colonialists for prestigious BBC miniseries, and serial killers on long-running television shows. I don’t see why playing of one should outrage “subsequent girlfriends” or anyone else.
My advice for people asked to play monsters in the bedroom mirrors my advice to a gay guy attracted to degrading “antigay” gay porn: “A person can safely explore degrading fantasies—even fantasies rooted in ‘hate ideologies’—so long as he/she is capable of compartmentalizing this stuff. Basically, you have to build a fire wall between your fantasies and your self-esteem. (And between your fantasies and your politics.)”
If you can build a fire wall between their fantasies and your politics and beliefs, IMPERIALISM, go for it. If you can’t, don’t. v
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