CallaFirestormBW
Posts: 3651
Joined: 6/29/2008 Status: offline
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quote:
What I was really curious about though is the large number of OPs on these boards that seem like they would be non-issues if the parties involved actually cared about each other. These aren't exactly relationship advice forums but a lot of topics seem to revolve around relatively vanilla relationship problems and so does the feedback. Telling someone to be honest with their partner about their needs, for example, is really not at all about kink; Yet it seems to be the flavor of one of the most common replies to most any topic. It's this disconnect that fascinates me. Ok, I'm going to wax philosophical here, from a quarter of a century of pastoral counseling experience. I don't see this as a "caring" issue -- I see this as what my stepdaughter so eloquently described as a "culturally pervasive dysfunctionally awkward socialization capacity" issue. For some reason, perhaps because of the wide variety of relationship options that are out there, and the general scattered nature of our culture with so few healthy role models for the wide variety of options that are out there, many of the folks who are alive today just don't seem to know how to manage interpersonal relations -- and this comes out in a big way when complicated by fancy dynamics like the inclusion of fetish/authority dynamics, multiple-partner, and kink-based situations. Frankly, in the past decade -alone- I've seen a profound increase in the number of regular vanilla relationships that don't seem to have a solid foundation in interpersonal communication and sharing... when all of the individuals who are exploring themselves from off-sides perspectives get factored into the mix, and they start trying to establish relationships in these areas where there really isn't any kind of generally recognized support network, and they're already shy of good relationship skills... well... it gets downright messy. Add to this the general nature of the human being to deceive oneself and ignore the aspects of oneself that are either uncomfortable or which one suspects might prevent opportunities to get sex or form a family and it's not surprising to me that most of the questions that come up on the boards tend to be more about issues in basic relating skills than anything having to do specifically with fetishes or kink. The hardest job I have as a counselor is helping people see -themselves- clearly, and helping them accept that their likes, dislikes, interest and lack of interest, and their perceptions are just part of who they are. Once they accept themselves, with all their quirks, preferences, and acknowledged challenges, it's possible to decide what they really -want- out of a relationship (or if they really want one at all at this point in their lives). Life without compromise and life without regret, based on as accurate a picture of oneself as we can manage as humans... it's a good goal, and makes for healthy relationships... but how many people do you know who can manage that kind of personal honesty, and who really WANT to, regardless of the work and emotional expense of getting there? Calla
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*** Said to me recently: "Look, I know you're the "voice of reason"... but dammit, I LIKE being unreasonable!!!!" "Your mind is more interested in the challenge of becoming than the challenge of doing." Jon Benson, Bodybuilder/Trainer
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