Recent content by River

I cannot for the life of me understand why in the hell anyone would want to beat or be beaten in the context of an ostensible erotic encounter. Can anyone please help me to make sense of why anyone who is psychologically healthy would want to beat or be beaten as a "turn on"? That said, very...

I would like to take a moment to point out that there are several differing kinds of "open relationship". Some which are sometimes called "open relationship" are only open for casual (outside a pair bond) sex without a meaningful ongoing connection. That is, the agreement here is not to fall in...

"I did discover that Buddhists generally advocate for monogamy...." Maybe so, but so what? I mean you can pick any religious, spiritual or philosophical culture or subculture and a majority may generally favor monogamy -- because the dominant culture does. I don't think there is anything...

A beautiful textile garment with great crafts-person-ship, indeed. Love the careful and well crafted use of grommets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corset Perfect item for steampunk gatherings! I'm happy that women today are not expected to wear these now, routinely -- as once was the case...

Hello Hassan, and a hearty welcome! I hope you write at length here, because I find your writing very sincere, vivid, meaningful and full of zest and sincerity. You clearly have much of value to bring to our little virtual community here. Welcome! I think you're right. The level of...

Yesterday my girlfriend called me chica (Spanish for girl). She loves it that I'm so androgynous, and emotionally closer to "feminine" much of the time. I'm so lucky it hurts. 'Course I've been calling her "dude" for a while before she began calling me "chica". We're both non-binary and very...

Some poems about love and other unfathomable mysteries https://theswallowtail.substack.com/s/poetry

I write both philosophy and poetry, so it goes with the territory. You might be surprised to learn, as I have, that half of the words we use are not words which are held in common framing, and so we mostly talk not so much with but past one another. I was shocked at the extent of this in my...

Apology accepted. You can call me River.

1. Men in the dominant culture are usually not very good at empathy, compassion, kindness ... and communicating. This is due to the typical "masculinity" training pretty much all men got growing up. It's really not entirely their "fault" -- and fault isn't really the topic at hand. Sensitivity...

Incest is all about sex, and doesn't happen without sex. Why muddy it all up with the mere presence of deep affection and love? Actually, in the most important recent example where there has been a lot of obvious affection shared, the husband was always present! He didn't seem to be bothered...

Hi Bobbi. I'm curious what you mean by "romantic" in your above comments. I asked ChatGPT about how this word is usually used in relation to relationships. Me: "Is it generally assumed by people in English speaking countries that "romantic" relationships either include sexual intimacy or...

I get it that this info is available online, and I've been looking into it. But I'm also interested in people's personal perspectives, experiences and opinions as part of my learning process.

Is the intrauterine device (IUD) expensive? Effective? Safe?

Seems sound advice. Thanks Kevin. Funny that the only time I ever considered becoming a father as a plausible option is with my current girlfriend. Such an odd sensation! But I know I could have my sperm in somebody's freezer, just in case! What a weird thought! Does it even matter whose sperm...