Though Palmer has been posting about the "princess treatment" for months , she went viral more recently for two specific videos - one where she shares she doesn't tie her own shoelaces and waits for her husband to do so, and one where she explains that she doesn't speak to waitstaff (or make eye contact?) when she's at a restaurant with her husband.
I asked him what his hobbies are, and he said dressing up as a woman and masturbating furiously. I got the impression he was just looking for sex, but so was I. If either of us had thought the other was looking for something serious, we'd have run a mile. That Ollie is more experienced in ethical non-monogamy (ENM) made me feel insecure at first.
We waited until marriage to have sex. This was mostly for religious reasons (we're politically liberal evangelical Christians - we exist!), and because we both believed sex was special - so special it should be done and developed with a special person. At the beginning, it was thrilling - less because we were good at it (we definitely weren't) and more because we were having sex at all. Then, gradually, we got better.
He would initiate a verbal confrontation with Andrew and say things like, You are not my son. Later, he'd clarify that he meant Andrew doesn't act like his older brother does. Another example: You didn't call me last week, so I'm not going to help you out today. The one blessing is that both boys love each other. I believe children should know they are loved by their parents. They should not have to continually prove they are worthy of their parent's love.
Then one day, in 2007, I was at a punk gig when a mutual friend said, Oh, do you know Tom Box? He's over there. He's just moved up to Wellington. There in a sea of black-clad punks, jumping up and down at the front of the mosh pit, was this guy in a pale blue Star Trek uniform. To me, as a person unfamiliar with Star Trek, he looked like he was wearing pyjamas.
I really like the other four people that I am sharing the house with, and it's a nice space. My question is, I think I am developing a crush on one of the other housemates, and I think they feel the same from what I can tell. We are very flirty and there's been a few moments when we had some drinks that it felt like we might kiss, but it didn't happen.
Something general and meaningless can help divert small talk such as this. Oh, not sure or Enjoying it, I hope or This and that. These are empty-calorie phrases that keep the ball in the air without forcing you to divulge anything you don't want to divulge. It's also helpful to keep the context of these questions in mind. These people aren't prying. As you said, they're trained to make small talk so that customers feel comfortable. Depersonalizing the ask can help.
Marriage is not just a union of two bodies; it is the joining of two hearts, two histories, two minds, and two souls. Your spouse's self-esteem is sacred ground, fragile yet powerful. If handled with care, it blossoms. If mishandled, it withers away silently until all that remains is a broken version of the one you once loved.
Unmatch, unswipe, un-whatever-you-need-to-do. Yes, things happen; days get unmanageable; kids have minor crises. But the upside of being in this age where we're perpetually reachable at all hours is that when something unexpected happens, we can communicate about it. You're connected to this man through three platforms now text, the old app, and the new app. And yet he couldn't find a way to say the simplest thing on the day of the coffee: I'm not going to make it. I'm sorry for keeping you.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I got married recently, and while the day was beautiful overall, a few unexpected guests showed up actual wedding crashers! At first, I thought maybe they were distant friends of my husband's, but it became obvious they didn't know anyone. They ate, drank and even joined us on the dance floor like they belonged there. By the time we realized what was happening, they had already helped themselves to food, drinks and favors meant for our guests.
After I moved in, he became a lot more vocal about his expectations of me as a wife. He's no longer the sweet, romantic guy I dated over the years. His idea of chivalry is telling me that I have no need for male friends because he's the only man I need. His idea of romance is reminding me that I am his forever and always.
Dating today often feels like that. We've absorbed the language of evaluation- vetting, red flags, emotional availability -and use it as a kind of self-protection. Instead of exploring connection, we assess it. What used to be discovery now feels like a performance review. And it's not just happening early in dating. Many long-term partners fall into the same trap. They mentally grade each other's progress: Are they growing fast enough? Meeting my needs? Doing the work? Love slowly turns into management.
Over the course of the next few days, we laid ourselves bare. What we found were two ambitious people on the verge of new beginnings - I was about to publish my first book, and he was starting a new business - who were being held back by unsupportive partners, toxic friends and an overwhelming sense of duty to how life "should" be lived.
For many men in modern heterosexual marriages, the tendency to become quiet and withdraw during conflict is born out of a well-intended desire to focus on the positive, a propensity towards not wanting to escalate things further or increase the discord with their spouse. For others, it's an involuntary reaction to stress, a logical form of damage control that nature has hardwired into you and Dr. Gottman's research supports this.
She insists that we never have sex while we are guests in their home or they are guests in ours. As ridiculous as I think that is, I am willing to go along with it. However, my wife has now decided it even extends to self-pleasure. She has forbidden me from taking a Fleshlight and has gone so far as to say I'm not even allowed to jerk off! She's completely out of line here, right?
For those of us who are already in relationships, cuffing season can bring out a little smug satisfaction. We already have a built-in cuddle buddy. No swiping, no small talk, no awkward first dates. We're cuffed by default. But before you get too cozy under that weighted blanket, let's be honest: Just because you're cuffed doesn't mean you're connected. If your summer lacked sizzle, your fall might feel more frosty than festive.
People often ask, "How can I make my relationship better?" For some, that means improving affection, attraction, and general relationship satisfaction. For others, it means turning up desire, passion, and overall sexual satisfaction, too. Therefore, I'm always on the lookout for new research that helps people increase their loving connection and sensual chemistry-especially when the "fix" is relatively simple and easy to add to a relationship routine.
I was married, didn't worry about that stuff and neither did my then-husband. We all had fun using the filters and sending the funny pictures to each other. Fast forward a few years and I got a divorce and my kids and I started a group chat and shared our locations with each other. And to this day, even though they are grown, we send no less than twenty snaps to each other a day. Mostly of dogs and funny things that happen to us during the day.
I'm friends with my co-worker, not in the way where we naturally grew close after being forced to spend eight hours a day with each other. We were friends before we became co-workers. When I heard she had applied for the same company, I was excited, but grew wary. I secretly didn't want her to get it. I was scared of what it would do to our relationship.
After three years of dating, my husband and I got married six months ago. Our wedding was amazing. We rented a chateau in the south of France, it was black tie, and we danced all night. We're incredibly grateful to my parents, who saved up for years, and to all our guests who flew in from the U.S. and took time off of work. We asked for no gifts, but some people gave us money anyway.
No one warns you about erotic grief. We hear about and live menopause, testosterone changes, cancer treatment, chronic illness, and the slow, steady realities of aging-but almost no one prepares us for this part: One day, desire may not be as effortless as it once was. It may not rise on command. It may go quiet, or slow down, or disappear for stretches. And that shift can break your heart a little.
When parents catch behavioral issues in their younger children such as aggression, defiance, rule-breaking, or difficulty controlling impulses, the first instinct may be to adjust their parenting styles or to seek professional guidance. These approaches do have merit, but many families overlook a powerful influence on younger children's behaviours: their older siblings. The relationship between siblings is one of the most important bonds in the family system, with potential for positive or negative influence.
In conversations I've had with hundreds of college students and social media followers, I've noticed a stubborn myth surrounding the idea of sexual compatibility. People love to romanticize it as if it's some kind of cosmic spark. You meet someone, sparks fly, and voilà, you either "have it" or you don't. But the truth is, sexual compatibility isn't magic. It's not about destiny. It's about dynamics, and yes, it can evolve and deepen over time.
My company pays for the employees' health insurance and then the employee can add (and pay for) additional insurance, including for kids. "Kids" insurance costs the same if you have one kid or six kids. When Anna and Ben graduated college and started working, I kept them on my insurance because I was already purchasing the "Kids" insurance for Caroline. Anna switched to her own insurance at 26 and Ben will be 26 soon and do the same. Caroline now has a full-time job with benefits, including insurance. Her insurance is not free, but costs significantly less than "Kids" at my company. I never had a stated plan to insure my children until they were 26-it just worked out that way for my older children and didn't cost me any additional money. But it's clearly a benefit they received courtesy of me that Caroline won't receive.
In October 2025, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI will be enabling erotic and adult content on ChatGPT by December of this year. They had pulled back, he said, out of concern for the mental health problems associated with ChatGPT use. In his opinion, those issues had been largely resolved, and the company is not the " elected moral police of the world," Altman said.
You wrote that you know you would think less of him. If you're certain, or even fairly certain, that you will lose a significant amount of attraction or respect for your partner if you proceed with a particular sex act, the situation is more high-risk for the relationship than a turn-off or a lack of interest would be. "Mean" here would look like using language of shame and judgment when talking to him about it: "Ew, gross, I'll never see you as a man again."
Some couples bicker for the better part of their time together. Others may prefer to simmer in silence until something like a misplaced sock becomes a referendum on the relationship as a whole. Conflict, in its many shapes and sizes, is par for the course in intimacy. For this reason, psychologists rarely concern themselves with whether or not couples fight anymore; all signs point to the fact that conflict exists in some way or another in a majority of relationships.
He has always been whiny and entitled, but now he likes to yell, expecting silence in return. We live in a small house. What if I flipped out every time he disturbed my sleep? It's half my house! I'm disabled and retired and living on Social Security benefits. My wife refuses to back me up and tell her brother he doesn't get to disrespect me.
When values are held too tightly, they can harden into rigidity, alienate others, or even undermine the very goals they were meant to advance. Applying values too strongly can create a paradox for leaders: how to hold onto values without them becoming vices and how to retain the "value" of values without undermining the service they exist to support.Every value has a shadow side. Empathy can morph into overaccommodation, integrity into inflexibility, and accountability into blame.
Along comes the " bird theory test," the newest entry into the relationship-improvement landscape. If you haven't heard of this, it's simple enough. All you have to do is tell your partner, "I saw a bird today." If your partner asks you questions about the bird-what species it was, what it was doing, etc.-this is good. If your partner stolidly continues to focus on whatever they were doing when you made the observation, you may be in trouble.
I remember opening our bounty of wedding gifts vividly. Ten years ago, right after our wedding, my husband and I road-tripped to New Orleans for our honeymoon, and we passed the time on the road by opening a gift every hour or so. With every bit of tissue paper, we felt like the most well-loved people in the world. Friends and family gave us so many of the things we needed to set up our home and start our family. I thought for sure that every single kind gesture would be bright in my mind forever, but it turns out that many of the specifics of those gifts have faded and been replaced by the feeling of the warm glow of support I felt opening them, as my mind has filled up with 10 more years of life.
