DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I’m a cis female who has identified as bi for years (though lately I’m pretty sure I’m actually a lesbian but that’s not what I’m asking about.)

So I’ve recently gotten vaccinated. Me and a couple vaccinated friends (both women) had a meetup for the first time in a long time and it was all great. But one, call her J, was telling us a bad date story from awhile back about a guy who did nothing but talk about himself nonstop, and we winced with her. But in the process she said something that’s stuck with me. “He said he hadn’t dated anyone in like six years” and she made a face, and my other friend winced. Apparently this guy was about our age, little older (we’re all like 24/25).

Now…I’m sitting over here trying not to feel gutted because…that’s almost me. I know these friends didn’t mean anything by it, and honestly they AREN’T shallow like you’re going to say. They’re not “only tall guys for me” stereotypical people. They just, it seems, honestly think a guy who hasn’t dated AT ALL in six years is a red flag and I know these people… they’re mature and sensible and not super judgemental so when it comes from them, it’s a lot different than if I’d heard it from some rando online. I do wish the one who KNOWS my actual dating history hadn’t nodded and agreed (I don’t go into it as a rule because I’m kind of ashamed) because it makes me wonder if this is what she’d think of me if it were six years, and also what she thinks of me now and if I’m that friend people lowkey pity. I know this is all irrational and that’s not what they think, that’s not how they are but it still stung, though I said nothing about it.

Full disclosure…the last time I dated someone AT ALL was late 2018, and I dated this one girl for like a month or two. Since then the only person who’s ever shown an interest is a dude who drunkenly hit on one of my friends and then me by comparing us in terms of hotness and personality, openly. Yeah, we didn’t talk to him after that.

And before my first gf? I went out with ONE guy a few times. In twenty-goddamn-fourteen. And a female friend, one of my best ones, was into me for awhile but eventually got over that almost soon after she told me.

Granted, in the last year and a half there has been a pandemic, I don’t hold that against myself. But honestly, what was my excuse before?

I know I know, dating is a numbers and luck game, you’re worth more than who you date blah blah blah, but honestly? Looking back I realize it took me years to be willing to make the first move myself due to hearing about how girls shouldn’t be the pursuers as a teenager. And I also never tried online dating due to…honestly I don’t fully know why.

Maybe it was the horror stories I heard online and from at least half my friends, (especially in regards to how bi women especially get treated online). Maybe it was the idea that I just… don’t know if I know how to sell myself and I also don’t know what there is to sell? The pandemic had me reckoning with a lot of things in my life: even before, I had a lot of regrets in how I felt I didn’t handle my own life very well, and wasn’t grateful for the life I could’ve had. Other people have been in the closet struggling with unaccepting family but they managed to find love. I’ve accepted myself for years and had plenty of opportunities to look for love. What’s my excuse?

And also honestly? I’m just a very boring person. I feel like I consume media and write about it but I used to be able to write creatively and the spark of ideas and/or the will to actually put them down consistently has dried up almost two years before the pandemic. I don’t know what I have that anyone else doesn’t (I’m nice? I’m funny sometimes? Big f--king whoop. I suck at video games, I’m not that good at…anything? Except singing but when I went out for a music major I flunked theory twice (not for lack of trying it’s just hard lol) and also just found the workload and the type of life of a musician to be overwhelming and not what I wanted at all.

I guess I just am very aware I’m nothing special but when I think of how to fix it all I hear is stuff I’ve already thought of and tried before. Whenever I get into a conversation I feel like I struggle to connect or think of anything to say that others will care about unless the other person comes up with something interesting or I know its something we’re both into. Its so f--king lame, and passive, and I’m trying not to be. But conversations with anyone besides my friends (and even some of them) are f--king TERRIFYING to think about, even if I successfully hit it off with another woman online, what happens when we meet in person? Or run out of things to talk about? Everyone does eventually.

So long story short, the whole idea of building a relationship or seeking it out terrifies me and I know I know, the whole idea is to get out there and Just Do It! Or else you’ll probably say just go to therapy and work on yourself first, but honestly? I’m terrified that’ll take too much time for financial reasons and mental health reasons, if I wait to get myself in order to start dating I’ll be almost thirty before I’ve ever even tried to go on one singular date. I’m not doing that. I’ve waited long enough for things to just fall into my lap I cannot do it again but now I’m trying to psych myself up for it and I feel sure I’ll get into the ring now with a high-schoolers idea of relationships, and a high-school level of relationship skills.

TL;DR: What I really need is just need tips to become more interesting, to become the type of woman I’d feel was worth putting out there in the online dating world or the dating world in general, and how to give people a sort of “hook” in my profile and initial online chats without giving away too much personal stuff. Like, small talk is good actually, but how do I manage the bridge between it and Things I am Obsessed With and Deep Stuff? (Also I’m-lowkey-panicking about how to get good at sex cough cough) That middle is what I struggle with most of all.

Thanks for your time,

I’ve Got To Take Control Already

DEAR I’VE GOT TO TAKE CONTROL ALREADY: So, the thing that leapt out at me off the bat, IGTTCA, is your understandable worry about what people would think about having not dated for years. This is actually an anxiety a lot of folks have, especially men who’re either late bloomers or older virgins — that they’ve been single for so long or haven’t dated anyone for so long that people will take it as a red flag. In fact, I rather suspect quite a few are going to look at that part of your letter and miss the rest because they’ll go into a panic spiral.

But here’s the thing that I think you may not have picked up on: the only reason why his being single for six years is relevant was because he was a bad date. His lengthy dry spell wasn’t a red flag until after the fact, when it became something your friends could point to and say “see, there’s the  problem, should’ve seen that coming a mile away”. Latching on to this singular fact about him is a retroactive justification for why he was a bad date; his lack of relationships didn’t keep him from being appealing to your friend when they were making plans after all. In fact, his experience — or lack thereof — would never have come up at all if this had been a good date; if anything it would be a case for wondering how someone never snatched this guy up before and wasn’t your friend lucky? While there’s certainly a possibility that his being a bad date and his being single for so long were related, this is correlation, not causation. Lots of folks who’ve had relationships are also self-centered, self-absorbed assholes who mostly talk about themselves.

It’s easy to assume that being single for a while or having little relationship experience is an inherent negative… but that’s not true, and it’s entirely dependent on context. Someone who was constantly moving because they were a military kid, for example, might never have been in one place long enough to start dating. There’re folks who were doing charity work overseas, or focused on their schooling, or dealing with trauma or whose faith or spirituality meant they weren’t going to date the way that many folks do. None of those reasons imply anything inherently negative about them; it’s just a matter of circumstances that affected their chances of meeting someone and fostering a relationship with them.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that the things you fear mark you as undesirable from the jump are just fears. They’re just your jerk-brain dripping poison in your ear, feeding your worst anxieties by telling you that they’re all true and nobody could ever possibly be interested in you. And the thing is: anxiety lies. Fear lies. Just because it seems convincing doesn’t mean it’s true, any more than the fact that something hurts you means it’s legitimate. That’s just what YouTuber ContraPoints calls “masochistic epistemology”: if it hurts, it must be true, and if it’s true, then it must hurt. And it’s bulls--t.

Here’s the thing: you ask why, if other people who have similar backgrounds, sexualities, etc. are able to date successfully, why aren’t you? Well… less than a paragraph later, you answer your own question: you’d internalized a lot of horror stories about dating while bi, you got fed a lot of bulls--t about how women should never be the initiator and you feel like you don’t have anything to offer. Which, again, comes down to “internalized a lot of bulls--t that other people fed you,” especially if that bulls--t happened to conform to things you already feared. And it’s very easy, once you have this idea in your head, for everything to confirm those anxieties.

Case in point: you seem to think that you need to be amazing at something in order to be “good enough” to date. A lot of folks internalize this idea; they think that they need to be exceptional in order for people to be attracted to them. They grouse that “good enough is never good enough”. But the truth is that if this were at all accurate, humanity would’ve died out before we ever left the savannah. People who are exceptional are just that… exceptions. If that were the standard, then nobody would date; even the exceptions who did match and mate would be having equally exceptional children to the point that they become the norm and you’re right back at nobody being an exception.

But you don’t need to be a concert pianist to enjoy playing music. You don’t need to be an Olypmic-level athlete to enjoy a pick-up game of basketball, nor do you need to be a classically trained Juilliard graduate in order to enjoy singing, or even to have people who enjoy hearing you sing. You don’t have to be “the best” at something in order to have value to others or to be “worth” dating.

In fact, if I were to recommend something to you — or anyone else with anxieties like yours — the first thing I would tell you is to eliminate “should” from your vocabulary. “Should” is based around the idea that there’s a universal narrative or path that everybody grows up and is supposed to follow… and there isn’t. Everybody is on their own path, everybody is living through their own story and their path is going to be unique to them. “Should” doesn’t matter because that narrative is arbitrary and changes all the time. Look at some of the accepted wisdom surrounding relationships in the 1950s and 60s and tell me that “should” has meaning or import.

No, the thing you need to do is, honestly, anything. You want things to be different. Ok, well… start doing different things. You say that you’ve been waiting around too long for things to fall in your lap. Ok, so… stop waiting. Go out and make things happen. If you want different results, you have to do things differently. Sitting around in paralyzed anxiety isn’t serving your needs, so let’s do something different.

Would therapy help? Yeah, probably. I think most people would benefit from talking to someone. It certainly sounds like you may have some sort of social anxiety issue and talking with a therapist or counselor would likely go a long way to helping you resolve it. But is that what you need to do? Not necessarily  Imperatives aren’t really the answer here.

What you “need” to do — in as much as you “need” to do anything —  is to relax and start being outcome independent. Part of what is making you freeze up is that you feel pressure to perform, to impress people and get them to like you. And while that’s an understandable feeling, it’s also not real. While yes, you want to give people a good impression of you, the problem with your outlook is that you’re so focused on other people’s thoughts and feelings that you make it impossible for you to succeed or feel secure. Nobody can control how other people react or how other people feel and if you’re feeling like you need to win the approval of others, you’re always going to feel like you’re behind the eight ball.

How do you get past this? Well, first is to let go of the worry about how much experience you have or don’t have. It’s not relevant. People don’t date your resume. People date you. Do you need to be incredible for people to want to date you? F--k no. Completely average people meet, date, and marry all the goddamn time. It’s literally definitional; the majority of any group is going to be average. But it also means you never ask the most important question: are they worth your time? Are they someone who’s right for you? The fact that they exist and you find them attractive doesn’t mean that you and they are compatible. You know very little about them except that you think they’re hot, and you’re making assumptions about their worth based on that. All that does is feed your anxieties back to you.

Conversations are actually a great example of how you can apply this concept of outcome independence and their value to you. Part of how you can connect with people and not worry about running out of things to say is shockingly simple: take interest in other people. Be interested in learning about them. The way I recommend people put this into practice is to treat it like a game: this person has something about them that’s secretly fascinating; it’s your job to find out what this is. You do this by asking questions and try getting to know them — what makes them tick, what are they into, what’s their story? You keep the conversation interesting by remembering that a conversation is a lot like tennis. You ask a question (the serve), they reply (the return), you find a way to relate to it or connect with it and use that as the springboard to another question (the volley). When that particular line of conversation dies, you can ask a different question like you’re returning to the top of a dialogue tree. And because most people never meet someone who actually wants to hear what they have to say or what they think, you’re providing them with a gift. You’re doing them a favor by actively listening, rather than waiting for your turn to talk.

And in doing so, you will likely find points of connection, places where the two of you share interests or experiences, things that you can relate to. Even if it’s not immediately obvious, there’re ways of relating to people;  you may not have had their experiences or their perspective but you can almost certainly relate to the emotion behind their experiences. Will you end up getting their number and setting up a date? Maybe! Or maybe not! And it’s cool either way. You’re not trying to angle for a particular outcome; you’re just seeing where things go. And if they go in the direction of dates, romance and sex? Well hey, bonus. But if not, then you’re not out anything either because you were willing to do this just for the sake of good conversation with a potentially fascinating stranger. As a wise man once said, that’s one of life’s great pleasures.

How do you become more interesting? Well, you do so much the same way: you get curious and explore that curiosity. Explore your interests and your surroundings; you’d be amazed at how much there is out there that you don’t know about. Try things just for the sake of trying them. Do things you might not do otherwise, just because they might lead to an interesting story. And even if they don’t… that can sometimes be a story in and of itself.

And honestly, having been vaccinated is the perfect time to put this into practice. We’ve all been cooped up for so long by the pandemic that it’s the perfect time to break old patterns and build new ones. Never had Ethiopian food before? Now’s a great time to try it, especially after the monotony of the previous year. Always wanted to sing with a band? See if you can find live-band karaoke and indulge your rockstar dreams. See what happens when you zig instead of zag in your daily routine. Take a new route to work or to your favorite coffee shop. Pretend to be a tourist and learn the hidden nifty s--t in your town.

Collecting these experiences and stories, putting  yourself out there and seeing what happens are all ways of taking action, instead of waiting for things to fall into your lap. They’re a way of making things happen for you, shaking up your life and breaking those old routines that don’t serve your needs and apparently haven’t for quite some time. And by taking the pressure  off yourself to Find Love or Meet Someone To Date, you’ll actually be improving your odds. Not only will you be living a more interesting life overall, but you’ll be opening yourself up to opportunities — opportunities that you just aren’t seeing right now. And, more importantly, you’ll be in a position to actually take advantage of them when you do find them.

But it all starts with deciding that, if you want things to be different, then you need to take an active hand in making it happen.

Pick one thing to do differently this week. Have one conversation with someone new and try to find the secretly fascinating thing  about them. Do this a little bit at a time and watch how quickly these go from being things you have to force yourself to do,  to just being part of who you are.

You’ll be amazed at what this will do for your life.

Good luck.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com

DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I’m a bisexual woman and I’ve been encountering something in my dating life that I’d like to just have someone confirm is a thing, if that’s at all possible. I don’t have a whole lot of dating experience, but I’ve been noticing a pattern where I get involved with a cis, hetero dude and as soon as they figure out I’m bi they want to talk to me about all the women they find attractive. Doesn’t seem like a big deal since we’re both into women, so I never have a problem with it…except all of a sudden I’ve got this dude I’m super into that suddenly only wants to talk about how hot other women are and seems actually repulsed by any attempts I make to be physically intimate with them. I mean, it’s like one day they’re super into me and the next they’re disgusted I have any interest in them outside listening to them go into a lot of detail about how they want to have sex with… just about any woman who’s not me.

I’ve spent years trying to figure out what I’ve done wrong or how I’m not woman enough for these people I love to love me back but… I think I finally figured it out. I think that these dudes are so used to only be able to have these conversations with their bros that they’re first ecstatic that they can have those conversations with me, and then because they can have those conversations with me they start to see me as their bro. Is that it? Have I been bro-zoned? That’s really the only thing that makes sense to me when it’s like one day he’s super into me and the next he’s physically repulsed. What cishet man wants to f--k his bro, right?

I’m really struggling with this because I’m a super accommodating person and I don’t want to trap anyone or be the thought police or anything but… do I just have to be really strict about things I don’t believe in to have dudes not do this to me?

Honestly, the worst part of this isn’t that it happens — it’s that it keeps happening and every dude keeps insisting he wants to be with me while rejecting me and telling me how much he wants to be with anyone else. Like… just tell me you’re done? To this day no one’s ever broken up with me. I’ve either told them I’m done, or they’ve been done and have made me so miserable that I had to like… break up with myself for them so that I’d be heartbroken and they can still say mean things about me.

I really just wish someone would be honest and just tell me they aren’t interested anymore. It’s always going to sting a little, but it’s way better than making a fool out of myself trying to fix something that honestly isn’t about me.

Anyway. Is this actually a thing? Or is there actually something I have to fix about me?

BroZone Layer

DEAR BROZONE LAYER: I don’t think the issue is that you’re being Bro-zoned, BZL. I think the issue is that you’re dealing with s--tty straight dudes who are making your sexuality about them.

This is incredibly common for a lot of bi and pansexual women who date straight guys; they run into men who hear that they’re attracted to women as well as men, and the idea of seeing her with another girl becomes the only thing they can think about. The problem is that for her, her sexuality is just one thing about her; for him, her sexuality is not only the dominant thing about her, it’s the most important thing about her in as much as it relates to what he wants, whether that’s a MFF threesome, to watch two women have sex or (even better) both. Her sexuality just ends up being a tool for his pleasure. The fact that it comes with a whole-ass person who’s more than just who they are attracted to is almost beside the point.

And it doesn’t help that there’s a lot of bulls--t stereotypes around bi and pan people that make straight folks forget that queer people come in as much variety as straight people. Not every pansexual person — guys, gals and nonbinary pals — wants to ogle hot folks and go on and on about who they’d like to bang. Not every bi or pan person, women in particular, needs to be non-monogamous, nor is every bi or pan person interested in f--king somebody for the benefit of their partner. Some bi or pan folks may very well be exhibitionists or dig threesomes… but not all of them, and it’s not something that comes inherent with being bisexual.

Now while there’re guys who like the idea of being able to bond with their girlfriends or wives over other hot women, I strongly suspect the reason why you keep having guys who want to talk about banging hot chicks with you isn’t because they’re bonding over shared attraction, they’re trying to feel out whether you’re up for putting on a show for them. I am willing to bet you the price of a beer that, were you to engage with them about how hot this woman was or that woman is, the next thing out of their mouth would be an attempt to get you to hook up with her. I am further willing to bet that said hook-up would be contingent either on him getting to watch or — even better — getting to join in. Because, as I said: a lot of unevolved straight guys hear “bisexual” and think “well, what does this mean for my penis?” To them, your sexuality isn’t a facet of who you are as a person, it’s a prop for their enjoyment, whether directly or indirectly.

Now I want to be clear: this isn’t your fault. This isn’t something you’re doing wrong that’s triggering this behavior. Unfortunately, haters are gonna hate and assholes are gonna ass. There isn’t a magical way of phrasing things or carrying yourself that’s gonna stop an a--hole from assing all over the place. It’s not a matter of your not saying the exact right words or behaving in this particular way that makes the difference between whether someone’s going to be an asshole about your sexuality.

What you can do, however, is work on choosing guys who don’t have a 90s frat-boy idea of sexuality. Now this can be difficult; a lot of folks know how to talk the talk and do a great job of playing Crouching Nice Guy, Hidden Douchecanoe. But men who’ve had more exposure to LGBTQ people of all stripes are less likely to think that your sexuality is a performance for them. So too are guys who understand that sexuality isn’t a performance for them. They may not necessarily understand what bisexuality means for you, but the guys who’re willing to listen and learn do exist. There may be demographic issues that makes finding them more challenging — especially if you’re in a small town or an area without much of an LGBTQ community — but I promise you that they’re out there.

Now, one of the things I suggest is establishing boundaries, especially surrounding talking about other women. It’s totally within your rights to say “Hey, I’m not really comfortable with talking about this with you” when they bring it up, especially if you’re looking for a monogamous commitment. You’re also well within your rights to say that you’re not interested in talking about your hooking up with another woman or threesomes or any other sex acts you aren’t interested in. This isn’t a test, nor is it thought-policing; if that’s not something you like to talk about with guys you date, then all you’re drawing a line in the sand and saying “I don’t want you to cross this line, thank you.”

How they respond will tell you everything you need to know about them. Do they push back against your telling them? Do they get sad and pouty because they were really hoping that they could mutually get all hornt about other women? Do they bring it up again, even after you said “hey, can we not?” Then that’s your sign that this guy is probably not right for you.

On the other hand, if they accept your boundary and show that, while they may be ignorant or unaware, they’re willing to learn? That’s a guy worth knowing. They have some rough edges or trip over themselves out of ignorance, but a willingness to learn and grow is a valuable thing to find in a partner.

Is it possible that these dudes you’re dating just see you as one of the guys and lose attraction because of that? Sure, it’s possible. Just like its possible that going on and on about how they’d love to stick it in her and her and her over there is their back-asswards, passive-aggressive way of trying to get you to end the relationship so that they get to be the ‘good guy’.

But I suspect it’s more that when you say “bisexual” they hear “opportunity!” and never get past the possibility of someone performing for their dicks.

This isn’t something you need to fix in yourself; you just need a better class of straight guy to date.

Good luck.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com

DOCTOR’S NOTE: Today’s column involves discussion of abusive relationships.

DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I’m looking for some advice. I think my best friend is in an emotionally abusive relationship, but I don’t know how to talk to him about it. I don’t know if he just doesn’t see it, or if he’s choosing to ignore the red flags for some reason.

Let’s call my friend Gary and his girlfriend Amanda.

They’ve been together for about 4 years now. At the time, they were both doing their degrees at the same university. They hit it off and at first things seemed good. When he brought her to meet our friend group, everyone hit it off quite well, she seemed nice. My wife noted once that she thought that Amanda was a bit controlling when we were playing board games once, but that was really the only negative interaction that any of us had noticed.

We first started to notice issues after they moved in together, about 6 months into their relationship. Gary started to disappear from our social circle, little by little. Of course some of that is to be expected with a new relationship, you want to spend more time with your new partner, but this seemed extreme. He basically dropped out from any kind of online gaming entirely, unless we pre-scheduled the game a few weeks in advance. Even then, sometimes he would bail on pre-planned games at literally the last minute. He also gained a curfew. Whenever he would actually make it to our weekly board game night (and not bail at the last second), he had a set time he had to be home by, lest he get in trouble. Once, Gary had to bail on a “pre-approved” game night we were having because every time he went to leave the house, she would start crying until he agreed to stay.

About a year into their relationship, Amanda got accepted to a Master’s program in Canada, and Gary was unable to go with her. They decided to try a long distance relationship, but she agreed only on the condition that he move in with her brother as a roommate. To this day, we’re still not fully sure what that was about. Once she left for school Gary became, well, Gary again. He switched his major and seemed to really enjoy his new school program. He also stopped bailing on events and hangouts at literally the last second. He would still disappear whenever Amanda came to town to visit, but that made more sense since they hadn’t seen each other in person for months at a time.

The one time I really got any insight into his home life with Amanda was one time when we were out drinking. We were talking about video games, and he asked what my wife thought of my gaming. He seemed somewhat surprised when my response was “She doesn’t really mind, so long as I don’t spend literally all my time playing”. This was when I learned that apparently gaming, and many of his other hobbies, were essentially verboten when Amanda was around. He basically had a small list of things that were “approved”, and she had to be involved in every single one of them. After I expressed some surprise/shock at this, he quickly changed the subject, and has never really brought it up since.

Once her Master’s degree was finished 2 years later, Amanda got a job in another city in our state. At this point Gary only had one year left in his new degree. He dropped out of school to move with her to the new city, and has not finished his program since. We play online board games from time to time, and his video game time seems to have increased somewhat (I don’t know if this was a concession for moving, or what), but it’s basically back to the way things were when they were first living together.

And that’s basically where we are now. I know I’m not the only one in our friend circle who is concerned about his relationship with Amanda.

So, thoughts? Amy I reading too much into this? I get that every relationship is different, but some of the restrictions she places on him seem extreme. I just want my friend to be happy, but part of me wonders why he’s putting up with all this. How do I talk to him about this, to see if he’s actually happy in his relationship? Is it even my place to do so?

Thanks,

Worried About My Friend

DEAR WORRIED ABOUT MY FRIEND: Well s--t, this sounds familiar, WAMF.

No, seriously: I was in a seriously toxic relationship back in the bad old days and a lot of the things you’re describing were things that I experienced as well. My girlfriend didn’t “approve” of tabletop RPGs like D&D and Mage, so I wasn’t “allowed” to play them. This, of course, meant I couldn’t see my friends nearly as often as I would’ve liked. On the day I got “approval” to spend playing in my friends’ campaign, she came and quite literally pulled me away on an obviously flimsy pretext. When we were apart, I had to call at various points of the day and I was not “allowed” to go or hang up until she was ready to end the call.

Many of my friends, in fact, pointed out how visibly I’d change when I’d get a phone call and realize that it was her. “Like watching a beach ball deflate,” as one of my friends put it. There were a lot of things I was either not “allowed” to do — which is to say, were highly discouraged and enforced with threats (implied and otherwise), but would be held up as my “choice” because I could still do them. Just. Y’know. If I were willing to risk she might decide this was the night to go find someone who would “treat her right”.

Needless to say, my emotional and mental health improved rather dramatically after we broke up.

So, yeah, WAMF,  I would say that at the very least, Gary is dating someone incredibly toxic at the very least. Is it possible that he’s dealing with full-fledged abuse behind closed doors and just isn’t saying anything? Yeah, I’d say there’s a definite chance of it. Men in particular tend to be unwilling to talk about just how bad things are when they’re in an abusive relationship. The idea that men could be abused, mentally or physically, by women is considered laughable by many; if you admit to how bad things are, you may as well admit to not being a “real man”. This makes it much, much harder for guys in horrible relationships to reach out to others.

But that’s if you can get them to recognize that they’re in a toxic or abusive relationship in the first place. Speaking for myself, if you’d told me that I was in a toxic relationship, I wouldn’t have believed you. I would’ve had any number of excuses; you don’t know what she’s like, it only seems bad from the outside, she has her reasons to be jealous/insecure/controlling/whatever. In many cases, it’s not even “When A Man Loves a Woman”, it’s The Offspring’s “Self-Esteem”. After all, the more you suffer, the more it shows you really care… yeah?

That desire to deny what’s going on, to not want to admit that you’re the sort of person who gets “stuck” in these kind of relationships goes bone deep, especially for men. It’s bad enough to feel like you’re being dragged around by the nose by your significant other; accepting that it’s toxic or you’re being abused stabs directly at your ego and concept of yourself as a man. And the feeling that you could stop this at any time but don’t… well that makes it even more humiliating. In a very real and perverse way, it’s easier to just pretend it’s not bad and you’re ok with it than to face the ego-destroying truth.

This, incidentally, is one of the reasons why being on the outside looking in is so frustrating. You feel like you should be able to do something. You want to talk it out over beers, stage an intervention, hell, you want to subject them to the full Ludovico Technique to force them to see what the hell is going on. But all that you get is pushback from the very friend you’re trying to help. And that’s if you’re lucky; there’re plenty of times when their partner will catch wind — or he’ll tell them directly — and they’ll act to isolate them from you entirely. After all, the last thing they want is for you to have more influence on your bro than they do.

And unfortunately, one of the hard truths is that you can’t do anything… not directly. The harder you push, the harder they’ll push back. People don’t leave until they’re ready to, and that can take a long goddamn time. Even if their partner isn’t holding something hostage — parental rights, the life of a pet, whatever — people have a hard time pulling the trigger and ending a relationship, even when it desperately needs to end. Until that day comes, there isn’t much you can do about it.

However, there are things you can do to, if not speed that day along, smooth the process by which Gary will start being ready to leave. First and foremost: don’t call what he’s going through “abuse”, not yet. It seems stupid, but that word’s going to be like saying “Niagara Falls”; it’s going to trigger an immediate shutdown. The same goes for talking s--t about Amanda; this will just put him on the defensive, and it’ll work into any “of course they’re talking s--t about me, they never liked me” narrative she decides to spin. No amount of insulting her, denigrating her or calling her out is going to help, it will only hurt. He’s going to be resistant to the idea that she’s awful — even if she objectively is — because of both the time he’s sunk into this relationship and what it says about him that she could be this awful and he’s with her. Getting on his case about her is just going to end up setting a frame that will make him worry that you think badly of him because he’s still with her. That means he’s going to not trust you or feel comfortable coming to you when he’s ready to leave. You need to avoid this at all costs. He needs an ally he feels safe coming to and opening up to, and that will never happen if he thinks you either look down on him or that you’re going to bust his balls over this.

What you can do, however, is lay some of the groundwork. You can tell him that hey, it seems like he’s not happy these days. You notice he doesn’t get to hang out with you (virtually) the way he used to and that he seems like he’s just not himself and is everything ok?

Is this going to make him sit up and take notice? No, probably not. What it will do, however, is at least let him know that other people are noticing a change in him and that change is worrying them. It might — and I stress might — plant a seed that will start to bloom and help him realize how bad things are. But if he pushes back and says “no, everything’s fine, we’re fine, we’re all fine here, how’re you…?” then just say “OK, well, we felt like maybe things weren’t ok and we were worried. And you know if anything’s bothering you or you feel down or you just need to talk, I am always ready to listen, no matter what, no matter when.” And then just let the topic drop.

The key bit of information that you are conveying isn’t “hey, you’re being abused”. It’s “hey, I am explicitly on your side, I am ready for you to confide in me when you feel the need. I will listen without judgement and be the safe person you can talk to about this who won’t mock you,  question you or make you feel bad about yourself over this.” Because what he needs more than the senses-clearing dope-slap you want to provide is the knowledge that he can open up about this without getting s--t for it. He needs to know that you are on his side no matter what. And if that day comes — and it may be a long goddamn time — you’ll be there to be his support.

And that’s the important thing to remember: you’re the support class in this scenario. You’re there to buff him when he’s feeling weak, carry him along when he needs the hand and make sure he’s got the resources he needs to get clear. But the only person who can pull him out of this relationship is him. Make sure he knows you’re always there for him, make sure he always has some way of contacting you and when that day finally comes, make sure he knows that you’re ready to help haul him out of the fire.

Here’s to hoping that day’s sooner, rather than later.

Write back to let us know how things are going with Gary.

Good luck.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com