Must I Accept My Roommate’s Preference To Be Naked?
Q
I live with three roommates; one of them really likes to walk around naked and sit on shared furniture naked. Is this okay? I hate it but I don’t know why. It’s not like their body is less clean than clothing we have been wearing in the world. I just don’t want to see a naked human body in my home all the time but I don’t want to be sex-shamey or body-shaming or anything.
A
Eva: As my grandmother would say, “Ahh hell nah!” Tell them to put some clothes on. To be naked in front of people without their consent is not okay. We all have varying levels of comfortability around nudity, and you are not wrong for expressing yours. This is a serious breach of trust and is a nonconsensual interaction. There is nothing sex-shamey or body-shaming about it as long as you approach this conversation with respect. I recommend approaching them–when they are clothed–in a calm manner where you state how their nudity makes you feel. I also recommend talking to your other roommate about it. Are they also uncomfortable with this? Is this happening when they are home as well or is it just you and the naked person? Either way, make this a group conversation. There’s power in numbers.
Valerie: Wow, I thought I had it bad when my old roommate’s boyfriend used to walk around my apartment in his boxer briefs when he didn’t even live with us. This is definitely worse!! On top of all the social reasons Eva listed, I would disagree about their body being less clean than clothing. I don’t care if they’re freshly showered, I don’t want genitals and buttholes on my couch!! (This might be a me-problem; I live alone and don’t even sit bottomless on my own couch.) This is also something that is absolutely BONKERS to do without asking for consent first. In my opinion, sex-shamey or body-shamey would be if they were wearing a skimpy outfit and you wanted to tell them it was too revealing to wear in public; if their bits and bobs are covered, that’s none of your business. But in the apartment?? They can be naked in their own room. In shared spaces, they have to respect what everyone else is comfortable with. Just like you can’t go walking naked down the street unless you’re in a specific nudist area that has been agreed upon by the social contract!
Summer: Yeah, nah, you’re allowed to assert a boundary about that. Clothing and nudity form part of every social group’s implicit social contract. And every society has restrictions and mores on what people can and can’t display on their bodies. Every single one. Full nudity is one that causes the strongest responses for a lot of valid (and invalid!) reasons.
While there isn’t a meaningful biohazardous risk of having butt or minimal genital secretions on your furniture, not everything humanity does is built on pragmatism. I’m autistic and I have to learn that the hard way every day, and so can your roommate. There are plenty of reasons to not want someone unclothed in the home. Genitals and secondary sexual characteristics are distracting and change the way we perceive each other (and we can’t always unlearn that). It’s a social norm wherever we live and deviation needs to have a really good reason. Seeing unsolicited nudity is within the realm of boundary crossing for most people. You’re allowed to assert that personal boundary in shared spaces. You’re not making unreasonable demands of someone in their private space here. If this is happening in shared spaces, you’ve got a good reason to remark because you are also entitled to comfortable use of those spaces.
Ashni: No, it’s not sex-shamey or body-shamey at all for you to want your roommates to remain clothed at home, especially on communal furniture! It’s your home too, and unless you’ve explicitly negotiated otherwise, I feel like the social contract of “wear clothes around others” applies (like everyone before me has said!). If your roommate wants to be naked, they can be naked in their room. Without you. Also, I definitely hear you on the whole skin vs outside clothes thing, but it doesn’t sound like it’s about germs. It sounds like you hate it. I would too!
Nico: Here to agree that although there’s nothing shameful or inherently sexual about the human body, we do live in a society, and in that society, we typically wear clothes around others. You aren’t in a space where you’ve consented to seeing others nude, you’re in your own home, and you have a right to a level of psychological comfort in that space. It’s a flag for me that your roommate never checked in about this, like maybe previous roommates didn’t have an issue, but they shouldn’t be assuming anything about your comfort level with their nudity. In fact, if you’re uncomfortable, you voice that discomfort, and they continue to walk around nude, then that begins to enter sexual harassment territory in my opinion. It seems like an out-there conversation to have to have, because, again, common sense would say that they should have already checked in with you about walking around butt naked before doing it, but the first step is to bring it up with them and ask that they maybe throw on a shirt and some underwear, at the very least, before entering public spaces.
Can you fix a bad kisser?
Q
I’ve gone on several dates with this girl and it is going great except for one thing: the kissing is not working! I’ve never experienced this before. Is there a gentle way to teach someone how to be a better kisser or should I give up and move on?
A
Summer: Goodness, kissing is a skill and nobody is born skilled at anything. Yes there are ways to develop that skill in a person. I’ve indulged in plenty of them as a teacher and student. The most important quality here is that the other person needs to be receptive to adjusting how they kiss you, whether they see it as improving their skills or just being shown how to please their partner. You can’t make someone go through this kind of change if they don’t want to, of course.
If you think your partner would be receptive to gentle feedback, there’s a lot you can do without bringing up their ‘skills’. Some of it is just guidance during romance that is hot. Bring your hands to their face and gently angle it to something more satisfying. A little bit of, “here, try this…” or telling her that you’d really like it if she “tried this instead.” Lead her to better habits under the (true) guise that it’s to please you. And do the same for her. Set the example by asking her if she enjoys a particular technique or intensity. Check in on her comfort and boundaries. So she sees an attentive lover and may be interested in returning that interest.
That’s my advice for gently nudging someone in the right direction without having an uncomfortable conversation that calls a very intimate activity into question. And my should advice play out like kissing itself: gentle, reciprocal, caring.
Em: I struggle with the idea of giving “feedback” on something so deeply personal as there isn’t really wrong or right, just difference in taste. I think with intuitive people a lot can be led through micro-suggestions with the body language (read: mouth). Verbalized negative feedback in the moment isn’t something I would like to receive, so I would not feel comfortable giving that. If it doesn’t feel like a quick tweak, and more like a chasm in style and sexual style and preference with the making out- maybe it just isn’t a fit? I would hate to yuck someone else’s yum with the way they kiss and damage their confidence on the assumption that I’m the correct kisser… I think I’d take this as indication that they aren’t a fit for me, and if the pace/feel/vibe of the kissing is off, that is probably just the tip of the iceberg around what’s incompatible between us.
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I totally agree with Em that incompatible kissing is a pretty dead giveaway of just… Incompatibility in general. Like what even is “correct” kissing? If the chemistry is there doesn’t it just work between two people no matter what moves exactly the kissing in question entails? I’ve had one ex whose kissing I categorically just Did Not Enjoy and the sex was never ever ever exciting. Maybe sparks are just not flying here!!!
In response to the naked roommate, I’ll just add: in spaces of consensual nudity (like beaches, spas, and play parties) there is still a pretty standard norm of using a towel on any shared furniture. You bring your own or one is provided but you never put your bare butt on shared surfaces, especially not fabric surfaces.