The wife and I closed out 2009 with one of our favorite films, Ed Wood. Ed's girlfriend Dolores isn't comfortable with his transvestitism (and the crowd he hangs with) so she leaves him halfway through the film; when he hooks up with Kathy (Patricia Arquette) he reveals his clothing quirks to her because he likes her and doesn't want it to become an issue later on in the relationship. She considers it for a few moments, says she's okay with it, and they live happily ever after (within reason.) Kathy did stay married to Ed through thick and thin, and never remarried after his death.
I was reminded of this in the David Letterman, the transphobic comedian thread, when LisaNY said (regarding a transgendered acquaintance):
This seems to me to be the kind of thing you really want to be open about right off the bat, maybe even before you get involved with someone. Sure, you meet a nice guy at a bar and the conversation is going well and you don't want to scare him off, but do you want to risk a bad reaction if you wait a while before the big reveal? If you've developed a strong emotional connection and the reaction, even if not violent or hateful, leads to a breakup it's going to hurt and make you realize how much time has been spent on a doomed relationship.
So, when do you reveal the weird shit? Not just sexual stuff but potential gamebreakers like religion, politics, nefarious past deeds, crazy relatives/exes, etc. There seems to be two schools of thought:
1) Get it out in the open ASAP. Take the risk of driving them away before the emotional bonds strengthen.
2) Wait until the emotional bonds are strong and there's enough positive sentiment and shared experience to withstand the potential negative reaction.
I'm a huge believer in #1. I held back the crazy (not that there's much) with my first wife, and that helped hide our incompatibility until things ended in sadness and loneliness. I was open about the crazy with my second wife during our first two dates, spilling details like preferred sexual practices, hatred of humans and love of dogs, being a filthy slob, insistence on not procreating, etc., and we've been together for 12 years this year, married for 8. She revealed her crazy bits as well; our weirdnesses complement each other quite a bit, and we're tolerant of the rest. And I really think it's one of the reasons we're happy and comfortable with each other while several of our friends' relationships have disintegrated.
So, crazy now or crazy later?
I was reminded of this in the David Letterman, the transphobic comedian thread, when LisaNY said (regarding a transgendered acquaintance):
Quote:
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She was very frightened of getting involved with a man and coming clean about who she was - she wasn't stupid about the number of transgendered women who were beaten or killed by the men they became involved with when they finally decided to tell them.
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So, when do you reveal the weird shit? Not just sexual stuff but potential gamebreakers like religion, politics, nefarious past deeds, crazy relatives/exes, etc. There seems to be two schools of thought:
1) Get it out in the open ASAP. Take the risk of driving them away before the emotional bonds strengthen.
2) Wait until the emotional bonds are strong and there's enough positive sentiment and shared experience to withstand the potential negative reaction.
I'm a huge believer in #1. I held back the crazy (not that there's much) with my first wife, and that helped hide our incompatibility until things ended in sadness and loneliness. I was open about the crazy with my second wife during our first two dates, spilling details like preferred sexual practices, hatred of humans and love of dogs, being a filthy slob, insistence on not procreating, etc., and we've been together for 12 years this year, married for 8. She revealed her crazy bits as well; our weirdnesses complement each other quite a bit, and we're tolerant of the rest. And I really think it's one of the reasons we're happy and comfortable with each other while several of our friends' relationships have disintegrated.
So, crazy now or crazy later?





