1. Quick & dirty question about online dating: Whatโ€™s the best next step after texting? Audio message? Phone call? Video date? Or a quick, in-person meet-up?

I recommend a quick video call โ€” a brief FaceTime chat โ€” before that first brief, in-person meeting in a public place. If someone isnโ€™t willing to jump on FaceTime to confirm their photos are current (and theyโ€™re not a fake, a flake, or a chatbot), they donโ€™t deserve the pleasure of your company.

2. Help! I keep falling in love! With every female friend I have!

Maybe! You could stop! Using your dick! As a divining rod! When picking female friends!

ย 3. We used to talk, my boyfriend and me. We used to share everything. Now I can barely get him to talk to me, to share things with me, to spend time with me. The more I ask him to spend time with me to talk and share, the more withdrawn he becomes. And forget about sex. How can I get our intimacy back?

You can only ask โ€” and you have asked, repeatedly, and it sounds like the answer to all three of your asks (talk, share, fuck) has been โ€œno.โ€ So, itโ€™s time to go.

4. Which is better: wrist cuffs or handcuffs?

By โ€œhandcuffs,โ€ you presumably mean those steel law-enforcement-style restraints that snap around wrists, like these from Smith & Wesson. By wrist cuffs, you presumably mean those wide and ideally padded leather restraints that buckle around wrists, like these from Mr. S Leather. Handcuffs are effective, but theyโ€™re not comfortable or safe for play; if they twist, they can do nerve or bone damage (by design); and while some kinksters find their โ€œlaw enforcementโ€ vibes arousing, others are turned off by them. Leather wrist restraints, on the other hand, are far safer and far more comfortable for play and longer-term wear, and they give โ€œdepraved pervertโ€ vibes, which many kinksters prefer.

5. There is this guy. Sometimes, it seems like heโ€™s really into me; other times, he completely ignores me. Hot and cold. Push and pull. Clings then ghosts. What should I do?

Someone else.

ย 6. I feel creeped out when a man refers to me as his โ€œlover.โ€ It makes me feel like Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: โ€œIโ€™ve been slimed!โ€ Hearing that word applied to me makes me want to jump in the shower. But I donโ€™t say anything because I know itโ€™s supposed to be a compliment. Whatโ€™s wrong with me?

Nothing. Lots of people have aversions to certain words โ€” words that trigger feelings of irrational disgust โ€” and โ€œloverโ€ triggers you the way moist, loins, panties, phlegm, and sputum trigger others. Personally, I always hated the word โ€œnippleโ€ when applied to me, so I was delighted when gay men started using โ€œtitsโ€ about two decades ago. (They donโ€™t give milk, but theyโ€™re still tits โ€” tits in drydock, yes, but tits nonetheless.) Some possible alternatives for โ€œloverโ€ that your lovers could use when referring to you (in ascending order of emotional importance): cumdump, fuckbuddy, friend-with-benefits, significant other, boyfriend/girlfriend/enbyfriend, fiancรฉ/fiancรฉe/intended, husband/wife/spouse.

Read the rest of this week’s column here… and don’t miss this week’s SAVAGE LOVECAST with special guest CALEB HEARON! Find out more, and listen here:

In addition to being a nationally syndicated sex advice columnist, the author of several books, and the host of the Savage Lovecast, Savage is “a deviant of the highest order” (Daily Caller)....