Hot for smoke BY DAN SAVAGE

I’m a smoker who has decided it’s time to quit. But my boyfriend has a smoking fetish. He likes it when I smoke while we’re having sex; he likes to jerk off and watch me smoke; he likes me to smoke and give him oral sex at the same time. His porn collection is all smoking-related. I’ve really enjoyed participating in this fetish. However, I know I must quit. He has suggested that I might be able to smoke on occasion, but I know I can’t. I am an addict, and I know that I won’t able to smoke "just one" during sex. I am worried that my boyfriend will lose interest when I quit smoking. I know he loves me, but I’m worried that his fetish is strong enough to ruin our relationship if it’s not fulfilled. Can a guy get over his fetish? Is there a way to replace his need for smoking with something that won’t kill me? Or should I quit smoking and him at the same time?

Committed to Quitting

Guys don’t ever get over their fetishes, CTQ, so I would urge you to quit smoking and quit the boyfriend at the same time. However fond he is of you, your boyfriend’s smoking fetish predates your relationship and I guarantee you that it will postdate your relationship. If you attempt to stay together after you’ve quit, your boyfriend will either sabotage your resolve or your relationship. One way or the other, your boyfriend is going to be with a smoker. If you’re serious about not smoking, he’s not going to be with you. And if you find yourself tempted to take up smoking again to please him, just remind yourself no man is worth the risks. Cigarettes are disgusting, deadly, and addictive. (I’m talking to you too, Thomas.) Everyone everywhere should stop smoking this instant.

My best friend is obsessed with a character from Yu-Gi-Oh! called Kaiba. She dresses up like him and even claims to have masturbated to the show. It might seem okay for a 10-year-old boy to be this into a show based on battling cards, but she is a beautiful, intelligent 17-year-old girl. It’s pointless! She constantly complains that none of the real guys at our high school are as good as Kaiba. What can I do to help her?

Needs a Major Intervention

Your friend’s obsession is juvenile and retarded, NAMI, but I wouldn’t call it pointless. Like a lot of high-school kids, your friend probably feels pressured to be sexually active. (Pressured by you, perhaps?) Most not-quite-ready-for-sex teenagers hide behind Jesus’ skirts when their friends ask why they’re not fucking, but nonreligious kids have to be a bit more creative. Some, like your friend, invent grand/tragic sexual obsessions that prevent them from dating mere mortals. Your friend doesn’t want you to think she’s unhip, or that she isn’t just dying to have sex, or that she isn’t heterosexual, so she’s convinced you (and perhaps herself) that she’s obsessed with Kaiba. And you know what? That’s just fine. Finding fault with all potential real-life boys is a way for her to avoid sexual experiences she’s not ready for. So just back off, okay?

I am a transgender girl living in the heart of South Beach, Florida. I read your response to a woman who wanted to know if her boyfriend was gay because he had she-male porn on his computer. I must say that you gave her a response worthy of praise. I could not have said it better — and I am a living she-male type! I’m the girl the "straight" men go to after their female girlfriends go home. Funny, a couple of these very same guys are trying to IM me as I type this. People have a misconception that she-males have sex with gay men. We don’t. Men who are gay are attracted to men who represent men. Straight men are attracted to women, and some are attracted to she-males because we look like women. And yes, funny enough, most of them want us for the dick. As much as they love their girlfriends or wives, their women will never be able to give them what they desire from a she-male, which is dick.

Many of these men are deeply ashamed of this part of their sexuality and they sneak around fucking she-males. But if people knew that she-males only have sex with straight-lifestyle men, not gay men, that would take the shame away. Hopefully one day we will reach a point where straight-lifestyle men are not ashamed to be seen with a she-male or to acknowledge that they have sex with she-males. Please continue to help create a better understanding of she-males and their straight admirers!

Samara Riviera

www.samaratg.com

When I read your letter from NOSA, the man who asked whether it was okay to dump, via e-mail, a woman with whom he had been having casual sex, I had to comment. A guy I had been having NSA sex with dropped out of sight without warning and stopped answering my phone calls. My messages started with "Hi, how’s it going?" and progressed to "Are you okay?" Finally I called him at work (which I had never done before). He was curt. Then he sent me a polite e-mail saying that he’d met someone else and had decided that he didn’t want to see anyone other than her.

If he had just been adult enough to call and tell me, I would have been cool about it. I would even have considered having sex with him again if his new relationship doesn’t work out. But now? Forget it.

Fucking Someone Else

Thanks for sharing, Samara and FSE.

Apropos of nothing: I’m listening to the Dresden Dolls sing "Coin-Operated Boy" as I write these words. The Dolls are a terrific post-punk/goth/Brechtian rock duo. Everyone on earth needs to buy their CDs.

Dan Savage can be reached at mail@savagelove.net.