Have a question? Email erin@nerve.com. Letters may be edited for length, content and clarity.

  

Dear Miss Information,

I've never had a wet dream. I'm in my thirties! I know it sounds strange but I'd like to have this experience. Are there any tricks to bring one on? Should I just not masturbate for a while? Desert-Like



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Dear Desert-Like,
What's so appealing about waking up with a sticky cock and wet sheets? Not being there for the orgasm but still having to do the laundry?
Not everyone has wet dreams. Some people do, some people don't. Girls can get them as well as guys, although it's usually less embarrassing as a houseguest. For men, they're most common during the teenage years. A guy your age might have a more difficult time.
There's no confirmed link between nocturnal emmissions and frequency of masturbation. You might get one if you go for a long time without having sex or masturbating. How long? I don't know. Three or four weeks, maybe. Hopefully you don't have a girlfriend or boyfriend. If I were them, I'd get pretty annoyed. (Also damp, if your mission is successful.)
It probably wouldn't hurt to look at some porn before bedding down. Abstain from sleeping pills and alcohol, and try going to bed naked if you usually wear clothes. Maybe you are having the occasional wet dream, and the output is absorbed by your flannel boxers. If you sleep naked and your bedsheets are white, switch over to a dark color. If you are having wet dreams, the jizz stains will show up quite nicely. (I can't believe I'm actually telling someone how to get a stain versus remove one. Forgive me, Good Housekeeping).
If these tips don't work, you might be at a dead end. You'd be thanking your lucky stars you had this problem if you were born in the nineteenth century. Back then they called involuntary jizzing "spermatorrhoea," and treatments included castration and devices like this saber-toothed bit of awesomeness, meant to be worn around the block and tackle. Looks comfortable, right?
One last squirt of wet-dream trivia: the chronic fear of wet dreams is called oneirogmophobia. What I want to know is why serrefine was the winning word in this year's National Spelling Bee. That word's cake compared to this one. C-A-K-E. Cake. And can you imagine the look on the thirteen-year-old boy's face when he asks for the definition and word origin? Sheer agowilt.


 
Dear Miss Information,
I'm a gay male. I broke up with my boyfriend of three years in December. A few weeks ago, I started dating someone new, the first guy I've dated in any sort of serious fashion since my ex. The thing is, I'm not exactly infatuated with him. If anything, what I like most about him is that he's dating me — having someone be into me is helping me rebuild my shattered self-esteem, and his companionship makes me less lonely. I'm also physically attracted to him, and I like him as a person. But I know I'm not into him the way he's into me, and I'm fairly certain this relationship won't last through the summer. Essentially, I'm using it as a crutch to help me get through this difficult period in my life. Is this wrong? Half-Crushed



Dear Half-Crushed,
Sort of. But it's understandable. You just got out of a long-term relationship. There's a potpourri of feelings associated with that. You're fragile and ego-starved, but antsy and horny at the same time. Daters like you are best kept in a protective bubble to prevent you from doing damage to others. Unfortunately, I don't think that's legal. Besides, y'all would just find ways to hook up with each other inside the bubble.
It's not easy to break up with someone for some esoteric reason. Good sex, fun times together and an affection for the other person make it hard. You think, "Gee, Roger likes me so much, I'm doing him a favor by hanging out."
Yeah, but no. You know your boyfriend will grow more attached with time. His affections will go less and less returned, and the way he feels about himself will be affected. He'll probably start liking you even more than he normally would've, because we always fall for the person who doesn't want us. You are essentially passing on what you got from your boyfriend.
Try setting some expectations before you do a full break-up with him. "Hey, I really like you, but I'm just out of a long-term relationship, and I get the feeling that you're more into this than me. I don't see this going long-term, but if you'd like to keep it going on a more casual basis, I'm totally open." Then back it up with action. Don't floss in front of him and don't ask him to gay college prom mixers. We shouldn't automatically assume people can't handle it. It's good to offer a choice.
If you keep getting "I'm hurt" signals, you have to do the right thing and dump him. You will be sad in the short term, but companions are everywhere. Find another person who really wants to be casual. Sublimate your sexual/cuddle urges with this fuck friend, until you find someone you really dig who digs you. If you want to be super-duper good-guy emotionally healthy, consider taking some time off dating. It's summer. Have some fun. Get a spray-tan heart on your ass, or take a road trip to somewhere ridiculous, like Atlantic City or Graceland. Now is a great time to be single.

 


Previous Miss Info

©2007 Erin Bradley and Nerve.com

Commentarium (16 Comments)

Jun 06 07 - 8:50am
TW

This is to Desert-like. I understand your wish for a nocturnal emission. When I was a kid I was into doing my own laundry. Mom thought it was great. After my early twenties though my sheets stayed dry through the night unless I had company. Once into my thirties, I want that experience again.

We can wake up a lot of ways. There is the "I'm awake, but don't like it." Or the "It's another work day" wake up. You can also wake screaming after a horror-fest goes off in your head. But the best has to be waking up with the knowledge that you had great sex without a partner or needing to masturbate.

Sadly, we don't know the triggers for wet dreams. None the less, I have a few recommendations. First, make sure you are hitting those REM cycles hard. It doesn't hurt to meditate before sleeping. I am not talking that you need visit a yogi. No. Lay down and take slow deliberate breaths. Concentrating on that activity alone clears the mind. Focus on the sounds in your body. Air in and out of the lungs and heartbeats. After a while, you may notice that you are getting much deeper rest and more vivd dreams. Second, look at the theories of lucid dreaming. This is controlling the activity in your dreams. Instead of being the person in the audience of a dream, you become the person interacting with your dream.

Finally, shift your orgasmic perspective. There's a great book called THe Multi-Orgasmic Man. The authors relate an idea that seems odd at first, but makes sense with more thought. An orgasm does not need to ejaculation. Most women do not routinely ejaculate when having an orgasm, but the physiological response up to that point is nearly identical to the male's. In the book you will find masturbation and meditation techniques that train the male body to experience an orgasm without the mess.

Last word, relax. Wet dreams come out of nowhere and when you least expect it. I turned thirty-seven last month. I also had to return home for my grandfather's funeral. With those two stresses you'd think that a wet dream would be the last thing to happen, but it did. I was the only person at the table the next morning not forcing a smile.

Jun 06 07 - 3:08pm
EA

Thanks for the information you sent to "Half-Crushed." It was helpful for me. I am, unfortunately, on the other end of the spectrum as a female with a guy that's just not into me after about 2 years of dating. He has tried to set some expectations by telling me he's not swept away by me, he's seeing other people, and isn't ready for a committed relationship, yet sees me as his soul mate and girlfriend. I become confused by the mixed messages and guess I must decide to just give up.

Jun 06 07 - 5:32pm
cjs

This is actually to Erin. Having a wet dreams is pretty much the best thing ever. Being a girl, I don't think you can fully appreciate just how great it feels...the sticky underwear is a small price to pay. You know how you feel when you have a dream about a girl you never met that feels so real, and you are so in love, and you wake up and you are just so happy? Well multiply that by 100. Somewhere in your subconscious you just know that you came, and you just feel totally at peace and wonderful. I am 30 and have only had a handful in the last 10 years, but every time I do, I sleep more soundly and wake up happier than I ever have.

Jun 06 07 - 10:25pm
ab

please enlighten this ignoramus:

what is the meaning of the word agowilt? (this is hasty but i found only one related (?) reference to it aguilt used by Chaucer)

anima

Jun 08 07 - 4:39pm
MW

EA: Lose Him. Quick-like, before you let him waste any more of your time. There are men out there that want what you do -- all you have to do is find them.

EB: It totally blows my mind that there is this huge fetish subculture of guys who desperately want to have wet dreams. Bizarre.

Jun 09 07 - 5:20am
tc

tell the guy with the wet dream desire to grow up....

Jun 10 07 - 9:48am
G.D.

about wet dreams: i started masturbating when i was 11 or 12 and as far as i know i never had a wet dream in my life. and i think i'd have known, stains or no stains. i've never felt i missed much. masturbating was too much fun to worry about what might have happened in my sleep.

Jun 10 07 - 4:11pm
D.C.

simple advice for the poor fellow who tragically has missed having a wet dream: go fuck yourself!

Jun 11 07 - 6:57pm
L.B.

To the guy waiting for a WetDream, the answer should have been to tell him to stop masturbating, or if he has a partner abstain from intercourse for a while and those wetdreams will surely flow.

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