Dear Prudence,
I've been dating someone for a few months, and things have gotten serious very fast. We are highly compatible and have had no difficulty resolving the few minor disagreements we've had thus far--except one. I'm a cuddler. I want to hold my partner and be held by my partner at night. Preferably all night. My partner will hold me for the first five to 10 minutes in bed, or I him, and then he will tend to move to the opposite side of the bed for the night. At first I hinted that I'd like more extensive touching at night, and he said he'd make an effort to fulfill my cuddling needs. I switched to gently but clearly asking him for more contact in bed at night. But after a disappointing weekend, I tearfully explained to him how sad I was that we don't hold each other at night. He then told me that it's uncomfortable for him--too hot and confining. Is it unreasonable to ask a partner to change their sleeping style to accommodate this particular show of affection? Maybe one night a week? Sleeping entwined with my lover is a very tender experience for me, and I intensely don't want to lose this lover, yet I'm finding it very hard to accept that he is unwilling to find a way to make this meaningful act a possibility for us. Am I wrong?
--Unembraced
Dear Unembraced,
I'm willing to bet that the reason that your partner will cuddle with you the first 5 or 10 minutes in bed is because he thinks he's got a shot of getting laid. Once 10 minutes has passed and he sees that you aren't going to open up your love canal, what reason would he want to hold you like a teddy bear? There is none. It's an uncomfortable way to sleep. Unless you start putting out more, pretty soon he's going to quit touching you all together, and then you're going to really be fucked.
I've got news for you, honey - all the guys who like to cuddle at night are gay, so unless you've got a dick swinging between your legs, you are shit out of luck in this and any future relationship. I'm sorry that what you have isn't something out of a fairy tale, but wake up! This is the real world.
Now go back to reading your romance novels and let the man have his space, for fuck's sake. If you are as annoying and pretentious as you sound in your letter, you should consider yourself lucky that you even have someone to sleep in the same bed with you.
Sweet dreams,
Ogre