GAMES FOR ABSTINENT COUPLES – GAME 3: SHOCK THERAPY (PART 1)
Players: Husband and wife. Activist: Either. Setting: Home.
Aim: To shock the uninterested spouse out of his or her “stupor” of lack of interest.
Game Plan: Back in the old days there was a movie cliche according to which somebody would go into a trance or flight of hysteria, and a second person, finally having enough of that, would slap or shake the first person, and then the slapee or shakee would exclaim, “Thanks—I needed that.” This game is reminiscent of such a scene.
Let us say that the uninterested spouse is a husband who sits around watching sports on television or tinkers in his yard or shop. If his wife attempts to communicate with him, he grunts a word or two and then dismisses her. Or perhaps he appeases her with some kind of “Whatever you say, dear” response. This sort of thing can go on for years—and the wife can become quite frustrated. If she doesn’t find an outlet for the anger that accumulates, she will get to where she can no longer even stand to look at him and to where she behaves in exactly the way that is bound to keep him stuck in his uncommunicative place. (Indeed, she generally has an unconscious need to keep him in that place.) He needs to be roused from his stupor and made aware of how he is both suppressing his feelings and precluding not only his sex life but his relationship in general.
*247/196/1*
