The Naked Truth About Desire Smuggling – asking for what you want

I just stumbled across this blog today, and although I should be clearing up things at my desk at work, I’m taking a few minutes to pass this fantastic bit of information along because it dovetails with the all-too-often theme of “How do I get my partner to…?”

The author talks about “Desire Smuggling:”

Desire Smuggling: Hiding what you really want from yourself and/or a loved one, then, finding cover strategies to get (at least pieces of) what you want.

Why do we do this?

We do it to stay safe. It’s a reasonable response to a toxic environment of shame and judgment.

And what does Desire Smuggling look like?

Desire is persistent and will not be denied. When it doesn’t feel safe to want what you want, you will try to get it anyway. Here are some things you might do:

• Expect telepathy
• Make wishes
• Fake spontaneity
• Get drunk/high to remove inhibitions
• Hint
• Ask if the other person wants the thing you want
• Rationalize cost/benefit
• Emotional withdrawal
• Send articles about the thing
• Give statistics about the thing
• Say “people like…” (instead of owning it yourself)
• Try to convince
• Try to get the other person to say it
• Complain that you don’t get it
• Be “nice” and hope to be rewarded
• Make unspoken deals
• Issue ultimatums
• Emotional blackmail
• Tack on obligation to a “gift”
• Minimize by saying “just” or “only”
• Guilt-trip
• Be passive-aggressive
• Blame
• Want the other person to guess
• Wait for the right time
• Wait for a sign
• Buy into a romance myth (“If you really loved me…”)
• Assume they should “just know”
• Withhold
• Force
• Non-consensual taking
• Be macho
• Be loud and bombastic
• Punish your partner for not giving it to you
• Attack/judge someone asking for what you want
• Attack/judge someone getting what you want
• Look for other, less-scary places to get it
• Shame yourself for having that desire
• Shame others with the same desire
• Avoid it altogether
• Make sugar-coated demands
• Compromise
• “Purchase” it by doing other things
• Get needs met without owning them
• Tell a story about the thing desire
• Martyr yourself in hopes of getting it
• Substitute something else
• Don’t explore internal dissonance
• Bully
• Criticize after the fact
• Spiritually bypass
• Settle
• Play options roulette (where one option is the one you want)

More good stuff on this blog by Marcia B.

Seriously, click around – it’s definitely worth your time.

Source: The Naked Truth About Desire Smuggling – asking for what you want

---

Of course, sometimes your partner has already figured out what you want and is not happy about it.