Dear Prudence,
I have been with my husband for five years. We’ve been married for three. We both have jobs we go to during the day. After work, I go home to cook and clean. He hangs out with his friends and comes home to eat. He immediately wants to get in bed, have sex, and go to sleep. Sometimes when I can get him to watch a show with me, he ends up paying more attention to me than the show. We hardly go on dates anymore. We always end up at home in bed. He does like dates to the club, casino, or his friends’ houses. I do not care for those places anymore. He wants me to dress sexy when we go out. I do not feel comfortable showing off.
Lately, we keep getting into arguments that boil down to man versus woman. He keeps telling me that what I think is stupid. Sometimes I think he does not care about what he’s saying as long as he wins the argument. He will say things like, “She probably deserved it because her roast was dry” or “She wasn’t giving enough blowjobs.” I love him—he was not always like this. This is a complete change from when we first started dating. He would tell me how smart I am. He is dead set against couples counseling. He thinks only weak people need counseling. He says if I went along with everything he says, we would be fine, which I don’t mind doing mostly. I just don’t want to be called stupid if my opinion happens to differ from his. What can I say to him so he doesn’t call me stupid or should I keep my mouth shut from now on?