i guess i assumed that "abby" had fact-checkers, especially with how she's been burned before. what kind of due diligence is required of an advice columnist in this scenario? do you think "abby" ran this letter without contacting the letter writer to see if her bullshit detector went off? has "abby" ever called YOU for background info on a particularly sex-related question?

I think there was a real case somewhat like this in the news a couple years ago. Maybe that was the inspiration for this letter.

That detail is so funny and probably really important to the dude who wrote this letter.

I suspect only a small percentage of the population have fetishes, yet the Savage Love column seems to have a very large percentage of fetish-related questions. Is it that those with fetishes just need more advice or are just more willing to seek it?

"I may get flamed for this, but I bet if Dan Savage got Enraged's letter, he would say it was fake - another example of Hustler-style fantasy."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/tabletop_joe/loldan.jpg

But, yeah, totally fake. I swear I have read almost the exact same scenario before somewhere...

Although I did say you'd come down on Abby for her craptacular advice, Dan, and I still think you should. If she knows she's getting her leg pulled, then she should say so. And if she thought that was an actual scenario, her advice was fucking ridiculous and wrong.

Okay, doesn't this part strike anyone else as weird? Look, if his wife were really glad he did her in the middle of the night, then in all likelihood she would have been pissed the next day. Why? Because he blew his load and promptly took off for a good night's sleep in his single bed! Come to think of it, that's a fantasy I could really get into.

Aside from that, only deeply in-love fools in the throes of brand new relationships ever express gratitude for sex, hours later, driving home, apropos of nothing. No married person would ever say that to their spouse - unless they were consciously making an enormous effort. If that were the case the wife would not have left her husband to sleep alone in the first place.

KIDDING. I'm impressed by your inferential detective skills here, Dan.

But nevertheless I am sure you are right!

I do think that someone like Abby probably gives her letter writers the benefit of the doubt when questioning the authenticity (despite her fact checkers, who may have similar backgrounds).

She was probably sharp enough to apply her old lady-style bullshit detector on a story she imagined to be earnestly written by a real person, though fooled by the authenticity of the letter itself. I think that's where she was coming from in her advice - I really doubt she would ever blame a rape victim.

Chaucer's advice to a man whose wife was swived would be simple: just beat the hell out of all three of your brothers. Problem solved!