How long should you go out with someone before sleeping with them?

Dear Gabriel
How long should you go out with someone before sleeping with them? My boyfriend says that, if you accept a second date, you’ve actually accepted
that you’re going to sleep together. Otherwise you shouldn’t say yes. We’ve gone out twice now. What do you think?
Angela

Dear Angela
It’s quite hard to put an exact figure to something like this – I’m tempted to say that research has shown that that the average time between meeting and having sex is 13.5 dates, but this would be untrue (not to mention impossible to establish!).

You see, the decision to have sex (whether on the first date, the 12th or on the wedding night) is dependent on what works for the two parties concerned.

They will bring to this decision their beliefs, values, norms, history, desires, needs, moods and emotions. Sometimes they will overlap, in many cases they won’t, and that’s where compromise comes in.

This may be a foreign concept to your “boyfriend” (can you call him a boyfriend after two dates?), but it is something that actually needs to be discussed. I suspect he’s horny and is trying to pull a fast one (as it were). Stick to your guns and do what’s comfortable for you – this skill will take you far!