Moody Eye View

Dear Eye View,

My long-term girlfriend’s stepfather paints nude pictures of her. He became her stepfather when she was 7 years old, but he didn’t start painting her until she was in her 20s. This is confusing and creepy to me. We are both in our early 30s. He’s 80 and seems to be a down-to-earth, mellow fellow. We even have one of the paintings. It’s a tasteful rendition of her backside with her face looking over her shoulder. I am an extremely liberal man, so posing nude doesn’t bother me. But I didn’t start asking questions until Thanksgiving when he showed us the rest of the paintings, which included frontal portraits. It didn’t feel right, but maybe it’s jealousy on my part. He paints other nude young women, so shouldn’t he just stick with them? I’m confused and can’t figure out what it means in terms of the big picture.

Dear Eye View,
Last fall, I met a terrific woman from the Mediterranean who may be “the one.” She’s beautiful and has a great body that she likes to show off, but she is also very hairy. She never shaved back home, and having now been steeped in years of women’s studies in the United States, she has become militant about not conforming to the ideal of hairless womanhood. She can’t wait to spend lots of time at my parents’ beach house this summer. She has bought a tiny bikini that she plans on wearing, so lots of her pubic hair is guaranteed to be on display. My mom and dad are going to faint. Hair in the armpits? European. Hair on the legs? Granola. But pubic hair all over the place? I’ve told her she may want to “trim up a bit,” but she refuses. What to do, besides hide her from my mom and dad?

—Hairified

Dear Hairified

I understand your problem. Appeal to her vanity: Tell her that if she refuses to trim her undergrowth, your parents’ embarrassment will keep them from appreciating her great mind and beautiful figure. A little landscaping can help the curb appeal. Othewise you could have an awkward family photo.

Hope this helps.

EV

Dear Eye View: My husband and I have been married a little over a year. My mother-in-law recently decided to display a “family picture” taken at our wedding in her house but chose one without me in it. (The photographer took the same picture with all of us as well.) I found this incredibly hurtful, especially because this is the only picture from our wedding day she chose to put out. When I approached her about how hurt I was, she brushed me off by saying that she hadn’t yet found a frame she liked for the picture of my husband and I that she ordered. My problem isn’t that it’s the only picture she has out but that I am excluded from the family picture on the day I supposedly became a part of their family. Am I overreacting, as my husband claims, or do I have a right to an explanation and possibly a replacement photo?

Incomplete Family Picture

 Dear Incomplete Family Picture..

Your Mother- in- Law is a jerk. Let it go.. Get the picture? Hope this helps.

Eye View