* You posted on your website recently a BBC report about a man in the Sudan who was forced to marry a goat. A neighbor caught him fucking his goat and the town magistrate forced him to pay the goat’s owner a dowry and to take the goat as his bride. How does that work?

You got it. That’s how it was reported. People who have sex with farm animals occur all over the world. Some places have legal penalties for human/animal sexual contact, others have moral penalties. In this case I think it was more about the dowry than anything else, but maybe it was recompense for the farmer who now owned a goat who was no longer a virgin.

* When did technology like on-line chatting and texting became a medium for sex?

Probably as soon as too like-minded people were capable of using a computer or a text messaging device. Any way that people come into contact – whether it’s technology or village meetings in the jungle – will be a medium for those interested in meeting others for sex.

* My husband has not approached me for sex in many months. When I questioned me he told me he has ED. I recently caught him masturbating. Does that make him a liar?

No. ED stands for erectile dysfunction. Many, if not most, men as they age begin to experience a difference in their erection capabilities. They just don’t “happen” like they did in youth. A man may well need far more stimulation than earlier to get an erection that isn’t as hard as it used to be. Some man, when this begins to happen, just shut down sexually. Others close off to their partners, but still masturbate where how long it takes or how hard it gets is not an issue since only he himself is there to see. There are many ways a man (and his partner) can approach changes in his sexual expression. Shutting out and turning away from someone who loves him is the least productive and cheats at least two people, the man himself and his partner(s). Urge your husband to get a complete evaluation from his doctor, a urologist, or a sexologist. Let him know you miss your sexual intimacies and will not tolerate a chaste existence for the rest of your years. Of course, if that’s not how you feel, it’s up to you to decide what to say to him about it.

*A woman friend of mine has just met and rather hastily married a man she met on vacation. I have always admired her good judgment in business and how she presents herself to the world. I have to say that I can’t for the life of me see what she was thinking in marrying this bozo. There is absolutely nothing appealing about him. How can I ask her about her reasons?

With the greatest of tact. “What on earth do you see in him?/” is not likely to bring forth any shared confidences. That there’s absolutely nothing appealing about him that you can see does not mean that no appealing features exist. He might have a fascinating way in the drawing room, the board room or the bedroom. He might smell like her first grade teacher or remind her of her favorite Uncle Joe. Why one person loves or is attracted to any other person is one of life’s eternal mysteries. There would be nothing amiss in asking your friend to tell you about her new husband and what attracted her to him. Most people are delighted to extol the attributes of a new love, so if you ask in a way that conveys genuine interest rather than appalled curiosity, you may get an answer you can fathom.