Fashion Board 2-3-04 to 3-5-04

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Jack Manfred
Dear Prudie, I offer this link.

a few letters down:

Dear Prudie,
I have a difficult family situation with which I need some help. I have been married for five months now, but we've been together for five years. His father has always been rather "complimentary" toward me, but over the past year his behavior and comments have gotten worse. He is divorced from my mother-in-law but has since remarried. He makes comments about my body and tells me that I'm beautiful (not in the nice, father-in-law sort of way either). At a family gathering where I was wearing a slightly low-cut evening gown, he tried to take a picture down my dress. I am not the only one he does this to, either. He comments about my brother-in-law's girlfriend, and he even made comments to my mother at my wedding shower. To make matters worse, his behavior humiliates my husband and my sisters-in-law. How do I deal with this? So far all I have done is start to wear turtlenecks whenever I am around him. Is it OK to say something?

—Disgusted Daughter-in-Law

Dear Dis,
Turtlenecks will not solve your problem. This is a long shot, but you say that only in the last year has the inappropriate attention heated up. It is often a tip-off (for men and women) that there has been a change in brain function when sexual banter or acting out is noticeably intensified. Because your father-in-law is married, you and your husband might suggest to his wife that he have a physical exam. Should his behavior prove not to be tied to an illness, Prudie gives you permission to avoid spending time with him. If the whole family feels as you do, this should not be a problem. Good luck.

—Prudie, proactively

You guys got that ;

It is often a tip-off (for men and women) that there has been a change in brain function when sexual banter or acting out is noticeably intensified. Because your father-in-law is married, you and your husband might suggest to his wife that he have a physical exam.

An increase in talking dirty means you might be seriously ill. I'm new here so I can't say with certainty who has increased, but some of your might want to recommend tests to any poster who has.