Partners need to keep talking about boundaries and comfort levels as relationships grow, not just once. Even after you agree on something, your partner can change their mind anytime, and that has to be respected. Most people never learn how to have these conversations at all.
The longer you've been dating somebody, you care about them even more. How many agree that's probably true? Say true. True. How many agree then it's a little weird that I would start our relationship by giving you respect and then stop? So the longer you've been together, you talk even more. You talk about what your boundaries are, what you're comfortable with. You have that open conversation. Now, does that mean that you're gonna stop at every step and say, all right, let's talk about this right before? No, you're probably gonna have an open conversation before being intimate that covers the ground. But at any point, can your partner change their mind? Yes, they can. So even though you've had an open conversation, that doesn't mean it's going to happen. You can tell your partner at 6 o'clock later tonight, I would like to, and then later that night they don't want to, and that's their call. It's their body. You want to talk even more to make sure you really know. Here's the sad part. A lot of people never learn these skills.
