I’d like to give another opinion here that comes from having lived six decades. I really think it would be inappropriate to give a friend a P E device as any type of gift without having laid down a predicate with careful conversation and respect for that Friend’s feelings.
On talking to your dad, JB, I would encourage you to think more about how to broach that subject. My dad is gone and has been dead for over 30 years. Still, I feel I never got to know the guy and what few conversations we had about sex I can now see were open ended on his part. I can now see that he would have probably welcomed the opportunity to talk more about his life and the things that make us men, including the sexual aspect of our lives.
This may seem odd to some men, but if a man can talk to another man about his sexuality, his high experiences and his low experiences, those two men have created among their friendship a special bond that transcends normal male friendships. I for one believe that we as straight men need at least one other man friend who is a Friend of our heart’s. How do you find such a friend? Good question. That kind of friend is a person whose integrity and confidentiality you trust as much as you own. He wouldn’t divulge to another any scintilla of what you have shared with him. He, as that kind of man friend, has your best interest at the core of his heart. That kind of friendship, I submit to you, makes life as a man all the more fulfilling as we as men tend to exist as islands set apart to ourselves. Implicit in that island like mentality, is lots of loneliness, wonderings, lack of fulfillment, and isolationism.
So how does a man break the ice with another man he deems worthy of that kind of friendship. I have found one possible way. We as men are so intent on being Mr. Macho and on not showing a dent or weakness in our armor. If you have another man friend whose integrity and confidentiality you trust implicitly, a good way to develop that friendship even further as strictly heterosexual men is to admit in conversation some weaker area of our lives that makes us vulnerable. If the friend picks up on the admission, you flesh out that area further in conversation. A bond develops that in time may develop into a deeper and deeper friendship. If he does not pick up on your admission, you drop the subject.
I have a couple of friendships with men similar to what I am describing. Those friendships have made my life as a man more meaningful as a straight guy. I believe that the Biblical reference to David and Johnathan where their friendship surpassed the love of women alludes to that type of friendship of the heart with another man that is not a matter of anything sexual between the friends, but a matter loyalty, concern, trust and sharing between friends of the heart that existed between those two men.
I know this is a long post. So back to you JB. Don’t count out talking to your dad about your new found life as a P Eer. You may find that such a sharing of the heart of who you are brings you together in a way you did not know possible. As to talking about PEing with a friend, to me it would only be a friend whose integrity and confidentiality I trusted. In my life, I have only one man friend to whom I talk to about P Eing and he and I embarked on this P E journey together as strictly proper and straight up and down guys and friends….It can be done with propriety as straight men. It also can add a wonderful chapter to your life as a man.