I think the situations where "no" means something other than "no" are a) really rare and b) really obvious.
Whether or not the "no" is in reference to a specific physical act and the general pursuit is kinda important, too, since the consequence of being wrong on the latter is, uh, much less pronounced.
Whether or not the "no" is in reference to a specific physical act and the general pursuit is kinda important, too, since the consequence of being wrong on the latter is, uh, much less pronounced.
As stated, one girlfriend I had felt that having to explain the game to someone too dense (or too afraid to make a mistake) to read the signals correctly killed the mood. But, let's just say she had some eccentric tastes that might not be shared by all women.
One problem today is many men are too afraid to make a mistake (and rightly so). But generally, scared men are still relatively unattractive to a lot of women.
Meanwhile, some of the men who are not cautiously scared of making a mistake find themselves in court rooms. It's become something of a double edge sword for both sexes (not that I'm championing returning to cave man days either or even the sexual / societal norms of a few decades ago).
Seems the balance is open communication despite the fact that sometimes laying down all the ground rules can be a bit of buzz kill - maybe lay them all out in non-amorous moments, so when the time comes, everyone is on the same page.
As far as "no" for general pursuits, I never had to worry about that - if I got that "no" at any point then no relationship would develop (or, sadly, we'd "just be friends.") Ug! If I had a dime for every time I heard that phrase... I'd have a few dimes!