I've been together with my partner now for about eight months (she doesn't like "girlfriend", apparently she's more than a friend who's a girl. Despite the apparent confusion over the term, I've always found it best not to argue and just to do as I'm told) and things have just gradually become slower and slower.
I can't go 10 minutes without texting or emailing her, not out of endless devotion and an empty heart when she's not with me, but out of acquiescence to avoid the arguments that would ensue later that day after I've apparently "rejected her existence". She keeps tabs on my phone, and insisted on a "trial separation" a few months into our relationship after I slept over at another girl's house. And no, not in a creepy sort of cheating way, but in an on-cushions-on-the-floor-along-with-twelve-other-people-because-she'd-had-a-house-party way. Much to my surprise (on second thoughts, not to my surprise at all), it wasn't so much of a trial separation - it never had anything to do with the possibility of breaking up, it was actually more of a "you're banned from me for two weeks". In all honesty, it's in the past now but I still remember, after the first few days, it feeling like a breath of fresh air.
Sex at the start of the relationship was amazing - I'm a pretty adventurous guy, and it was exciting to find someone else who loved to explore and try new things. Granted, she was probably a lot more experimental than me. Actually, probably more so than the vast majority of people here. But that aside, it was fun to try things out, and there was a certain thrill to them when they were a little outside my comfort zone anyway. In the last 8 weeks or so however, things have slowed down. We have sex once every four to five days, and when we do there's something about it that feels more like a chore than fun. And of course, there's always something wrong with what I'm doing. For example, in a normal relationship, if the girl wanted to go faster, a simple "go faster" would suffice. But here, it's always "you're too slow". Similarly, to slow down, it's not "slow down, baby" it's "You're too fast". It's got to the point where I find watching porn is a lot more enjoyable now. At least the actress on the screen isn't complaining all the way through.
I don't want to leave her. Deep down, I still love her, and to be honest, couldn't quite imagine life without her. I suppose it feels like there's some kind of security in our relationship - no matter what happens, we'll just make it through things. Nothing big, nothing small, just about adequate. I'm just not looking forward to what that entails. I've tried talking to her - if I say "We have to talk", she'll bring in something like "Yes, I know, I've been trying to get hold of you all morning. Why didn't you turn the TV off last night? Why did you put the dishwasher on outside the cheaper times? ..." and I can't get a word in edgeways, so right now I've just been floating along, nodding politely and sort of switching off. I suppose we do have our fun moments. They're hard to recall off the top of my head though.
Does anybody have any advice on how I could her to talk to me? I think this relationship is starting to get unhealthy.