Nadine happened to overhear Ned’s colleagues teasing him about her assertiveness and they teased that she would wear the pants in their marriage. His response was a typical male response as he stated for the record that although Nadine was the boss at work, at home he would be the ruler and, of course, he would wear the pants. Later that day, Nadine confronted her fiancé about this. He explained that what she heard was simply men talking, joking, and making some silly comments. Nadine did not accept his excuses. Instead, she asked him what would he have thought if she had stated and boasted in front of all her female colleagues, that she planned to be the boss in the marriage and furthermore that she planned to be the one responsible for the decision-making. In other words, she would wear the pants.

Ned said nothing so Nadine laughed and added, "I might also add to those comments that I will wear the pants and that you will wear ... the knickers ... pretty lace knickers ... that I will choose for you. Would you like if I boasted about something like this?"

Ned blushed and quickly apologized to her, saying once again that he was only joking. Nadine explained to Ned that his comments had humiliated her and that she did not accept macho attitudes and she wanted to make this clear. As this conversation progressed, Nadine found that she was getting excited about dominating Ned. She could see his humiliation and fear as she teased him about her wearing the pants and him being feminized. She became so excited that she made a bold declaration.

Nadine gave Ned two choices. One choice was to forget their plans to marry since he was obviously not the kind of man she wanted to marry.

The second choice was that Ned had to accept that Nadine would be the dominant partner. She told him that this would be something private between them, not to be shown openly, and that she would not embarrass him in front of anybody. However, he would have to change his boasting to other non-humiliating comments like, "You know, Nadine is very strong willed and most times, she manages to get anything she wants from me."

Ned insisted on how much he loved her and how much he wanted to marry her. He agreed that she was the one ruling most things in their relationship and that he did not object to that. Nadine was pleased but still not satisfied. She had Ned right where she wanted him so she decided to drop a bombshell on him.