My boyfriend has some annoying bedroom habits

My new boyfriend has a few irritating habits in the bedroom, such as quite sloppily nibbling my earlobes, and it feels a bit like bad erotica. I’ve tried moving him away, focusing elsewhere, but he keeps going back to his ‘moves’. I feel as though it would crush him if I said anything. Are we sexually incompatible?

If you believe that actions speak louder than words, moving away from him should be enough. It ought to say: “I don’t like what you are doing, so please stop.” One might think that a sensitive person would understand that the subtext of physical withdrawal during sex is: “Take this blatant hint to save us both from the embarrassment of verbal criticism.” It clearly hasn’t worked, and because your boyfriend doesn’t appear to understand body language, your only option is to be more explicit.