Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com.

Dear Prudence,

I have been reading you, and most of the time it is with amusement. Now I find myself in a quandary, so I thought I would see if you could help me. Most of the answers to your readers' problems are pretty dead-on to what I would say, so please read this and (hopefully) give me a spot of sunshine. I have three roommates—all guys. This means I am the only chick in our household. The problem is that they are terrible slobs. I don't want to add to the old cliché about how all guys are slobs, but there is obviously something to that. I am tired of being the one to motivate them to clean up—and then it's the bare minimum. Grrr. I went on strike, and as a result, the apartment hasn't been cleaned in two weeks. I am their friend, not their mommy. (I have told them this, but nothing has changed.) This is the only snag in our friendships and I'm at my wit's end.

—Sincerely

Wit's End

Dear Wit,

It's simple, cupcake. Your choices are well defined. 1) Insist they hire a maid, because that's not what you are. 2) Stay there without a maid, and without nagging, if you can ignore the pigsty aspects of the situation. 3) Find a new living situation. Prudie agrees with you that this isn't a guy thing ... and, in fact, has had many letters from girls complaining about their same-sex roomies. It's your call, and you do have options.

—Prudie, tidily

Dear Prudie,

What can I do to get guys to approach me? I'm nearly 5 feet 11 inches tall, and my male friends tell me I am intimidating. I carry myself with confidence and smile frequently. At times I am shy, but usually outgoing—but either way, guys seem to fear me. I often hear that a certain guy was attracted to me but was too scared. I've tried being the pursuer, but when I ask them out, it only seems to make me more intimidating. The only dates I've had in the past year were fix-ups, and they get old fast. Any suggestions?