Recently, a friend jokingly said something to me like, “So, how many boyfriends have you gone through this year?

First of all—ouch. Second of all, with full respect to the men I’ve dated, my answer to that question would probably be, "Zero."That’s not to say I haven’t dated and that I haven’t been in “we’re only seeing each other” relationships. It’s just that I’ve thought of most of these men as “the person I’m dating,” versus “my boyfriend.” Which led me to wonder… what is the threshold for someone to cross over into “boyfriend” territory?