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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

He likes vulnerable women - should I be worried

308 replies

Freshstart2020 · 10/01/2020 09:30

Hi all

Am recently separated and kind of seeing a guy, 15year age gap, he txt's me constantly, have gone on a handful of dates. Due to my separation (ex refused to tell family so wasnt public even though separated a year) we have had to be discreet.

Txting last night, silly conversation, he is also saying I am stunning but he isnt into me for my looks, I asked him what it actually is about me that he likes. His response was 'probably how vulnerable you are as a person, I'm attracted to vulnerable women as they need something'.

I was stunned.

Should I run?

OP posts:
Whowaswronghere2 · 10/01/2020 19:38

@Freshstart2020 if he's a classic narcissistic or psychopathic personality, he will be engaging you in lots of dialogue to work out what makes you tick, what your strengths and weaknesses are and he'll use that to psychologically manipulate you later on. Have you given him much detail about your inner thoughts? If so he will have clocked all of that and will be calculating when the best time to use it against you. I may be wrong. I'm probably not.

Isthisridix · 10/01/2020 19:39

Jenasaurus I’m only guessing. First name C? I don’t think we know each other, but there can’t be more than one like this in Bristol, surely Grin

Jenasaurus · 10/01/2020 19:43

no first name J...so there are 2 of them in the same town :)

Isthisridix · 10/01/2020 19:43

Ha! Jenasaurus, what are the odds Grin

Jenasaurus · 10/01/2020 19:46

my advice to Op is get out as other posters are saying. I was love bombed and then he said he fantasized about me being weak and vulnerable when I was losing weight, then he criticised me, tore my self esteem to shreds and started talking about other women and even told me he fantasised about his ex wife while we were in bed, this lovely man turned into a controlling abuser. don't be me and waste years of your life, get out now.

Kat2000 · 10/01/2020 19:46

Do you mind me asking about the person in Bristol sounds like someone i know too but not those initials

Jenasaurus · 10/01/2020 19:48

He was also adopted, not saying that makes it more likely but it seems there is a link

MulticolourMophead · 10/01/2020 19:53

OP, I left a 3 decades long relationship nearly 3 years ago. I haven't dated anyone else yet, because he was abusive and I know I needed to work on myself. I went from living at home to living with ex, I had no time living by myself to work out exactly who I was. I had no experience of dating.

You need to stop thinking about dating and in particular this man. No good will some of it.

Stay single, and stop dating. Spend time being a parent to your DC. Do the Freedom programme and maybe get some counselling for yourself. It sounds like you have a lot to process, and you need to work through your vulnerability before exposing yourself to the dating scene.

If anyone told me they had a dark side, I'd be out the door like a shot now, I'm so much stronger than before, with good boundaries. But even back when I left ex, I had no intention of hiding it. I owed him nothing.

Kat2000 · 10/01/2020 19:54

Thanks jenasaurus, not the same person for me. Strange how it links with the op and the person you know too. Scary to think there are more of these men around that you would think. Hope op takes the advice of everyone on here

independentfriend · 10/01/2020 20:16

Don't let him be your sole source of information about BDSM. Do some research yourself - find a local munch [meet up of people into/exploring BDSM in a pub or similar everyday venue] and meet other people you can talk to about it. Usually because of where munches take place you won't see people doing BDSM at them and usually people will be dressed in ordinary clothes Ones where it's OK to do BDSM are advertised as such, so you are unlikely to see people doing kink things you don't want to watch unexpectedly.

Often the less than savoury characters are well known to people who do kink; which is why some abusive people (nearly always men) will pick as potential victims people who are new to BDSM and who don't have access to other people's knowledge about them. If you go to a munch and meet other people who are into kink you're likely to get yourself into a position within a few months of knowing who is who and having gossip passed on to you.

Online, there's FetLife, [obv not safe for work] and other sites giving information re kink. There are also books - I think my starting recommendations would be The Topping Book and the Bottoming Book by Janet Hardy and Dossie Easton, but there are lots of other good books as well as books that aren't very useful.

It's not "normal" in relationships where people do BDSM to try to stop partners meeting other kinksters at munches or other events. It's not normal at munches to be doing BDSM play of sorts where someone "isn't allowed" to talk to other people. Trying to isolate you (or keep you isolated) from the "scene" / "community" or whatever other term you use is a red flag.

medium.com/@hermessolenzol/how-to-recognize-abuse-in-bdsm-relationships-77816e8ee2ca is good.

www.vice.com/en_us/article/panjbz/how-to-tell-if-your-bdsm-relationship-is-abusive is possibly useful.

polyamory-metoo.com/ is also worth looking at, even if you're monogamous, around the ways in which women were emotionally (and otherwise) abused by someone who was seen by others as a pillar of the community. This is the sort of grooming someone who is clever might try to do to you.

Another couple of links: www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/style/bdsm-kink-consent.html
www.thehotline.org/2015/02/13/everyone-deserves-a-safe-relationship/

You can decide you're not interested in any BDSM type stuff or only into bits of it or that it's something you might want to explore sometime, but you're busy doing other things so it's not a priority. BDSM is a very broad chuch of interests/activities.

Leaving all the kink stuff to one side, any partner telling you you're vulnerable should be looked at suspiciously. Someone you've been seeing for a limited period of time, making that sort of comment doesn't sound like someone you'll want to be involved with. He's maybe grooming you to abuse you, but even if he's not, it's pretty disrespectful to be judging you as "vulnerable" when he's someone you're seeing, not someone with a professional connection or someone you've been close to for years.

Sensible people who do BDSM don't want to do it with people who they perceive as vulnerable. There are, in England, [generally theoretical] legal risks to some sorts of BDSM play - nobody wants to find themselves arrested for play they thought was consensual. Why put yourself in that position, when there are lots of people who are interested in / willing to explore BDSM?

Sickandscared · 10/01/2020 20:21

Run far, run fast.

SonEtLumiere · 10/01/2020 20:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

yellowallpaper · 10/01/2020 20:30

His names not Christian Grey by any chance.

Freshstart2020 · 10/01/2020 20:35

What about the other mean of being vulnerable, should that be considered?

OP posts:
WaggleWiggle · 10/01/2020 20:45

Vulnerable is not the same as gentle or feminine, or kind or sweet. He’s telling you he likes women that are emotionally fragile, that can be damaged or broken - by him. It’s one thing for him to fall for a woman who happens to be vulnerable. It’s another thing entirely for this to be his type. What kind of shit human being is positively attracted to women who are emotionally vulnerable?

CmdrCressidaDuck · 10/01/2020 20:52

Oh my goddddd. If your skin didn't crawl right off your body and into the next county when you heard some of this shit, you are in no shape to be dating, and need to stop.

Seriously. This man is telling you exactly who he is - he's practically wearing a t-shirt saying I AM AN ABUSER LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO MANIPULATE, DOMINATE AND CONTROL. And he picked his victim well, because you're swallowing it. All these creepy little comments, all these little hints about his dark and violent side and how he wants you to be vulnerable, he's testing you to find out if you're good prey. That is how abusers work - they start out with love-bombing mixed in with subtle boundary-pushing and manipulation to see if you'll take it.

You are way too desperate, naive and needy to be dating at the moment. In this state, you will attract nothing but bad people who mean you harm, because good people with healthy boundaries and good self-esteem don't want to get mixed up with someone desperate and lost.

Block him, spend time being single and self-sufficient, and do the Freedom Programme. This man will destroy you for his own amusement. You have this one chance to learn from the collective experience here and save your own life. Possibly literally.

Crafting1Queen · 10/01/2020 20:54

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Borderterrierpuppy · 10/01/2020 21:01

Why when you are so recently separated do you want to date anyone?
Why not have some time just for you?

Desolate2nite · 10/01/2020 21:10

I was wondering if he lives in Wales?

MissB83 · 10/01/2020 21:20

@independentfriend excellent post

princessTiasmum · 10/01/2020 23:53

Just want yo add, narcissists have no boundaries and are risk takers
Also be careful if you have girl childrenThe one i knew, had a thing for schoolgirls, he didn't tell me outright, but asked if i thought it was wrong for a man of his age to have a relationship with a 16 year old,[he could have been her grandad]
One of the first things he said to me was can you keep a secret,which i thought was very odd at the time, but later realised it was a big red flag, because of other things he said, that i cant mention, but was attracted to me because i am tiny, also talked about Jimmy Savile, and other paedos, which is what finished it for me
Enough red flags,and if i could get him arrested i would,if i had proof

PickAChew · 10/01/2020 23:57

Take him at face value.

My abusive ex "wasn't easy to live with"

I do wish that comment had put me off him.

Beachcomber · 11/01/2020 00:25

What @CmdrCressidaDuck said.

With bells on.

She speaks sense. I hope you listen.

Livingoncake · 11/01/2020 01:20

@SonEtLumiere's text is good. You should send that, then block him. Then look into getting some help to get you to a more emotionally healthy place, or you're just going to attract more abusers.
Finding a new man should not be your top priority right now. The fact that it is tells me that your self-esteem is shot. Please just focus on yourself, for your children's sake and your own.

Ellisandra · 11/01/2020 02:19

Dark side?
I’d ditch him for that pathetic “cool / edgy” teenage attention seeking shit, let alone the rest of it.
BDSM isn’t a dark side. BDSM is just a pretty common kink, moreso in recent years - it’s just trendy to try it.
He needs to get his head out of his arse.

The only answer to “I want to transform you” is “I’m great as I am, ta”

How do you not just laugh at his cheesy crap?