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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if there's a female equivalent of Why Does He Do That?

8 replies

ShouldIstayoutofit3 · 26/05/2023 10:06

Sorry for the blatant traffic post but feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall here. And I changed name because at least one of the people I've ranted to about this in real life is guaranteed to spot me on here (hi!)

My brother has a terrible relationship history. I would say he makes terrible choices but women always choose him rather than the other way around. And then they treat him like shit. He's autistic and extremely kind-hearted and he seems to attract women with significant mental health problems (I am not unsympathetic to women - or anyone - with mental health problems. Some of them are perfectly capable of being supportive romantic partners and even great parents. Some of them are not).

The current girlfriend got together with him when she was in a very bad place mentally, and basically as soon as she was getting her life together she's had no time for him. He's supported her a lot, including financially - they don't live together, he just sends her money every month (!!) She's just signed a twelve-month lease on a place I don't believe she could afford without his support.

I think their relationship may finally be limping to a close (she recently blocked him on her phone for over a week) but that's not really a lot of consolation when I know he has such a low bar for the kind of treatment he's prepared to put up with. (As an example, even when she was blocking him and he thought their relationship was over he was saying he'd carry on sending her money until the lease was up.)

How do I persuade him that he's worth better than this? I did have a look at the Why Does He Do That? book on amazon but I feel the blueprint for exploitative women is probably different from that for violent men. I'm not sure if I would go as far as describing his girlfriends as abusive, but the relationships have definitely been extremely unhealthy and made him bloody miserable. Obviously I am looking at his relationships from a biased point of view but even he would probably agree there are ways he's contributed to the unhealthy aspects of them.

When he was a little boy, if you'd asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up he would say "a daddy". He's one of those people who's always wanted a family and it makes me so sad watching him make choices that will never lead to that.

If you think I should just butt out of his life then I accept that opinion, but please be kind - I'm really not trying to control anyone's life, and I do accept that my opinion of his girlfriends probably doesn't represent the whole of who they are as their own people.

OP posts:
Pixiedust1234 · 26/05/2023 10:20

He seems to attract women with significant mental health problems.

He needs to sort his boundaries out and stop trying to "save" people. He can't.

ShouldIstayoutofit3 · 26/05/2023 11:05

Pixiedust1234 · 26/05/2023 10:20

He seems to attract women with significant mental health problems.

He needs to sort his boundaries out and stop trying to "save" people. He can't.

I completely agree, but I don't know how to get him to see it. (I have told him in the past that someone with such mental health problems can't be in a functioning relationship between equals until she's coping with life better.) Also, he really isn't seeking these women out - they seek him out.

OP posts:
Olinguita · 26/05/2023 11:20

I don't know of a book that's a female equivalent of Why Does he Do That but Boundaries by Henry Cloud (recommended to me by a mumsnetter) strikes me as something that could really help him. It's suitable for either gender. The only thing is that it is quite noticeably Christian in it's approach so it might not be for everyone. But I found it life changing.
I'm really sorry that your brother is having such a rotten time with partners that take advantage of his good nature and I hope he will be able to put some guardrails up to protect himself, and hopefully get him to a place where he can have the relationship and family he dreams of.

PushedButtons · 26/05/2023 12:16

I can’t find it now but someone recommended a free online 12 step programme to overcoming codependency.

ShouldIstayoutofit3 · 26/05/2023 14:42

Olinguita · 26/05/2023 11:20

I don't know of a book that's a female equivalent of Why Does he Do That but Boundaries by Henry Cloud (recommended to me by a mumsnetter) strikes me as something that could really help him. It's suitable for either gender. The only thing is that it is quite noticeably Christian in it's approach so it might not be for everyone. But I found it life changing.
I'm really sorry that your brother is having such a rotten time with partners that take advantage of his good nature and I hope he will be able to put some guardrails up to protect himself, and hopefully get him to a place where he can have the relationship and family he dreams of.

As it happens, my brother is a Christian 😊Thank you so much for your kind message, your last paragraph is exactly how I see it. To be honest my whole family have a bit of a problem with boundaries, I might end up sending one of Henry Cloud's books to my parents! I am having a look at his list on amazon now.

One of the things that frustrates me about my brother is he has a tendency to dismiss advice given to most people as not applying to him, because he's autistic 😤but I will try anyway...

OP posts:
Olinguita · 26/05/2023 14:59

ShouldIstayoutofit3 · 26/05/2023 14:42

As it happens, my brother is a Christian 😊Thank you so much for your kind message, your last paragraph is exactly how I see it. To be honest my whole family have a bit of a problem with boundaries, I might end up sending one of Henry Cloud's books to my parents! I am having a look at his list on amazon now.

One of the things that frustrates me about my brother is he has a tendency to dismiss advice given to most people as not applying to him, because he's autistic 😤but I will try anyway...

Oh if he is Christian then he should DEFINITELY read this book! It will show him that allowing people to trample on us and take advantage of us is literally not God's plan, and that healthy boundaries with families and spouses are not selfish, but 100% Biblical.
I'm possibly being a bit facetious here, but single Christian women massively outnumber single Christian men, so when your brother (hopefully) ends this relationship and is eventually ready to date again, he's going to be quite the eligible bachelor in church circles. Seriously there are so many lovely Christian women looking for a good guy who wants to start a family, and there is probably someone absolutely perfect out there for him. Someone who is actually a decent human being who will truly value him. But it sounds like he has some inner work to do first so he can discern what health looks like I'm relationships. Wishing him all the very best. I'm sure it is very painful for you to watch this as a sibling.

Olinguita · 26/05/2023 15:00

*looks like in relationships

Keepithidden · 26/05/2023 15:02

I read "Why does he do that?" a couple of years ago, but I'm sure that Lundy Bancroft mentions very early on in the book that the sexes can be reversed and that he only wrote it that way as it was easier than having every "he" or "she" written as he/she - it does make it an awful lot clearer and I can imagine the confusion if it was written sex-neutral!

Of course that is ignoring the fact that there is very probably a major sex-bias in abusive relationships, not that it doesn't work the other way round too.

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