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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Heavy stuff trigger warning

13 replies

BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 13:41

Hi all this is my first time here.
I could do with some comfort I guess and an honest unbiased perspective.
warning that I need to talk about CSA and this may activate some people.
I’ll try and be as succinct as possible.
I am having trouble with my husband and our intimate relationship. We have been married 6 years. Barely knew him before marriage (another long story).
we have both experienced CSA. I am in long term therapy for mine. Ptsd. Trying to work through stuff.
I get really triggered when sex isn’t considerate. I need lots of communication and time.
my husband just doesn’t seem to hear me and my needs. He is happy for me to give him an orgasm but not care that my needs have not been met. I have trouble speaking up when I’m hurt or needs not met due to my trauma. So I will let stuff go on a long time. When I eventually speak up, he turns on me. He says I don’t understand how much his abuse affects him. That he doesn’t need this. That he’s a good person. He says he’s not happy. Doesn’t enjoy sex unless I do too. He says ALL the stuff. But it’s been 6 years and he hasn’t changed a bit.
I feel if he was truly unhappy with the arrangement of me not getting my needs met then he’d speak up or do something. He’d SHOW care about me and my needs.
But he says that’s not true and it’s because he is struggling soo much and that I have no idea how much his abuse is affecting him.
Part of me says ….bullsh*t. Yes his abuse is affecting him. In ways he doesn’t even realise. But it’s not affecting sex for him. He still gets off every time. He never initiates sex. He never comes back to me after me getting triggered and asks what he can do. He just takes the orgasm and gets on with his day. Quite happily. Until he sees me upset again. Then it’s all about him.
I feel like I’m Going insane.
when we try to talk he patronises me. Calls me sweetheart when he never Calls me this. Talks to me like I’m broken and the issue.
I genuinely want a relationship with him. But he’s not giving me anything to work with.
We have had a bad weekend over this topic once again. After 6 months of me saying I’m not going to be intimate until he can communicate with me, I caved and it was the same story. He gets his kicks and I don’t and I end up sobbing a mess. And he says nothing. I txt him all my feelings and he just went full victim and said I have no idea how hard life is for him. Prior to me saying how I felt,.. he was happy and joyful and loving his day.
I’m so lost and stuck. I don’t know what to do anymore.
Ive told him he needs to talk to someone else. And that I won’t be intimate with him until he sorts stuff out. Because I have to protect myself. I was SA by 2 family members and a neighbour. And my mother did nothing. Silence is super triggering for me. I need communication around physical stuff. And to not feel used.
I literally don’t know if I’m being unreasonable. What to expect from him. Etc etc.
Today he just wants to go back to me being ok with him and cos I’m not he’s now gone to work sulking. I’m devastated.

OP posts:
Summerhillsquare · 19/08/2024 13:46

You can back away, even permanently, any time you like. You don't have to put up with this.

cupcaske123 · 19/08/2024 13:52

OP he's a selfish arsehole and he doesn't want you to challenge his behaviour so he manipulates you with his history or gets aggrieved.

The problem is, he knows he can behave selfishly because that's what he's always done.

Someone who loves and cares about you, listens and changes their behaviour. He should want you to be happy in bed and given your past, want you to feel safe.

unsync · 19/08/2024 13:52

It is OK to leave if you want to. You don't have to stay married to someone. Living as a single person is a perfectly acceptable life choice. You have obviously got a lot of things to deal with, and this marriage is not helping. You need to be able to focus on yourself and heal from your trauma.

Imtryingnottoworry · 19/08/2024 13:53

He's not listening to you OP.
You have tried to tell him how you feel and how he is making you feel but he is making no effort to change. He is making it all about him.
I really think this relationship is damaging for you and you really need to leave it for the your own sake.

BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 15:19

Summerhillsquare · 19/08/2024 13:46

You can back away, even permanently, any time you like. You don't have to put up with this.

Thank you. I need to hear that. Because I am very much a person who takes everything as my responsibility and fault and thinks I need to fix it. That it’s me that is wrong and I need to make him happy. But I’m dying over this.
I don’t know how I would leave this family set up. But it is good to remember that ultimately I can.

OP posts:
BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 15:28

cupcaske123 · 19/08/2024 13:52

OP he's a selfish arsehole and he doesn't want you to challenge his behaviour so he manipulates you with his history or gets aggrieved.

The problem is, he knows he can behave selfishly because that's what he's always done.

Someone who loves and cares about you, listens and changes their behaviour. He should want you to be happy in bed and given your past, want you to feel safe.

He does know he gets away with it. This makes me so sad. I always see the best in people and try to justify why he would do this to me time and again. But it’s basically because I let him :( I don’t want to. But I’m so messed up from my abuse I am learning how to stand up for myself

OP posts:
Summerhillsquare · 19/08/2024 15:28

You've made an important first step by asking here for help. Keep pushing on. Rape Crisis or women's Aid might have advice.

BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 15:30

unsync · 19/08/2024 13:52

It is OK to leave if you want to. You don't have to stay married to someone. Living as a single person is a perfectly acceptable life choice. You have obviously got a lot of things to deal with, and this marriage is not helping. You need to be able to focus on yourself and heal from your trauma.

Thank you 🙏🏻 I was a single mum for 13 years before this relationship so I’m not afraid to be alone. I just really thought I’d found someone who would understand me and connect. I feel I’d be better alone again sometimes. But I don’t want to end this for so many other reasons
it is complex. I’ve just left a cult I was raised in too. It’s all so painful and he’s left me to deal with that alone also

OP posts:
cupcaske123 · 19/08/2024 15:31

BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 15:28

He does know he gets away with it. This makes me so sad. I always see the best in people and try to justify why he would do this to me time and again. But it’s basically because I let him :( I don’t want to. But I’m so messed up from my abuse I am learning how to stand up for myself

When you've been sexually abused, it's very hard to assert your boundaries. Don't blame yourself. You've tried your best, explaining your needs and he says all the right things then continues.

BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 15:37

Imtryingnottoworry · 19/08/2024 13:53

He's not listening to you OP.
You have tried to tell him how you feel and how he is making you feel but he is making no effort to change. He is making it all about him.
I really think this relationship is damaging for you and you really need to leave it for the your own sake.

Thank you. As I’ve said in another reply, my situation is pretty complex right now.
part of me wants to leave :( but part of me says we can’t handle that on top of everything else I’m dealing with.
It is just good to hear that I am allowed to and that I am not trapped and insane and wrong and have to put up with this.
I always just go back to being ok with him. When actually I want some boundaries. Even if it isn’t leaving him right now. I need to emotionally step away

OP posts:
Escapingafter50years · 19/08/2024 15:43

Oh OP, you've had a lot. Being in a cult is going to have played havoc with your boundaries, as with any dysfunctional environment.

I suspect you feel that responsibility because if it's your "fault" then you can fix it. But if it's not your fault, then it's out of your control, which means you cannot fix it. And it isn't your fault, which is going to be hard for you to accept and will take a lot of work to come to terms with.

BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 15:53

cupcaske123 · 19/08/2024 15:31

When you've been sexually abused, it's very hard to assert your boundaries. Don't blame yourself. You've tried your best, explaining your needs and he says all the right things then continues.

You get it. Absolutely it is so hard isn’t it. I’ve been in therapy 5 years and I’m still struggling to assert myself especially with him

OP posts:
BreakingCycles · 19/08/2024 15:57

Escapingafter50years · 19/08/2024 15:43

Oh OP, you've had a lot. Being in a cult is going to have played havoc with your boundaries, as with any dysfunctional environment.

I suspect you feel that responsibility because if it's your "fault" then you can fix it. But if it's not your fault, then it's out of your control, which means you cannot fix it. And it isn't your fault, which is going to be hard for you to accept and will take a lot of work to come to terms with.

Yes a lot of work :( you understand so well! Absolutely I want to be able to fix it. And understand it. Same as my original abuse. If I could just understand it then maybe I could work out how I could have stopped it. Or it not happen again.
I dunno. My brain is fried from all I’ve been through and this marriage is taxing me so hard. He has many good qualities. He’s not a monster. I was married to someone before who was absolutely horrendous.

OP posts:
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