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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Am I over-reacting by being very upset at partner calling me a whore during an argument?

81 replies

namechange76 · 20/09/2010 12:36

Just after your views of this really. Me and my partner were arguing last night about our sex life, which is one of the only things we argue about. To make things worse he had been drinking all day with friends, which he doesn't do often, but I usually find him pretty hard work when he's pissed and I'm sober, and really did not feel like having sex, although he wanted to. I got very wound up by his sulky attitude and emotional blackmail when I turned down his advances, and called him an asshole, and he quickly came back at me by calling me a whore.

It felt like a slap in the face and I sent him to sleep on the sofa. He came back upstairs and was genuinely surprised that I was so insulted and hurt; he said that calling him an asshole was just as bad and that the word whore is just another swearword. It is not just another swearword to me, and has a huge amount of negative connotations, especially when directed by a man to the woman he shares a home and care of a child with.

I couldn't bear the thought of sleeping in the same bed as him, and he would not go back downstairs, so I did. This morning he tried to make up again but I feel disappointed and disgusted in him. I feel it is one of the worse things you can call a woman; I've known some crap men in my life but I have never been called a whore by any of them!

He's otherwise a good man, but I feel that if he cannot see why this would hurt me so much he doesn't know me very well or understand the feminist principles I try to live by. There is a small part of me though that thinks that maybe I'm overreacting - is it that bad? Also, it keeps playing around my head that maybe it is my fault because I called him an asshole, and is calling him this just as out of order?

OP posts:
Tortington · 20/09/2010 12:38

i think that you were as bad as each other

and you shouldn't engage with pissed up people unless youa re of a similar persuation.

explodingbosoms · 20/09/2010 12:39

You shouldn't have called him an asshole, he definitely shouldn't have called you a whore. FWIW whore is much "worse"- I'd be horrified if my partner called me this, it's incredibly degrading.

But I'm not sure that's really the issue. I'm more alarmed by him trying to emotionally blackmail you into sex. Is it something he does a lot?

Lauriefairycake · 20/09/2010 12:42

I too think 'whore' is quite a degrading word but I'm not that keen on asshole.

Perhaps you both need to re-assess your boundaries - him with regard to trying to blackmail you into sex and you arguing with a pissed person.

namechange76 · 20/09/2010 12:45

We're ttc#2, not very successfully, and after I told him I was not in the mood last night he said "I'm really sad that DS1 will probably never have a little brother or sister to play with". I asked him what made him think this and he said "we only have sex once a month". As this is very far from the truth, and I am also struggling emotionally with our failure to conceive (have my first appt with a consultant coming up this week), I got very angry with him using our problem as a way to try and make me feel guilty for not wanting sex with him.

It's an ongoing issue really, sorry to drip-feed info. He wants sex more than me and sulks if I say no. We argue about it a lot, but last night was probably the worst.

OP posts:
namechange76 · 20/09/2010 12:47

That was a reply for explodingbosoms by the way.

Other posters, I know what you mean about trying not to argue with pissed people, and should have tried to walk away, but it's pretty difficult when they're in bed with you provoking you.

OP posts:
Tippychoocks · 20/09/2010 12:48

That's just emotionally blackmailing you into sex. Does he even know when you are ovulating or is that just a good line for him?
Whore is much worse than asshole. Name calling is not good but whore is horrible and I would think most people would feel that.

emmyloulou · 20/09/2010 12:50

You called him an asshole, he called you a whore.

50-50 really in the namecalling stakes.

Tortington · 20/09/2010 12:51

i dont sleep with dh when he's drunk - he goes on the setee or i do. i just avoid the drama.

i don't think whore is worse than asshole, but i agree with the others that the manipulation is really the topic, not the swearwords

namechange76 · 20/09/2010 12:52

tippychocks he doesn't have the best handle on my cycle or how it works, but I try to keep him updated! And no, I'm not OVing at the moment....

OP posts:
Tippychoocks · 20/09/2010 12:57

Maybe people do see them the same then, am always prepared to be wrong Grin. But to me whore comes with its own set of horrible baggage where asshole is just an insult, like calling someone a shit.

MsHighwater · 20/09/2010 13:01

I do think that "whore" is worse than "asshole" though any name-calling is not exactly a constructive way for a couple to air their differences.

MorrisZapp · 20/09/2010 13:02

No way are whore and asshole equivalent.

I could cheerfully call any number of people an asshole - a rude bus driver, my boss, my brother when he's being unreasonable, Posh Spice when she comes out with some corker etc etc etc.

But to call somebody a whore isn't just a stronger way of saying 'idiot' is it? It's a distainful reference to their sexual morality.

TheProvincialLady · 20/09/2010 13:03

Calling someone an arsehole (non gender specific, means general idiocy and unpleasantness) is not the same as calling someone a whore (nasty term directed only at women and of course it Means Something - it is a sexual insult, means you sell your body FGS or at best that you sleep around).

Also, calling someone an arsehole when they are pissed and using emotional blackmail to try and make you have sex with them is a LOT more understandable and acceptable than calling someone a whore because they have protested (even if not in the most helpful way).

IMO you were not just as out of order because you were not the one who was pissed and using emotional blackmail.

But I do think that sulking and refusing to engage with him is not going to get you anywhere. If you can't get him to understand why it is so hurtful to you then maybe writing it down would be a good thing to try?

namechange76 · 20/09/2010 13:05

I know I am not blameless in the name-calling stakes, but don't think I would have felt so bad if he'd retaliated by calling me a bitch or a cow. I appreciate the honest opinions.

OP posts:
marge2 · 20/09/2010 13:05

Yes - whore is worse than arsehole. Neither nice though!

madonnawhore · 20/09/2010 13:22

I agree with Morris and Provincial, whore is a very loaded word and is used to wound and attack in a very specific way. Asshole is just a generic insult.

sitdownpleasegeorge · 20/09/2010 13:23

Good Grief ! I find myself lamenting the quality of threads and to a certain extent posters on MN these days as a result of this sort of thread.

DP's seems to be on the rise and numbers of DH's falling by comparison. Immature/selfish/base behaviour is trotted out for all to see. IMHO all day drinking says a lot about a man unless it was something like a stag weekend or similar jolly boys outing and expecting to have sex when very drunk and your partner is sober (no doubt having looked after your children whilst you were out getting drunk) is thoughtless and selfish.

I don't want MN to be the preserve of the middle classes but I find myself identifying less and less with the average MN poster and their "D"P.

Flame away

Lauriefairycake · 20/09/2010 13:26

And you're blaming this on people not being married? Confused

eh???

madonnawhore · 20/09/2010 13:28

Sitdown, maybe you identify less and less with MN posters because you are too narrow minded to be empathetic.

Perhaps you'd feel more at home in the Daily Mail readers' comments section?

gingerwig · 20/09/2010 13:30

Asshole is a horrible insult.
Whore more so,
But you started the name calling so both equally bad

AnyFucker · 20/09/2010 13:35

If my husband ever called me a whore, he would be looking for somewhere else to live

Sorry, OP...that must have been so upsetting

I completely disagree with the comparison of "asshole" and "whore" being somehow equal

Neither are great....but "whore" has a whole load of sexist and misogynist connotations that I feel have no place within a so-called loving relationship

I don't think you are over-reacting...I think you are under-reacting

KERALA1 · 20/09/2010 13:37

Did you have children around witnessing all this. Sounds horrid in your house.

namechange76 · 20/09/2010 13:39

Sitdown, I didn't realise that arguments and relationship problems were class-specific, and I'm sorry if my particular problem comes across as "common" to you. I'm sure that there are a number of upper-class men who act similarly, no?

Also, I would block the Relationship threads if you find it distasteful reading about them. There was me thinking the Relationships forum is a safe and non-judgmental place to talk about personal problems you wouldn't necessarily bring up in RL. If I'd wanted your kind of comments I would have posted on AIBU.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 20/09/2010 13:40

NC76...just ignore sitdown

it has ishoos

namechange76 · 20/09/2010 13:40

Kerala no, our son was asleep, we don't argue in front of him.

OP posts: