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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

Marital rape

46 replies

CrawlingInMySkin · 22/11/2010 10:15

I know all about moldies and the bat and Terry wogans cock, but I have name changed for this.

I have bipolar and when I was a child was severly neglected I met my boyfriend at age 13 and sensed that he was the same as me we later discovered he was different (recently diagnosed scizophrenic) no one gave a shit about me or him and at age 13 I would sleep over his house for months at a time.

We realised fairly quickly that what ever was wrong with us was not compatible he got very paranoid and when manic I got very secretive and was sexually promiscus. When he went on a episode (I don't know what they call it for Scizophrenia) he became paranoid that I would leave him and he became very violent towards me he would beat me and then sometimes urinate and spit on me tellingme I was a whore and deserved it. After a few months his vilent behaviour became my trigger to go manic (with bipolar you have triggers) so where before he would repeatedly beat me and I was powerless to stop him now if I realised I would go manic and fought back instead of just taking it. Most people probably think I am stupid for staying but the beatings were worth it for the times when we were both symtom free and I got to feel like someone loved me.

When I was 15 this escalated from just physical beatings I was manic and he looked at me and started to go cold and paranoid he started saying I was going to leave him did I think he was stupid. He told me he would break me make me behave and that he was going to rape me. As I was manic everything seemed funny and I laughed at him told him he could rape me if he wanted and he could break my body but he would never break my mind. He raped me I laughed at him and went out and slept with numerous people. The only reason I behaved like this was because I was manic and everything seems funny to me when I am manic and as I dissocosiate from my manic actions did not have to deal withthe event however it effected me enough to tell him we needed to stop having sex.

A few nights after that when I was sleeping and normal I woke to find him having sex with me I roughly pushed him off and vomited we argued he told me I was a slag and I never said no and so he felt like it would be okay. About 2 months after I was again normal and sleeping and woke up to find him doing this to me again I cried out for him to stop and he pressed my face into the pillow and carried on. This happened on a third occasion I was getting ready to go out and I didn't see the cold look in his eyes I had no time to be triggered he called me a whore and slapped me to the floor he repeatedly hit and kicked me until all the fight had left my bodythen he raped me analyy(He knew this was something I never wanted to do) as I lay there with tears running down my face so much that they were choking me I waited a while till I regained some strength then tried to pull myself away from him he grabbed my hair and lazily dragged me back and raped me vaginally. He then got up and left he run a bath and picked me up and threw me in I remember screaming in agony as the hot water penetrated my body. He left and when he came back up he had cooked me dinner and was acting like nothing was wrong. I found this more confusing I said I had to go home to get some clean clothes that I would be back and he made me kiss him before I could leave. I got in my house and my mother didn't even look up from her chair she said where have you been. I ignored her and went upstairs and sat inmy room crying.

Unfortunetly my ordeal was not over I was pg for the first time in my life my mum took a interest in me repeatedly telling me how much better her life would have been if she had aborted me and that I should terminate. I decided to kepp it I was not going to put my welfare before my babies welfare I was not my mum. I thought perhaps me and my boyfriend could get help and could make it work. I went over his and things were stable for a time. But then he began beating me while pg and I knew I had no choice I picked myself up and booked a termination I walked in alone and terminated. The termination went wrong but that is not important to this story I left my partner after nearly 3 years I was coming up to age 16. I have never told anyone about this because no one would believe me it sounds so far fetched so crazy but I swear this really did happen. Now 8 years on I have a good partner 2 wonderful children and I have just started seeking help for my illness. But I cannot sleep at night every time I close my eyes I am afraid that I am weaker and that I will wake up and someone will be violating my children, I am also afraid to take the meds because if I am confronted by someone violent I won't be able to go manic and I will be defencless again. Yes it does help when I was 17 I was working in a nightclub and had to clean the mens toilets and someone dragged me in a cubicle and threatened to inject me with a dirty needle of crack if I didn't sleep with him and I went manic and stopped him.

Why is my life so horrid what did I do I was just a child, I wasn't nasty I only ever wanted to help people. I am so scared I just want to be able to sleep without waiting till I pass out from exhaustion out of fear that I will wake and someone will be taking my children, I have pretended to have insomnia to my partner so he does not see, these are really the only issues I have and most people who see me always comment on how together I am and how strong I seem.

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earwicga · 22/11/2010 13:00

I'm really sorry that this happened to you. Sadly it doesn't read like something out of a book, and is a familiar story. You were a neglected child and craving affection - instead you found something very different. You didn't deserve it in any way.

It has been suggested above that you contact Rape Crisis, and I would also suggest that you do. I have finished a year of counselling with them which has been brilliant. I was raped when I was 14 and didn't get any help for way too many years. The counselling has really changed my life and the way I deal with triggers and hyper-vigilance are much better now. I am thinking that this would help you stabilise your bi-polar a little if you could do this. Initially you can phone a help-line or email them so it's not so scary to approach Rape Crisis than phoning and telling them everything. You don't even have to tell them anything that happened to you if you don't want to. You will still be helped.

You are so brave in wanting to change your life like this!

CrawlingInMySkin · 22/11/2010 14:13

earwicga Thank you and I am Sad that you also had a crap childhood I hope you are much happier now Smile. If I do call the rape crisis will they try and force me to press charges? I don't wanna drag my family or myself through that not after all this time, I just want to move on now.

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sixpercenttruejedi · 22/11/2010 14:23

They won't make you press charges, please call them. And womens aid too. You need and deserve as much support as possible.
Sad

earwicga · 22/11/2010 14:24

No, they won't force you to do anything at all. I ignored and repressed a lot for so long, but found myself in a place where I was ready for counselling. It has helped me so much. I didn't understand all the triggers in life and the way I reacted. I understand so much more now which helps me in daily life and also helps with my depression. But it was hard, very hard at times.

You can call their helplines anonymously and say anything. Perhaps help you in how to approach telling your husband. In my experience, telling partners has been useless as they don't know how to react, until my last partner who was unbelievably supportive.

Numbers are:
National Helpline: 0808 802 9999 Open 12-2.30pm and 7-9.30pm every day of the year.

Coventry line: 02476 277777 Open 12-2pm Mon-Fri and 6-8pm Mon and Thurs.

There are others connected to other localities.

CrawlingInMySkin · 22/11/2010 14:29

Thank you both I will speak with DP tonight and then I will try calling them Smile. Thank you.

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earwicga · 22/11/2010 14:34

You're welcome. I wasn't able to call when I contacted them and arranged a meeting by email. Found that a lot easier. Hope things go okay tonight.

sixpercenttruejedi · 22/11/2010 14:51

this might be of help womens aid website
hope it goes ok, you really do deserve better

Snuppeline · 22/11/2010 14:53

Read your post and just want to say how sorry I am that you've had such unbelivably hard experiences. As the others have said you were a child and you did not deserve to be raped. You deserved all the love in the world then and now. Nothing of what happened was ever your fault and you've nothing to be ashamed of. You must learn to love yourself and accept being loved by others. I hope the therapy and support from your dp will help you with that. I can understand its difficult for him to understand what bipolar means, I can't really understand it myself even if a family member of mine has the condition for many years.

I also want to suggest that you write about your experiences and show these to your psychiatrist. You could write a note which lets them know whether you would like not to talk about something in particular (so you wouldn't have to address the abuse at once if you dont want to). It would be good if you could disclose why you aren't taking your medication to your GP and psychiatrist at least, so they can help you. Don't worry about not showing emotion, your psychiatrist will understand. And don't worry about not being believed either, we all believed you immediately.

Your a very brave person and I wish you all the best.

CrawlingInMySkin · 22/11/2010 16:23

sixpercenttruejedi Thanks for your support I have stayed in a few refuges growing up will they offer support then without me being admitted? I was only young when I stayed in them and dont remember.

Snuppeline Thank you I think I will write it down to be read instead and that way I just talk about bits which I am happier doing than talking about the event as a whole Smile

Thank you all for believeing me that has always been my biggest fear that someone would think I was lying about something like this so it means a lot to all who posted in support.

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sixpercenttruejedi · 22/11/2010 16:54

yes they will, they have links to local support groups and there is a survivors forum on their website.

CrawlingInMySkin · 22/11/2010 17:04

I have just looked at that website it looks helpful thank you Smile I feel comfortable with womens aid as they have helped in the past Smile

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colditz · 22/11/2010 17:09

you dind't cause any of this. He did. At any given point he could have made the choice to walk away.

sixpercenttruejedi · 22/11/2010 17:10

Smile good luck. grab all support with both hands because (i know i've said it before) you really do deserve it. You deserve support and you deserve to be safe and happy.

Eurostar · 22/11/2010 21:53

Hi Crawling. You explain very well why you are scared to give up your mania and it's different from what people with bi-polar say more often when they don't take meds - that they really miss the highs. You need to help out your psychiatrist by showing them what you have written so that they can help give you techniques to trust yourself when you are stable - they need to offer you a psychologist rather than just have you down as another one who is refusing to comply with meds. Some mental health teams are very short of psychologists, do push to see if you can get a psychologist as well as a psychiatrist. The post traumatic stress of what you have suffered needs to be disentangled from the illness and treated in itself.

I hope for you that you're in a part of the country with good mental health provision. If you are not, do enlist help to fight for good care.

There's also good self management programmes run by MDF and they could probably help you with what to ask for in terms of mental health care.
www.mdf.org.uk/

You will be able to muster assertiveness, you can do it, you don't need to be high with all the inherent dangers that go along with that.

Wish you all the best.

CrawlingInMySkin · 22/11/2010 23:35

Eurostar thank you the highs are part of the reason I wont lie they are aluring for me Sad. Compared to my other reason it is very small but still there. My mum is going to pay for private physchotherapy so hopefully that will help I will try to get some counseling in order to help me take my medication though.

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Eurostar · 24/11/2010 19:58

Hi Crawling. If you are going to pay for private therapy do make sure that you are seeing a person who is experienced in working with trauma and bi-polar. They involve quite specific training. A clinical psychologist might be better than a psychotherapist at this stage.

There's some new self-help stuff on the mdf website
www.mdf.org.uk/index.aspx?o=265183 too

CrawlingInMySkin · 24/11/2010 21:33

My mum was going to pay for a mind physcologist I think they are apparently £20 a hour. She seemed to think they would know what they were doing and she said they offer private therapy on a regular basis? sorry I may have this completly wrong though.

Also thank you for that link it looks really good I have had a quick look but I am going to have a longer look laterSmile I am feeling better today and I went to sleep a hour earlier than normal last night Smile after explaining to my DP he said he already knew most of what happened as I cry in my sleep. But he did not know how that made me feel and he understands a lot better he said he said he can accept the ups and downs but he just needs to be let in Smile

He suggested bringing our dog upstars as he would wake us if anything went wrong and he thought it might help me sleep if I know that I will be woken by our dog if there is a intruder Smile

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IfGraceAsks · 25/11/2010 15:55

That's a lovely idea, to bring the dog in to watch out for your kids and help your security :)

What a pity you fell into such bad hands when you were so young and vulnerable. As people have said, with meds and therapy you will stop giving off 'vulnerable' vibes, so predators won't pick you out like they used to.

I'm so glad you managed to explain things to DP and that you got a bit more rest! Please do follow up the very good links you've been given here - you deserve proper support and you will get it.

CrawlingInMySkin · 25/11/2010 17:31

Thank you IfGraceAsks I have started following up some of the links already Smile

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fayc84 · 25/11/2010 17:40

So glad things went well with your DP. I spilled all to my now husband pretty early on in our relationship as I felt I had to explain the panic attacks I got during sex because of stuff that had happened to me in my early teens. I think once it is out there it gets much easier to talk about if the need arises. He always believed me and has always been supportive. He has supported me through trying to get help through psychotherapy but having moved about a bit I keep having gaps as I go on different health board waiting lists. I've just started counselling with a charity and haven't yet been able to tell my therapist the main issues that bother me, but the thought of doing it to be a more stable mother for the child I'm carrying is what spurs me on. The thought of bringing a child into the world has filled me with joy but also fear of what if someone hurts them, what if I hurt them, what if I'm too protective because of my experiences and they are somehow damaged. That's why I am so determined to do it now. And why it is so good that you are taking those steps for yourself now. Having to admit to what happened to you to someone new is such a hard thing to do but once you're on that road I hope that it will only make you stronger.

CrawlingInMySkin · 25/11/2010 18:13

'The thought of bringing a child into the world has filled me with joy but also fear of what if someone hurts them, what if I hurt them, what if I'm too protective because of my experiences and they are somehow damaged.'

I know exactly what you mean you worry you will ffail to protect them and the you worry that you will be to protective and make them scared of everything like you are.

I am Sad to hear of your situation also I am pleased you have a supportive DP and you are sorting your life out Smile.

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